Bearded Dragon Caresheet

[Dynamos Dragons]

After care

Stress - Beardies can stress easily, just adding something new to their viv can upset them and put them off there food. With that in mind when you get your new baby beardie home put it straight into its new home and let it settle in. It can take up to a week for it settle however some settle easily and quickly.
Food - Have some grated or finely chopped veg, (i.e., spring greens, rocket, watercress, cabbage, kale, courgette, carrot) available to it at all times.
Offer some live food also (crickets, locusts, roaches, as a staple or wax worms as a treat only). They tend to eat on the first day but can go off their food as they settle in. All food offered to the dragon must be smaller than the space between its eyes as a rule of thumb. So chop or grate the veg accordingly. Only purchase the correct size live food using the rule of thumb previously stated. The live food should be offered twice a day until 4-5 months old with as many as it will eat in 5-10 mins with one feed being dusted.
Dusting - For dusting the live food I recommend Calcium Carbonate (limestone flour) 5 days a week and the other 2 days a vitamin based supplement like Nutrobol.
Water - A small water bowl can be put in the viv in the cool end however, the bigger the bowl the higher the humidity. Bearded dragons are native to Australia where there is not a lot of water available and is a dry climate. So require a low humidity, As high humidity levels can cause respiratory problems. I find a 5-10 min bath in warm water(baby warm) gives them time to rehydrate and also helps when shedding.
Handling - Keep handling to a minimum for the first week or so. Only touching it to move it for cleaning the viv/feeding etc. when it comes to handling it, you should approach it keeping your hand low as in the wild their predators come from above. When young they can be quite skittish and fast, so be confident yet gentle and scoop them up or usher it with your other hand. You may find your dragon comes to you out of curiosity. As your dragon builds a trust for you, it will love you and love being handled by you. Some will sit on you for hours watching the TV with you. Some like to be stroked. All have their own unique qwirky personalities and are adorable.
If cared for correctly they can live for anything from 6 -12 years, and become part of the family. They love attention just like cats and dogs.
Vets - It is advisable to be aware of a good reptile/herp vet in your area and get a feacal done from time to time to check for parasites. Its also advisable to keep your pet in quarantine for 3 months(no contact with other pets) just to be sure not to contaminate your collection or vice versa.











HOUSING, HABITAT AND HEATING REQUIREMENTS:
Vivarium - The recommended size for a bearded dragon is 8 square foot of floor space so a 4’x2’x2’, 4’x2’x1.8’ or 4'x2'x1.5' as L W H is all fine for an adult beardy. A baby or juvenile can be kept in a smaller cage for the first 12 months of its life depending on how fast it grows.

Keeping in pairs - It is a very bad idea to keep male beardys together because as they mature they can and probably will fight, , Male and females can be kept together but will probably breed, which if not done correctly, can cause health problems if the female is not old enough, or up to a breeding weight. Females can be kept together but you may get some bullying. Which can mean one dragon is not getting as much food as the other.

Heat and UV lights - They will need a spotlight at one end on a stat set to obtain the required temperature. I recommend a white spot light as beardys sense light/heat from above via their third eye. A Uv tube running the length of the viv, i recommend a 10% UVB minimum, and a cooler end. I have mine both set on a timer for 12 hours a day to keep their heat and uvb in a pattern similar to a day/night cycle. Beardies seem to like it between 105-115f (40-46 degrees C) under the spotlight, with a gradient of 80-90f(27-32 degrees C) in the centre and 70-75f(21-24 degrees C) at the cool end. It is a vital requirement that you have a gradient, due to not be able to regulate their own body temperature, known as thermoregulation. They have no way of controlling their own body temperature other than by sitting under a direct source of heat radiation and then being able to move away from it when they need to cool down. Night time the temps should drop to 70-80f(21-27 degrees C) which is fine for your beardie and simulates night time drops in the wild. There is no need for a heat matt in a beardies viv.

Decor - You can put rocks/bricks under the spotlight, bogwood, climbing branches, fake plants around the viv for decoration. The rocks under the spotlight serve to absorb heat radiation and stay warm even if the spotlight is turned off by the thermostat, the bogwood can be positioned under the uv tube so that they can get as close to it as possible. Uv tubes should not give off heat if matched to the correct wattage tube, so therefore the animals are at no risk of being burnt by it. The climbing branches are there for climbing, they do like to climb, you can add whatever furniture you wish as long as you can clean it and it is not toxic to your animals.