Bearded dragon caresheet

[minky345]

Ive close my website down now but im keeping my caresheet going so im posting it on here. Enjoy

Bearded dragon Information:

Bearded dragons (pogona vitticeps) are native to Australia. They are medium sized lizards with a large bony head and firm spines on the side of their body. They can grow up to 60cm in total length and weigh up to 800g. Males tend to grow larger than females and weigh slightly more, but note this method cannot be used to sex dragons. The average life span for a bearded dragon is around 10-15 years but this can vary depending on how well the bearded dragon is cared for. They are diurnal lizards meaning that they are awake during the day. They are seen as one of the most suitable reptile species to keep due to their tame nature and tolerance to being handled.
The throat pouch is made up of spiky elongated scales that make up their beard and were they get their name ‘bearded dragons’. Males and females will inflate their bearded when they feel threatened. They can be seen more in the males when breeding.
Buying a healthy Bearded dragon:





Make sure when you buy a bearded dragon that it is healthy. The list below contains signs of an unhealthy bearded dragon to watch out for.

• If the dragon is limbless or inactive
• If the dragons keeps its eyes closed or its eyes appear sunken
• If there is crust around the dragons eyes, nose or vent
• If any of the dragons limbs appear broken, limp or misshapen
• If the dragons jaw appears limp, cut or misshapen
• If the dragon has any cuts, bruises, burns or wounds

Handling your bearded dragon:

Baby bearded dragons are very delicate and should be handled with care. They have very fragile bones and their internal organs can be easily damaged. When handling young bearded dragons they should be picked up in the palm of the hand and held firmly to prevent them from escaping but not enough to hurt them in any way. Try not to hold them too high above the ground in case they fall. Young bearded dragons can be very flighty and my try and jump. As they age they become more tolerant to being handled and some appear to enjoy having their head stroked.




Never:

• Pick your bearded dragon up by the tail
• Forcefully pull your dragon off a branch or log
• Allow your dragon to roam around unsupervised

Human hygiene:

Reptiles can carry salmonella, it can be spread around in their feces and under their nails. The risks of transporting or catching salmonella can be reduced with good hygiene rules as you would have in a kitchen. Remember to always wash your hands after handling a bearded dragon.
Housing:

Baby bearded dragons need to be housed in a vivarium that will make them feel secure and not stressed. Babies can be housed in a vivarium measuring 24in x 18in. However, they grow very quickly and need to be re-housed. They should be provided with branches and rocks to climb on. These are good for their muscles and rocks keep their nails worn down.

When they first hatch baby beardies are usually kept in groups and separated as they get older.

Babies also have some very funny sleeping positions.

Tip:
I don’t like to fill my vivariums with too many objects as I feel that it increases the number of places that crickets can hide and means that the babies cannot find their food as easily.

This picture shows one of my baby bearded dragon vivariums. They get a basking rock, a branch and a water bowl.

Adult bearded dragons can grow up to around 45cms with males being slightly larger than females. Therefore, the minimum vivarium size for a single (small) adult would be 36in x 24in x 24in. For a large adult a 4ft vivarium is better and for a pair of beardies the minimum would be 48in x 24in x 24in. Obviously, the bigger the vivarium the better. It is not recommended that males and females are housed together all year round as males will mate with the females all the time. If you value your beardies life they should only be allowed to produce one clutch of eggs a year. Also, NEVER breed brothers and sisters.

These are three females that are housed happily together

Feeding:

Babies up to 4-5 months
Hatchling bearded dragons grow very fast and need a lot of food. A hatchlings diet should consist of 60-80% insect material and 20-40% vegetable matter. They should be offered food 2-3 times a day (really as much as they can eat). It is important that all food is gut loaded, by feeding the crickets on fresh vegetables and bran if possible. Never feed 2 hours before its daytime heat goes off as it will not have enough time to digest its food.
Babies should also be offered finely chopped vegetables at least 3 times a week. Mine are very keen on cress and salad. NEVER feed beardies iceberg lettuce as it has no nutritional value and can cause stomach upsets. If not fed the correct amount of food babies may nip each others toes and tails, but note they can do this by accident as well. Also watch for bullying in the enclosure and make sure that all babies are getting enough food. Large babies will bully smaller ones. Bullying doesn’t have to be physical; just the presence of a larger dragon can cause problems leading to stress.

These pictures show baby bearded dragons eating salad leaves

Juveniles Over 4-5 months

Once babies reach this age the amount of food they need to be fed can be decreased as at this point the babies have some amount of fat reserves. If they are fed too much at this age they could become slightly obese as their growth rate has slowed down. They should now be fed only once a day with vegetable matter being offered every day. It is important that they get some vegetable matter so that they don’t turn their noses up at it when they are adults.
Large juveniles that are around a year old can now be offered pinkies and meal worms but only on occasions. Also, they still should not be fed items larger than the gap between their eyes.

Adults 18 months and Over

Adults can be fed live food every other day with the exception of breeding females. However, they should still be offered fresh vegetables every day. They should not be over fed on live food as they can become obese and this can lead to health problems. Food items like wax worms are very fatty and should only be offered as treats. Dragons require a variety of greens including collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and dandelion greens. Stay away from iceberg lettuce, large amounts of kale, cabbage, or spinach. A variety of vegetables such as carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, and fruits offered in small amounts.
Adults should be eating around 80% dark green leafy vegetation (rinsed with water before use) and 20% insects. As a rule of thumb they should be fed as much as can be consumed in 15minutes.

This picture shows a group of adult female bearded dragons eating a bowl of mixed salad

For more information on feeding bearded dragons the correct diet click onto this link> Bearded dragon nutritional information. Its American but it shows all the food items that a bearded dragon can and can not eat. I found this very useful when I got my first beardie.

Tips
NEVER EVER feed babies food items that are bigger than the gap between their eyes. This can have a serious effect. If done too often they might slip into a state of paralysis, disability or death. It can also lead to vomiting and compaction of the gut.
NEVER feed babies less than 4 months old meal worms as these are unable to digest them. Some people say it is ok, but I wouldn’t recommend the risk. It’s all down to personal choice.
AVIOD feeding spinach as this plant contains a calcium-binding chemical that prevents bearded dragons from metabolizing ingested calcium.
NEVER let the containers in which you keep the crickets in get mouldy as mould is toxic to beardies.
NEVER feed a food item too often that you cannot supply your dragon all year round as they can some times they can get a taste for a certain food item and then turn their nose up at anything else.
BAD BUGS never feed: – ants, bees, wasps, caterpillars, centipedes, fireflies (toxic), lubber grasshoppers or scorpions.
NEVER leave uneaten live food items in the vivarium at night as they WILL bite and chew your reptile.

Lighting:

Bearded dragons need 10% UV lighting for the production of Vitamin D3, which aids in Calcium absorption, without it they will develop Metabolic Bone diseases. The UBV should be on for around 10-12 hours a day and should ideally be changed every 6months as the UVB radiation from the bulb runs out.
For babies the UVB lighting should be no further than 6inches away, for adults this can be increased to 12inches. Where possible in the summer bearded dragons should be allowed to bask outside in the natural sunlight (the day does have to be really warm or your beardie will get cold). If this is done they should be left somewhere secure and must not be left. I give my dragons a heated daytime 12 hours long in the winter, from 8.30am until 8.30pm, this changes to 14 hours in the summer. Lights must be turned off at night, to allow your dragon to sleep. Aim for the UVB light to be around 8-12inches away from your bearded dragon.
Tips

UVB lighting will not transmit through glass.

[minky345]

Heating:

Bearded dragons are sun loving lizards and need high temperatures. They cannot generate heat to warm themselves up, so instead they bask. However, they also need to be able to regulate their body temperatures. This means they should be provided with a temperature gradient by providing a cooler end at one side of the vivarium. If they are cold they will move to the warm end and if they are too warm they will move to the cooler end.
Under the basking site the temperature should reach 100-105 degrees for adults and 100-115 for babies/juveniles with an ambient around the basking site of 90 degrees. At the cooler end of the vivarium the temperature should drop no lower than 80-85 degrees. These temperatures can be measured with the use of thermometers. If the temperature in the room that the bearded dragons are kept in drops no lower than 70 degrees at night then night time heating is not needed. However, if it does, a heat mat can be placed on the inside wall of the vivarium to keep the temperature up, this must be controlled by a thermostat. It can sometimes be difficult to get the right temperatures when setting up a vivarium for the first time. If the ambient temperatures are too low, you may need to turn up your thermostat or you can increase the wattage of he heat bulb. If the temperature under the basking site is too low, try moving the basking site closer to the bulb, ie a higher rock (keep it at a safe distance, or use a light guard).
There are a number of different ways to heat a vivarium. I use T-Rex Dome Styled Light Fixtures as they direct the heat down and heat my vivariums well and they are fitted with T-Rex clear basking spot lights. I would recommend that white or clear lights are used for heating a vivarium as reptiles cannot see red light. When they bask they are drawn to the heat by the light, therefore if red or other coloured lights are used your reptile my not be getting enough heat and could struggle to digest its food.
In my 5ft vivariums I have a basking spot at one end and a heat lamp in the cooler end. The heat lamp at the cooler end only comes on if the temperatures at the cooler end in the day drops below the recommended temperature. All my heating equipment is controlled by thermostats which prevents over heating. I also use basic digital timers to control the electrics and to ensure that the daylight periods are kept the same.
Tips:
I like to use a stone or piece of slate under my basking spot as the stone gets warm and provides extra heating and my dragons will lie on theirs to warm their bellies to help digest their food.

This picture shows my females basking on their rock

Hot rocks should never be used for bearded dragons. They can cause serious burns if they overheat. Additionally, bearded dragons sense heat from above, not below, and will not be able to tell if they are overheating from a heat source underneath them.
Bearded dragons will sometimes sit with there mouths open (DON’T WORRY) this is just their way of cooling down. They may also lift up their toes when basking, this is just to take their toes off the heat.

This picture shows a baby bearded dragon lifting up its toes

Substrate:

There are a number different substrates that can be used, what you do use is a matter of personal choice. A lot of people use sand or wood chip but these can cause impaction of the gut and lead to death if not treated.
In my opinion sand should not be used, repti-sand is said to be safe but it can still cause impaction.
For babies NEVER use sand as they can easily ingest it and possibly die from an impacted gut, I would strongly recommend using nothing on the vivarium floor and wiping the vivarium clean daily with a reptile safe disinfectant. If your vivarium is glass it would be best to put paper towels down as glass floors are slippery. Housing babies on anything other than kitchen roll or paper towels is not recommended as crickets will hid in the substrate and the babies will starve to death as they are unable to find their food.
All of my bearded dragons are housed on newspaper which although not very attractive, it is safe and it makes they easier to clean out . If you don’t want to house your reptiles on newspaper alfalfa pellets can be used but when these get wet the can break down and if let they can go mouldy.
Tips

I have heard from some people that pet shops have recommended that they used wood bark. This is not a good idea because if you think about it logically bearded dragons are desert dwelling lizard and there is not much wood bark in the desert. Wood bark is a tropical substrate so it holds moisture when it gets when and can increases humidity levels in the vivarium.
Bearded dragons hate high humidity levels so they should not be housed on a tropical substrate.

Water:

A water bowl can be provided in the vivarium, however as bearded dragons are desert lizards they do not drink much water.
Babies can become dehydrated very quickly and for this reason they should be sprayed with water daily. They will drink the droplets that run off their noses.

A water bowl in the vivarium will allow babies to swim around and drink if they wish to

Adults will not drink as much as babies but they should also be sprayed daily and be provided with a water bowl.
Never spray the vivarium as this increase the humidity levels, only spray the dragons.
Some bearded dragons will drink a lot more than others. I have one female that hardly ever drinks and one that drinks a lot of water.
Tips
I like to bath my babies once a week in a shallow bowl of warm water that just covers their backs. I then leave them in there for a couple of minutes with constant observation so they don’t harm themselves. They will sometimes drink and will usually defecate and they will also absorb water through their skin.
I also like to do this for my adults as well by placing them in the bath which also allows them to swim around which they seem to enjoy and it is a good form of exercise. I do this once a month, but if they have the correct diet of live food and greens they should get all the water they need.

Here are two juvenile bearded dragons having a bath

Vivarium Decoration:

Rocks made good vivarium decorations and they also hold heat which means they can be used under heat lamps to warm the underside of your dragon. However they must be stable so that they don’t fall over. In addition, sharp rocks are not recommended as they can cut your dragon.
Branches provide good climbing equipment for bearded dragons but like rocks they must be secure and not too high as adults are not the best climbers and could easily fall off.

Here is Bruce with his piece of bark

Vitamins:

For babies ALL food should be dusted and I like to use calcium bone aid and Nutrobal (found in most pet shops or online shops). Some people say that Nutrobal alone is good enough but others say that it does not contain enough calcium. Therefore I dust 4 days a week with Nutrobal and 3 days a week with calcium bone aid. All food items should be dusted included greens. For adults most of their food should be dusted but not all of it has to be.
Health:

Like all animals, bearded dragons also need their nails trimming time to time even when kept on sand. If allowed to grow too long the claws can become uncomfortable to walk on. They can be cut back using nail clippers or they can be taken to the vets.
Bearded dragons can suffer from a number of different internal and external parasites. The most common internal parasite in bearded dragons is coccidia. Regular routine visits to your local reptile vet can help keep control of parasites.

[minky345]

Sexing:

It is very difficult to sex a baby bearded dragon. In adults some sexual differences can be identified, but this is not a sure way to determine there sex. The most effective way to sex a bearded dragon is to look on the underside of their tail, just above the vent to see if there is either a single bulge (or none) or two separated bulges. If you have a male there will be two separate bulges, in females there is usually only one bulge. This can be seen in the pictures below.

A female bearded dragon

A male bearded dragon
Source:www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/

Below are some more difference between males and females. However, these should not be used as methods to determine the sex of bearded dragons.
Males:

• Have a wide tail base to accommodate their hemipenes
• They will have two noticeable bulges either side of their vent, these are the hemipenes
• They have a wide cloacal opening
• They are broader and have a stronger triangular heads
• They have enlarged femoral and preanal pores around their cloacal opening that appear darkened
• They have darker beards, especially during breeding
• Generally larger in size
• More robust

Females:

• Have a narrower tail base and cloacal opening
• They have small femoral pores that are usually not darkened
• They have no hemipenal bulges
• Smaller in size

Breeding:



Bearded dragons become sexually mature at around 6-18months old depending on their size and nutrition status. The breeding cycle can be initiated by putting the bearded dragons through a ‘cooling period’ when the lighting is reduced to 10hours a day and temperatures are lowered. During this time the dragons activity levels will fall and they will eat less. They will spend much more of their time hiding but will still emerge to bask. Once the conditions are returned to normal after around 10-12weeks, the dragons will begin courtship behaviour.
Courtship in females consists of arm waving which they display to the males, in return the males ‘head bob’.

Mating:

The male should always be placed in the females vivarium for mating. This is to keep the female feeling comfortable and secure. This will also increase the chances of a successful conception. Males can also be less aggressive towards the female when placed in their vivarium due to them being out of their comfort zone.
When placed together the male will quickly start running around and chasing the female, he will vigorously bob his head and puff out his beard which by this time will have turned a dark black colour. She will signal to him that she is ready to mate by arm waving.
He will then bite the female firmly on the back of the neck and wrap his forelimbs around her upper body. The male will throw the female around and shake her violently but this is necessary for a successful mating. When ready the male will tilt the females rear area to expose her cloaca, then he will insert one of his hermipenes to mate. They will stay locked in this position for anything from a few seconds to a few minutes. This can be seen in the picture below.

Bearded dragons mating

After mating and nesting:

Two to three weeks after mating a gravid (pregnant with eggs) female will have an enlarged belly and may show signs of restlessness and nesting behaviour. Females that are full of eggs may also stop eating. This is due to the eggs pushing against her stomach and making her feel full. This is one of the reasons that a female should be well fed with some fat reserves before mating. A healthy female can lay six clutches of eggs in a season with each clutch averaging around 20 eggs. The number of eggs laid depends of the age, size and health status of the female but can vary between 6 – 40 eggs.
Females should be provided with a nest site consisting of 30cms depth of damp (not dripping wet) sand or soil into which she will make a burrow to lay her eggs in. Some females will lay their eggs in a corner of the vivarium even when provided with a nest box. However, if there is no nest box, some females may refuse to lay and suffer dystocia, also referred to as ‘egg binding’. This can be fatal for both the female and the eggs and in most cases females need surgery to remove the eggs.
Tip:
I tend to use a deep cat litter tray or a washing up bowl full of damp sand. Make sure that your female can get in and out of the bowl easily.
Laying:

When ready to lay the female will become very active and will spend a lot of time digging. She may dig a number of different holes and cover them back up before she decides which one she wants to use. Once the hole has been dug the female will back her self in so that her head is pointing out of the hole. The female can take anywhere from 30minutes to a few hours to lay all of her eggs depending on the size of the clutch. During this time the female should be left alone in peace to lay her eggs.
Once finished laying the female will then check her eggs and cover them back over with the substrate that she has laid them in. Once she has finished, the eggs can be carefully uncovered and removed to be placed in the incubator.
Tip:
To remove the eggs I tend to use a pastry brush to uncover them and a tea spoon to pick them up. Be careful not to turn the eggs too much as this can kill the embryo.
Incubation of eggs:

It is important that the incubator is setup and running before the eggs are laid so that the temperature have time to correct itself before the eggs are placed in it. A thermometer can be used to keep an eye on the temperatures during incubation. When the eggs are incubated at around 29oc they take around 55-75 days to hatch. Lower temperature will result in slow development.

Hatching:

When ready to hatch the babies will begin pipping. This is when they slash open their eggs shells but do not come out. This stage is very hard on the babies and it takes a great deal of energy to break open their shells. Therefore, they will rest for hours even days before emerging fully. During this time they will also reabsorb the rest of their yolk sacs and start breathing air. The eggs will not always hatch at the same time, and it can sometimes be a number of days before all the eggs have hatched. Any eggs that shrivel up or begin to rot should be thrown out.

Tip:

Do not let the humidity levels drop during this time as it could harden the eggs shells and make it harder or impossible for the babies to get out.


I like to use moist vermiculite to incubate my eggs in. I place the eggs in small tupperware boxes inside the incubator. I do not put the lids on the boxes fully so that the level of condensation does not increase too much as this could drown the embryos inside the eggs. I keep the vermiculite damp to keep the levels of humidity constant. Remember NOT to turn the eggs at any time.

Infertile eggs:

Sometimes females can lay infertile eggs. These eggs will appear small and will be a tea stained color or yellow. It is possible for females that haven’t been with males to lay infertile eggs.
General information and behaviour:

On average bearded dragons can live for around 10-15 years, if they are kept in the correct housing and environmental conditions.A female that has been bred repeatedly will have a much shortened life span.
Bearded dragons show a number of different behaviours and two that the may do frequently are nodding their heads (which is a sign of dominance) and the other is arm waving (this is a sign of submissive behaviour). When they sit with open mouths this is their way of cooling down their body temperature.
Bearded dragons may also turn their beards to black. Males will do this when mating with a female and also as a sign of dominance and as a form of defence.
Baby bearded dragons will some times bulge their eyes out of their sockets. This is so that they are able to stretch the skin around their eyes when shedding.
Two male bearded dragons should not be kept together as this could lead to fighting and injuries. Even some female bearded dragons can find it hard to get along and can cause serious injures to each other if they fight.
Males and females can be kept to together for short periods of time but this could lead to over breeding and a reduced life span for the female. Ideally females should only be bred once a year at the most.
It is also important that related males and females are not bred together as this is interbreeding and can lead to birth defects and deformities.
Do not mix other reptiles with bearded dragons, as it is an accident/fatality waiting to happen.
Brumation:

Brumation is a form of hibernation in bearded dragons. However it is not total hibernation but more of a half hibernation where they go into a semi inactive state. Most dragons will do this in their first year of life.
Causes:

It can be caused by the temperature dropping in the house or if your bearded dragon is by a window then the change in day length can also have an effect.
Signs:

They will usually eat less and less until they go into brumation, however, that’s not always the case in some bearded dragons.
Check out this website for more details: http://www.exclusivedragons.com/Brumation.html

Good web sites and books:

I would recommend www.Reptileforums.co.ukas it has a help and chat section where you can post you any problems that you might have and people write back to you with answers.
Also if you click onto this link it will take you to a page all about Bearded dragon nutritional information. It is American but it shows all the food items that a bearded dragon can and can not eat. I found this very useful when I got my first beardie.

Good books that I would recommend you buy are:


Bearded dragon (reptile basics) by R.D Bartlett


Bearded dragon Manual by Philippe De Vosjoli, Robert Mailloux, and Susan Donoghue


Bearded dragon (complete herp care series) by Philip Purser


All these books are cheap to buy second hand on www.Amazon.co.uk

The information contained in this care sheet is drawn from my own personal experience in breeding bearded dragons. Please note however that I accept no liability for the advice given.

[trapieter]

good work this should be stickied or something.. easier to find for the newbies.

[MintyST]

Thankyou, thats just what i`ve been looking for. Now off to order some books

[Karen-H]

Great info. Are there any particular types of fruit they SHOULDN'T eat?

[beardie&crestielover]

Originally Posted by Karen-H

Great info. Are there any particular types of fruit they SHOULDN'T eat?

ice burg lettuce

and minky, great caresheet mate especially on the housin part

[Karen-H]

Iceberg lettuce isn't a fruit I mean't fruit as in pineapple, blueberries, apple etc

[minky345]

Take a look at this link Nutrition Content it tells you everything.

[Karen-H]

Brilliant, thanks