This care sheet has been created to help you succeed with your new Bearded Dragon.
The information provided comes from our personal experience and opinions. We have had great success following these guidelines. Raised under these conditions you will have a healthy and happy Bearded Dragon. This care sheet is a good starting point, but anyone that owns a dragon should also own "The Bearded Dragon Manual" by authors Philippe de Vosjoli, Robert Mailloux, Susan Donoghue V.M.D., Roger Klingenburg D.V.M's and Jerry Cole. This book is invaluable and an absolute must! You can find information on requirements, feeding, breeding, diseases and illness and much more - it is the "Ultimate" on dragon information.
So you have decided to buy an "eating machine!" Bearded Dragons are without a doubt one of the best reptiles available. They are curious, interact with you and will draw you in with their impressive behavioral displays such as arm-waving, bobbing, blackened beards, tail swishing, flattening their bodies and tilting as they circle each otherÉ
We have been breeding dragons since 1997 and never grow tired of this amazing reptile. Each new clutch is still exciting and watching dragons grow with us or new owners is always satisfying.
We are sure that you will enjoy the experience as much as we do. Before you purchase your Bearded Dragon we highly suggest that you research as much as possible. They are very easy to care for but there is so much to know and the journey will be better for you and your dragon if you are prepared.
When making your decision on buying one Bearded Dragon or maybe more, there are things to consider.
With two or more dragons you will notice more of their interesting behavioral displays but this does come with drawbacks. If housing more than one dragon, only dragons of the same size should be placed together. If you buy two baby dragons the same size they will probably not grow at the same rate and will need to be separated once a size difference is noted. You also can't keep two dragons the same size together for life as you don't want a female to breed to young or breed to often. This is easily fixed by making sure that you have extra enclosures with all the necessary lights ready in case living arrangements need to be changed.
Bearded Dragons require a lot of stuff!! Here are some of the things you will need and find useful:
One dragon needs a 55 gal tank or larger if possible. For two or three dragons use at least a 77 gal tank. We like custom made melamine enclosures because they can be stacked and they are much easier to clean. Lots of custom tanks are now being made with sliding glass fronts and these are great too.
Many substrates are available at Pet stores, but most are not suitable for Bearded Dragons. For adults I recommend using Sand. Our adults are all kept on Children's Washed Playsand purchased from Home Depot or Building Box. Some breeders say not to use this because of impaction, but I have never had an impacted Bearded Dragon. You should sift the sand through a tea strainer to remove any larger pebbles.
Use a tea strainer everyday to clean your enclosures. Dragons are messy and their health will suffer in a dirty environment. Substrate should be completely removed and replaced at least once every 6 months.
There are other choices for substrate like soil, bran, alfalfa pellets or dried bed-a-beast. There are advantages and disadvantages to all and it's a personal decision.
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DO NOT use any type of Calcium Sand as it has been found that Bearded Dragons like the taste of this particular sand and this will cause terminal impaction and the ingestion of too much calcium leading to calcification of the internal organs. |
Newspaper or Rubber Shelf liner is a great substrate for sick BD's.
Branches Ð Your BD needs things to climb. Branches also provided higher perching areas to get closer to Basking Bulbs. Driftwood, Mopani Wood and various branches all work well.
Rocks: Rocks will a flat surface should be placed under basking sites as well. The rocks will gather heat and the BD will lie on the rock to warm his underbelly. This aids in Digestion and is very important.
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DO NOT USE HOT ROCKS WITH YOUR BEARDED DRAGON. BEARDED DRAGONS DO NOT RECOGNIZE LOCALIZED TEMPERATURE AND GET BURNED. |
Lighting is an important part of a healthy Bearded Dragon. BD's will not metabolize calcium without full spectrum lighting.
UVB will not penetrate glass or plastic so use a screen top for your dragon enclosure or with a custom enclosure the light fixture will be right inside with nothing obstructing the UVB.
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DO NOT put your cage close to a window. Direct sunlight through glass filters out the benefits of natural sunlight and can overheat dragons which results in their death. |
A timer should be used to provide 12 Ð 14 hours of heat and light for adults.
You can buy a florescent fixture from a pet store or a cheaper solution is to get a shoplight florescent fixture from Home Depot. The bulb for the florescent fixture should be a high UVB reptile light. We recommend Zoomed's Reptisun 5.0. These bulbs need to be replaced every six months as they lose their effectiveness even though the light is not burnt out.
The light should be within 6 Ð 12 inches of the basking site, so they can absorb the UVB to increase the Vitamin D3 for their bone formation.
Without proper lighting, you seriously risk your Bearded Dragon getting Metabolic Bone Disease, which can kill your Dragon. You may notice a darkened scale on the top of your dragon's head; this is the parietal eye which detects the environmental cues like the light and heat.
Providing natural sunlight to your adult Dragon is a great idea. Ours go outside in the summer and put them in a childen's pool with a little water or an all screen enclosure. One end of the screened enclosure should have a board over it to provide shelter. I also put in a large shallow saucer bowl with water so they can soak if they decide to.
The heat ballast should be placed at one end of the tank. Your driftwood and rock should be placed underneath to provide a proper basking site. Providing Different levels is important.
The basking area (wood closest to the basking light) should reach between 100 Ð 115 degrees. Please do not allow the basking site to go above this. I keep mine at 100 degrees.
The ambient air temperature should be 80 Ð 85 degrees.
It's important to provide a temperature gradient from the hot basking spot temp to the cool zone. Dragons will be seen "gaping" while under the heat lights. They do this to regulate their body temperature and is a healthy part of a BD's behavior. If your Bearded Dragon is gaping in the cooler end of the tank, please recheck temperature immediately with a good digital thermometer. I use the ones with the internal probe. The reading screen is one the outside of the tank with a probe that goes into a tank. Make sure when setting up your tank you check all areas of the tank at different parts of the day to make sure temperature in the tank is ideal. Without proper heating the dragon will not be able to digest their food properly and this can lead to illness and death.
The nighttime temperature can safely drop into the 60's and 70's.
Supplementation of crickets and other live meal items is very important but there are dangers if you over supplement especially with the Vitamins.
You need to use a phosphorous free calcium powder and a vitamin powder. We use:
To dust crickets:
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How often you supplement depends on the age of the dragon... other factors are health and breeding. Adults should only be supplemented once a week. (Twice a week for breeding females.)
Dragons are omnivores so they require insect and vegetable matter. The wider variety you give to your dragon, the healthier they will be.
Crickets fed to dragons should be no bigger than the width between the dragon's eyes. Feeding your dragons crickets that are too large will result in their death. They start twitching, have partial paralysis and then die. Most adults will be able to eat the Large size crickets.
Crickets must be gut-loaded before being fed to dragons. This means you have to feed your crickets a high quality cricket food and provide cricket water. If you don't the dragon will not receive the nutritional value it needs from its meal. You can buy water jelly and cricket food from any pet store.
Recipe for your own cricket food:
This makes enough to last you a long time so store |
Buying crickets in boxes of 1000 is more cost effective and you can easily keep the crickets alive. When you buy a box you will need to transfer them to their holding tank. We use the large rubbermaids to keep them in, just cut out the center of the lid and using a hot glue gun attach wire mesh screen. Add some Alfalfa Hay to the bottom. To get the crickets from the box to the holding bin use a garbage bag to empty the whole box in. Then shake off the egg carton to get all the crickets off and pour them into the holding bin. Tear up the egg carton into smaller pieces and put those in to keep the crickets from eating each other and help reduce moisture and humidity. Now put in 2 shallow dishes, one for cricket food and the other for the cricket water.
Thoroughly wash and dry your cricket bin before you put a new box of crickets in there. You want it to be clean and dry everytime.
Put veggies in for 3-4 hours maximum, as they will spoil quickly.
Always feed veggies in the morning, never at night.
Good Everyday Veggies for Dragons are:
I use the bulk "spring mix" from grocery stores most of the time and substitute a couple of extras into each veggie feeding. Variety is very important.
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DO NOT feed your dragon spinach |
Our Once a week Dragon Salad:
Chop everything up and put it into ice cube trays in the freezer and defrost as needed. |
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DO NOT feed your dragon Iceburg Lettuce |
Small amounts of fruit are enjoyed by Bearded Dragons. Do not feed too much or too often. They enjoy fruit such as: raspberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, peaches, grapes, pears, papaya and banana (very small amounts)
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DO NOT feed avocado |
Give water to your dragons a couple of times a week. Leave the shallow water bowl in the enclosure for a couple of hours. Take the water out if you notice it has become fouled.
Once a week also let your dragon have a bath. Dragons LOVE soaking and this will help any impactions, constipation and dehydration. Don't leave your dragon unattended while having their bath.
Sexing young dragons is difficult and if done incorrectly can cause injury to your dragon.
Once they are adults, determining sex can be accomplished by watching behaviors, size of head, tail taper, vent size, presence of pre-anal pores and scales.
Please refer to the "Bearded Dragon Manual" for sexing information.
For further information, visit our website at www.iculizard.com, or contact us with any questions at:
Phone: (416) 7979-ICU
E-mail: info@iculizard.com
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