Bearded Dragon Care Sheet

Pogona Vitticeps

Bearded Dragon

Introduction

If you are interested in getting a reptile as a pet, bearded dragons are hard to beat. These charismatic lizards from Down Under are friendly and relatively easy to care for. They grow up to two feet in length and can live up to 15 years. If they are fed and housed properly, they can provide many years of companionship. These beautiful creatures are highly recommended for families with small children also due to their seeming love for attention

· Native to rocky, semi-desert regions bordering forests in Australia

· Captive life span: 8-15 years

· Size: up to 18-24 in (45-61 cm) nose to tail

· Weight: 10-18 oz (283-510 gm)

· Color: light tan to dark brown but can darken considerably when threatened

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. Alternatively, there are pvc cages with front opening doors such as Animal Plastics cages that we always personally prefer to use as well as plastic Sterlite tubs(115 qt or larger). 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, if you decide to go the pvc cage route there are lots of light mounting options and extra ventilation options available and be sure to add them to the enclosure.

Lighting

Bearded Dragons require full spectrum lighting for 12-14 hours a day. Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% tubes are known to provide some of the best full UVB for your dragons. 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. Mercury vapor bulbs are also a good heat & UVB source. Having the correct type of UVB light is also important to help their bones develop strong and healthy. Also monitoring and replacement of your UVB bulb is important there are meters and beads available online to check how much UVB rays your lights are giving off so you know when you need to change the bulb, bulbs can still light up but no longer give off the proper UVB rays your dragon needs to remain healthy and strong.

Heating and temps

To produce heat and a basking spot in your enclosure you can use any type of bright white light or just a plain household lightbulb that will give the proper basking temperatures. The best fixture for any of these choices is a porcelain dome light fixture or a clamp lamp. The best bulbs to use are specialized reptile basking bulbs that are not colored, and ceramic heat emitters. We usually use both. The temperature for this basking spot you created should be around 105⁰F to 110⁰F for babies, 105⁰F for juveniles and can be around 95⁰F to 102⁰F for adults. Although I don't recommend any temps above 110⁰F, within a few degrees of these basking temps will be sufficient. The heat from the basking light is to help them digest their food. The cool side of the enclosure should be around 80⁰F-85⁰F during the day. Once again within a few degrees of this temp is just fine. Night time temperatures can fall as low as 65⁰F. 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 a ceramic heat emitter, which gives off heat & no light. Colored heat lights are not recommended as they interrupt beardies sleep patterns and have been known to cause blindness in most reptiles. DO NOT use heat rocks as these can cause serious burns on your animals underside. A digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun are the best to use to measure temperatures to ensure the proper basking temperatures area achieved.

Substrate

For baby to juvenile Bearded Dragons we prefer and recommend either newspaper, paper towels, butcher paper, slate, ceramic tile or reptile carpet. These choices are cheap, easy to clean and hold no health risks to your animal. If using reptile carpet the stuff that looks and feels like grass is the best. The felt kind has little loops of fabric that may catch the nails of your Dragon and cause injury. DO NOT use sand, shavings or any other loose substrate for your bearded dragon. They can be very clumsy eaters and they are also very curious and like to taste everything. Any kind of loose substrate holds serious health risks to your Beardie. If they eat a loose substrate they can become impacted, which is a blocking of the intestines, and die. Crushed walnut shell is dangerous and should only be used to clean up oil spills. This substrate is NOT digestable 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 tortoises. Stay away from this product please. Another popular substrate product to say away from at all costs for the same reasons as well as more is Calcisand. Calcisand is NOT digestible, It is made of calcium carbonate which acts like tums when ingested hindering proper digestion of food. It also soaks up trace amounts of fecal matter that your licking curious dragon is prone to lapping up with his or her tongue, causing infections of the mouth such as Stomatitis (Mouth Rot) and other bacterial infections.

Feeding and Diet

Bearded Dragons are omnivorous, meaning that they eat both animal and plant matter. 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 insects 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 20-60 small insects 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 offer them Locusts, Cockroaches, Zophobas, Waxworms (treats only), Silkworms, and Butterworms. 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. For babies and juvies, bugs should be dusted once a day with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement for reptiles, such as the one made by Rep-cal, 5 times per week. All bugs should be dusted twice a week with a multivitamin supplement such as Herptivite, also made by Rep-cal. Flukers and other brands also makes a good multi-vit/mineral supplement. ***For adults, reduce the calcium to 3 times a week and the vitamin/mineral once a week***

There is a wide variety of greens that are available that are good for your Beardie. Dandelion greens, Collard greens, Mustard greens, Bok choy, Turnip greens, and Escarole are among the easiest to find and the best to use. If the greens you are wondering about say Lettuce anywhere in the name avoid them. Most types of 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 any type of 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 alot foods such as Carrots will end up in a condition called Vitamin A toxicity which is deadly. Squashes can be cooked before hand, but it's not necessary. Fruits can also be used, just avoid any citrus fruit such as oranges and grape fruit. Any uneaten prey should be removed from your Dragons enclosure.

Water

Fresh water should be offered daily and should be available to your beardie on the cool side of the enclosure at all times. Beardies will sometimes not drink from a water bowl, but are more inclined to drink from their bath but water should still ALWAYS be offered. Humidity levels shouldn't be higher than 25%, at least.

Bathing

Bathing your Beardie two or more times 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, although if they're used to baths and like to swim, you can add more water. Never leave your Beardie unattended in the bath, accidents only take a second to happen. It's also a good idea to disinfect your tub when the bath is over because Beardies will often defecate in the water. Using the kitchen sink is also a good idea. If your beardie defecates right away, just take the water out, drain and rinse the sink/tub, add the water again and let him soak. Be sure to disinfect after all is done. The recommended time for a soak is 15-20 min. If a beardie is dehydrated for whatever reason, a daily bath is recommended. It helps hydrate a beardie quickly.

Disinfecting

I use a 1/4 cup of bleach mixed with a gallon of water. This is done easiest in an old, clean, milk container. After mixing the bleach and water I then fill a spray bottle with the mixture. This makes it easy to cover the entire surface of what you are cleaning and leaves a container full for when your spray bottle is empty. All surfaces that get feces on them should be disinfected, including water bowls, food bowls and cages. This is how I disinfect all my cages, cage accessories and the tub after bathing. Spray the entire surface of what you are cleaning until it is soaked. Then let it sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes scrub the surface with a rag making sure any old food or feces is removed. Rinse all surfaces repeatedly until you can no longer smell bleach. If you still smell bleach rinse again. There are also disinfecting products available on the net, safe for use with reptiles. Instead of using bleach, vinegar & water are good alternatives. It can be easier to rinse away than bleach.

Hygiene

Hand washing is very important when owning any reptile. Washing your hands before and after handling your Beardie will help keep you and your new pet healthy. If you wash your hands before handling you reduce the risk of passing anything on to your Dragon. Washing your hands after handling greatly reduce the risk of you contracting salmonella. The risks of getting this are very slim to begin with but hand washing will even further reduce the risks. Your chances of contracting salmonella from the food you eat are greater than your chances of getting it from your Beardie so don't fret.

Care sheet provided by Fantastic Beast’s Exotic Rescue