care sheet Housing Young Beardies under 10 inches in length can be housed in a 20gal long aquarium. This will last them for a few months only though as they grow quickly. Adult Dragons should be housed in nothing smaller than a 40gal breeder tank. I prefer using 55gal aquariums due to the extra length it gives them to run and they are easily found at most Pet stores. Screen lids should be used for the top of any aquarium style cages you use. Do not use glass, plexiglass or wood to cover your cages. This will not allow enough air circulation and will also trap humidity in the cage. Screen tops allow air flow, allow your lighting and heat sources to work correctly and also allow humidity to escape. Lighting Bearded Dragons require full spectrum lighting for 12-14 hours a day. I happen to use the Reptisun 5.0 or 8.0 fluorescent bulbs. There is also other brands available such as the Reptiglo or lumichrome bulbs. These fluorescent bulbs should stretch the length of your Beardies enclosure and your B.D. should be able to come within 6-8 inches of the light. The UV light should be placed over the cage and not directed through the glass , glass will deflect the UV rays. Follow the directions on the package of the bulb for replacement frequency. Heating and temps To produce heat and a basking spot in your enclosure you can use a reptile basking light. The best fixture for any of these choices is a porcelain dome light fixture. This type of fixture is a must with a ceramic heat emitter due to the amount of heat they produce. The temperature for this basking spot you created should be around 110f for juveniles and can be around 95f for adults. Although I don't recommend any temps above 110f, within a few degrees of these basking temps will be sufficient. The cool side of the enclosure should be around 85f during the day. Once again within a few degrees of this temp is just fine. Nighttime temperatures can fall as low as 65f. It is fairly easy to keep your night temps above this even in the winter. If you can't keep your temps above this you may want to consider buying an under tank heater (UTH) for nighttime use. Using this just during the evening hours will help create a warm spot for your Dragon to sleep. DO NOT use heat rocks as these can cause serious burns on your animal's underside. A thermometer on the "hot side" and one on the "cool side" will make sure that your temps are in the range they should be in. Substrate . They can be very clumsy eaters and they are also very curious and like to taste everything. . For adult Dragons and For baby to juvenile Bearded Dragons I prefer either the grass repti carpet or playsand. Washed playsand is much cheaper than all those fancy colored reptile sands and looks just as good. You can buy this playsand at most larger Hardware stores for under $4 for 50lbs. Crushed walnut shell is dangerous and should only be used to clean up oil spills. This substrate is NOT digestible and if too much of it is eaten it will cause impaction. I have seen this occur first hand with reptiles ranging from lizards to tortoise. Stay away from this product please. Feeding and diet Any and all food items that your Bearded Dragons eat should be no bigger than the space between their eyes. If the food items are bigger than the space between their eyes it can cause impaction and/or hind leg paralysis. Either way your Beardie will suffer horribly. Baby and juvenile Beardies should be offered appropriately sized crickets or meal worms two-three times a day. Offer as many as your Beardie will eat in a 5-10 minute time frame. When your Beardie stops eating, stop offering. Young Bearded Dragons can eat anywhere from 20-40 small crickets or meal worms a day. Your Beardie should also be given fresh greens daily. Spraying the greens with water will help them last longer and will also help keep your Beardie hydrated. Sub-adult to adult Beardies only need to eat prey items once a day along with fresh greens. Once they are this age you can also offer them crickets ,Mealworms, Waxworms..DO NOT feed your Beardie insects that you have caught in your backyard. These bugs could have parasites that could be passed on to your Beardie or they could have been exposed to poisons that could kill your Beardie. Lightning bugs can also kill your Beardie so it is much safer to stay away from wild caught insects. Prey items should be dusted once a day with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement such as Rep-cal makes. All prey items should be dusted once a week with a multivitamin supplement such as Herptivite, also made by Rep-cal. Any uneaten prey items should be removed from your Dragons enclosure. There is a wide variety of greens that are available that are good for your Beardie. Dandelion greens, Collard greens, Mustard greens, romaine lettuce , Bok choy, Kale, Turnip greens, Escarole and Chicory are among the easiest to find and the best to use. ice burg lettuce are composed mostly of water and hold little or no nutritional value. With the wide variety of other greens out there it is better and easier to just avoid lettuce. Spinach should also be avoided as calcium binds to it and will not be digested by your animal. A wide variety of vegetables can also be offered to your Beardie. Butternut squash, Yellow squash, Spaghetti squash, Acorn squash, all other varieties of squash, Green beans, Parsnips, Sweet potato, Snow peas and Carrots. Carrots should only be used as a treat though due to the high amounts of vitamin A. Any food with high amounts of vitamin A should be avoided as reptiles do not absorb a lot of vitamin A. Feeding your Beardie a lot foods such as Carrots will end up in a condition called Vitamin A toxicity which is deadly. Squashes will either have to be cooked or micro-waved before feeding them to your Beardie. This will soften them up and they can then be minced and eaten easier. Fruits can also be used, just avoid any citrus fruit such as oranges and grape fruit. Water Fresh water should be offered daily in a shallow bowl. This water bowl should be disinfected once a week to avoid any bacterial build up. Many Beardie may not drink from a water bowl so you may have to drip the water slowly onto your Beardies snout. Wiggling your finger in the water may also get their attention. Beardies like things that move so creating ripples in the water may get their attention. Bathing Bathing your Beardie once a week will help keep them hydrated and will also aid in shedding. Bath water should be warm on your wrist and not hot , much like bath water for a small child. Make the water only as deep as your Beardies chest or half way up their front arms. I usually just fill the tub until the water reaches the second knuckle on my index finger for my adults and the first knuckle for the juveniles. Never leave your Beardie unattended in the bath, accidents only take a second to happen. It's also a god idea to disinfect your tub when the bath is over because Beardies will often defecate in the water.
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