Bearded Dragon Care Sheet


Bearded Dragons are native to Australia. Those in captivity are predominantly Pogona vitticeps. Virtually all those available are captive bred. Captive bred stock is healthier than wild-caught and is generally parasite-free. Bearded Dragons get their name because of the unique ability to "puff out" a throat pouch that has soft "spikes" that resemble a beard. This "beard" will change color, becoming jet black when they are displaying their dominance and very vivid colors of yellow, orange and red or a very light tan when they are at rest. Beards are not limited to males; the females will show off their beards as well. Bearded dragons appear to be very social animals and you will often see them in "piles" when they are basking or resting. They have their own special body language, bobbing their heads at one another, gaping their mouths, flattening their bodies and tilting (to look bigger and more threatening) as they circle one another, swishing their tails and sometimes biting each other. The submissive dragon will bob their head more slowly, hunker down and "wave" one or both arms in submission as if to say "OK you are bigger and I give up!" This is most frequently seen during mating. Dragons of all ages will display this "wave" at different times. We have noticed it is more frequent when they first see each other or when they are slowly stalking prey. They rapidly establish a hierarchy and aggressive displays are rare.


General Care

Hygeine - Although Bearded Dragons have never been shown to carry salmonella, many reptiles do, so hygiene is very important. Wash your hands with soap for at least 30 seconds, or use hand disinfectant, after handling your dragon. Disinfect any area you used to clean cages, dishes, etc., by using a 10% bleach solution. Use separate cleaning utensils, not the sponge you use to wash your own dishes. Reptiles should not be handled if you're pregnant or are immuno-compromised .

Handling

Bearded dragons are very calm lizards and take readily to being handled. The more often you hold your bearded dragon,in general the more calm and friendly it will become. Bearded dragons seem to enjoy this contact and will often climb right onto your hand or arm. Younger bearded dragons are more hyper and tend to run. Be careful when handling them because they will take off without warning and can jump to the floor and injure themselves. When picking up your bearded dragon be sure to support all of his legs and his body, this makes them feel more secure. For large bearded dragons it is best to pick them up by grasping over his body at the front legs and lifting them off the ground and sliding your other hand under his belly and rear legs. Bearded Dragons like to climb and enjoy resting on your shoulder or chest. Keep one hand ready because they do not always hold on tight and you wouldn't want them to fall.

Housing and lighting

Housing - Hatchlings can be kept in a ten-gallon tank for a short period of time. Two juveniles can be kept in a 20-35 gallon tank. Two adults need a minimum of 55, with a 60 to 80-gallon tank being preferable. Bearded dragons like to climb and run so the more space both up and across, the better. For any size dragon the enclosure needs to be large enough that you can vary the temperatures for them. You must be able to have a warm and cold end of the enclosure.(See next section for temperatures) There are many types of enclosures available from custom made wood cages to glass tanks with a screen top and lighting from above. A screen top is important as it provides ventilation and allows the needed UVB to pass through. Do not use enclosures that are mostly made up of screen material as this will not hold the heat that is necessary for your dragon.

Lighting - When designing your tank set-up, you should keep in mind that there should be a warm zone and a cool zone. Bearded dragons need a temperature gradient in their cages both horizontally and vertically. Basking lights should be provided at one end of the cage twelve to fourteen hours a day. The temperature in the basking area should be 95° - 105°F (34° - 41°C)for hatchlings, with adults preferring 88° - 95°F (31° - 37°C),the cool end of the cage should be in the eighties dropping down to the 70's at night. In addition to the basking light bearded dragons need UVB lighting which is necessary for several health reasons, including the synthesis of vitamin D3, which is essential for the absorption of calcium (ths is very important for bone growth and health). This can be provided in a fluorescent tube (we recommend Repti sun 5.0) placed on top of the tank, preferably within 12 inches. Take care not to put your enclosure in direct sunlight as the heat intensifies and you may overheat your dragon. Dragons do enjoy natural sunlight and can be put in an enclosure outdoors for a few hours a day when the weather permits it. We also recommend an undertank heater on the same end of the cage as the basking light. This will stay on at all times.

Substrate - For baby bearded dragons the simpler, the better. A simple substrate such as newspaper or paper towling is sufficient. Never put sand in with your babies because all beardies like to explore their environment with their tongue and the sand can cause fecal impaction for these small beardies. For our older dragons (usually 8 inches and longer) we use play sand (from Home Depot) because it is simple to keep clean. A regular cat scoop or kitchen sieve works well to clean up the waste. We do not recommend, walnut shells,wood shavings or rabbit pellets (alfalfa) as they can harbor mites and tend to mold easily if they become wet.(and they will)
In addition to substrate, your set-up should include several branches or rocks for your lizard to climb, on both the warm and cool side. Finally a shallow water bowl should be provided on the cool side, and cleaned every day as necessary. (beardies tend to leave waste and substrate in their water bowls).

Diet

The diet that you feed your bearded dragon may quite possibly be the most influential factor in the overall long-term health of your bearded dragon. For this reason it is vital that you feed your dragon an age-appropriate diet that consists of nutritional items as well as vitamin supplementation. NEVER allow your dragon to eat fireflies as they are fatal.
Water - We will put a very small water dish in with our hatchlings. We use a small plastic or coated ceramic planter disc. Because bearded dragons don't readily recognize standing water they should be misted several times a day.They will readily lap up water from the bottom of their cage, off of each other, or off of furnishings in their cage. As the beardie becomes older they will learn to drink from a shallow water dish (or right from the misting bottle when held close their mouth). Regular misting should still be performed to aid in shedding. When we mist our beardies we have noticed that they will sometimes do a swimming type of dance on any pools of water they find! This can be quite entertaining. Our adult females will "bulldoze" each other off of a wet rock so that they can do this ritual. Be careful not to wet the cage too much, too much humidity can be harmful to your beardie.We have found it best to place them in the water dish and mist them there.
Vegetables - Spinach , broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables should be fed in very small amounts not more than once a week. Too much of these foods can be harmful to your beardie. We do not recommend using iceburg lettuce for your dragon. The vegetables we recommend are fresh shredded carrots, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens and flowers (our beardies love them from the yard, make sure there has not been any pesticide or fertilizers used!), Kale and frozen thawed mixed veggies (carrots, beans and peas). Bearded dragons also enjoy fruits and some types of plants such as Pothos.
Insects - We do not recommend feeding your beardies Mealworms because of their undigestable outer shell. We feed our beardies crickets and Super Worms, and occassional wax worms and pinkie mice. Crickets should be gut loaded (fed) just prior to offering to your beardie with high nutritional foods that you would want the bearded dragon to eat. If you are raising your own crickets, or will be keeping them for any length of time, it is important that they are fed a high quality diet. Crickets can be fed such things as greens, potatoes, carrots and orange slices. It is a good idea to sprinkle vitamin/mineral supplementation on the food you feed your crickets because then you can be sure they will be nutritional. In this case, you are what you eat is the golden rule.
Hatchlings up to 6 inches- Quarter inch crickets should be offered two to three times daily, feeding as much as they will eat. The crickets should be lightly dusted with vitamin/mineral supplements, we use Miner-all every day on the first feeding of the day and Herptivite every ten days. Offer a small amount of finely chopped greens at least every other day, they can have these daily if desired. Never feed your bearded dragons meal worms, and do not feed your babies superworms. If you have a baby bearded dragon it is especially important for you to be careful about the size of the food items he eats. Feeding large food items to small bearded dragons can cause hind-leg paralysis, impaction, loss of appetite and death. The symptoms of eating a too large food item vary but often you will see the baby listing to one side or rolling, he will be lethargic and will sometimes open his mouth wide like a yawn. Once these symptoms start to show it is very difficult for the bearded dragon to pull through. For this reason it is practical to err on the side of safety, the length of the food item should be no longer than the distance between the beardies eyes, this applies to both insects and vegetables.
Seven to 10 inches- 1/2inch crickets (depending on the beardies size) twice daily. Vitamin/mineral supplement insects every other day. Offer finely chopped greens and mixed vegetables/fruits every other day. Small fresh shed (white) superworms can be offered.
10 inches to sexual maturity (about 10 months old) - Offer 3/4 inch crickets once or twice daily. You can also offer super worms, as well as newborn to 5 day old mice every week or two if you like. Insects should be vitamin/mineral supplemented every other day. Chopped greens and mixed vegetables/fruits should be offered every other feeding.At this age greens and fruits can be offered daily along with the crickets.
Adults - Offer full grown crickets and/or super worms three times a week. Pinky or fuzzy mice can be offered once a month. Insects should be vitamin/mineral supplemented two feedings a week, and chopped vegetables/fruit should be offered daily. Breeding females should be given additional supplement high in calcium, including pink mice, during egg development and laying. Enjoy your new bearded dragon. They live for many years and will be a welcome member to your family.