Bearded Dragons > Reviews (14)

Bearded Dragons (often affectionately called Beardies) are often referred to as being easy to keep. This is true to a certain extent as they do not need such specialist care as some of the other reptiles (such a Chameleons) but you still need to do plenty of research, especially about their diet and vitamin supplements.

Price
I paid £60 for my Bearded Dragon when he was about 2 months old. I find that locally adult Bearded Dragons are more expensive and can cost up to £120. I always like to get my animals from young and watch them grow into adults.

Housing
Bearded Dragons are kept in vivariums

. My Bearded Dragon is kept in a vivarium made totally of wood, which has glass sliding doors at the front. If you buy a Beardy from a young age then it can be better to keep them in a smaller viv as they will look lost in a larger viv and also it will cost a lot more to heat the viv when it isn't really necessary to keep them in such a large tank. This is a matter of personal choice really as it does seem a bit pointless buying to different sized vivariums when in the end; you will only be using one. I was lucky in the fact that I have several reptiles and several spare tanks so I used a spare tank.
Adult Bearded D5agon should be kept in a viv that is at least 3 feet wide by 2 feet deep. My Bearded Dragon's viv is 3.5 feet wide, 18 inches deep and 2 foot high. I always think bigger is better so basically get the biggest viv that your house can accommodate.

Substrate
There are many differing opinions on what substrate should be used with Bearded Dragons. Substrate is what you choose to use as the flooring of the viv. Many people use sand but I heard that this can cause impactation (where the Beardy chases the live food, catches it, and also gets a mouthful of sand). The sand can not be digested and over time it will build up inside your reptile and eventually kill it. Other substrate that people use are things such as alfalfa pellets which are slightly safer than sand but still poses the risk of impactation. My chosen substrate is newspaper. It doesn't look anywhere near as attractive as sand but I believe the health of my reptiles is far more important that how their viv looks. The other advantage to newspaper is that it's free (or at least very cheap) and can be replaced very easily when it gets dirty.

The Nature Of A Bearded Dragon
Bearded dragons have a very laid back nature and are fascinating to watch, my mine is a right little character. They are easy to tame as they are so laid back and don't mid being handled. My only advice is to make sure that you support your Beardie's tail whenever you pick them up - they use their tails to balance and if you pick them up without supporting their tail them they get panicky as they are unable to balance. Many people with young children choose a Beardy as they have such lovely temperaments.
Beardies are very active so should be provided with various objects in the viv to amuse them.

Inside The Vivarium
In my viv I have a ramp leads up to a small ledge (please see pics), my beardy loves sliding up and down his ramp and when he is chilling out, he normally sits on his shelf which is at the top of the ramp!

I also have a large rock in the middle of the viv, this is there so he is able to bask on it to soak up some heat. He has all his heat in one end of his tank allowing him to go to either his 'hot end' or 'cool end ' depending on his temperature and where he feels most comfortable. Most Beardy keepers do not keep a water bowl in the viv, this is because Beardies can be prone to respiratory disease from being in too moist an environment and this is one of the reasons people tend not to put a water dish in the viv as it can create a moist atmosphere with the constant heat in the viv. Personally I keep a water dish in my viv as I change the newspaper at the bottom every couple of days so it is never allowed to get wet and I also get my Beardy out most days and leave the doors open so ensure that the atmosphere does not get too moist. Most people bath their Beardies every other day to allow them to soak up water through their skin (they are the only reptile that can do this, they regulate their temperature through evaporation through their skin) I personally bath my Beardy 3 times a week, just put a small amount of water in the bath, enough so it covers theirs legs and half their body but not their head! Make sure the water is not too hot, it is better for it to be too cold then too hot as you do not want to burn your Beardy. Let them have a splash around for 10-15 mins. My Beardy always has a swim and goes to the toilet when I bath him! Make sure you always dry your Beardy thoroughly and place them back in the hot end of their tank after a bath, again this stops them getting any sort of respiratory disease and ensure they totally dry.

Temperatures
I have a thermostat on my viv which ensures daytime temperature stays at 80-85 and the night time temperature can drop to 70. Bearded Dragons need to have UVB light as this provides them with vitamin D. The UVB light does not provide any heat, it basically acts like the sun and I keep the UVB light on during day time hours and then a red light bulb comes on during darkness. Beardies cannot process red light so to them it seems dark but you can still see them. The red light also provides the heat throughout the night. The heat can be provided through various sources, I have a heat lamp as we as a normal 60 watt household bulb - a white one for daytime use and a red one for night.
The lights should resemble normal day time hours for the time of year, so my daytime lights come on as the sun comes up, and the red light comes on when darkness falls. This needs to be changed as the evening get longer. All my lights are on timers which is much easier for me as I work shifts and having them all on timers allows the lights to switch at the same time every day.

Diet
Your Bearded Dragon will have a varied diet; they can eat all sorts of fruit and vegetables and as they grow into adults around 80% of their diet will be made up from fresh fruit and veg. One item of their diet that they MUST have is vitamin supplements. I use Nutrobol and a Vitamin C supplement.

You need to make it three parts vitamin C to one part Nutrobol and I either dust the live food with this or sprinkle it over his fresh fruit and veg. I prefer dusting the live food as you can see them eat it there and then rather than leaving it on their fruit and veg and not knowing if they are eating it or walking through it (as mine tends to do) If you do not provide your Bearded Dragon with these supplements then it can lead to poor bone structure and can leave them with brittle bones and eventually they will die from malnutrition.
Feeding a young Bearded Dragon can be expensive as they literally eat and eat. While mine was growing up he ate 170 crickets in one day. As they get older they need less live food and more fruit and veg as I mentioned earlier. I offer my Beardy a variety of live food every day and he also has different fresh fruit and veg on offer in his viv every day. They eat crickets, locusts, superworms and waxworms. Pinkies can be fed as a very occasional treat but very occasional as they are quite fattening and do not offer very much nutritional value. The fresh fruit and veg list is almost endless and you can find these lists on most reptile websites. I feed mine blackberries, raspberries; dandelions, apple, banana, strawberries, orange and cress just to name a few.

Size
Although small when they are babies, Beardies can grow up to 2 feet in length so when buying, you must take into consideration that your Beardy will get this big and you will need a viv big enough to house them. They are 2 foot from head to tail (bearing in mind their tail is quite long!!)

Shedding
As your Beardy gets bigger, it will shed to account for the growth rate. My Beardy shed's in sections, for example, at the moment his tail is shedding, and in a couple of weeks his body will shed. When they shed, they become extremely agitated as obviously their skin is very itchy and my Beardy runs around his tank, rubbing himself up against anything he can to try and help in shedding his skin.

Morphs
Morphs are basically the different varieties of Beardie's that are available.
You can a few different morphs of Beardie's and there really are some very striking colours available. My Bearded Dragon is just a normal but you can get one that are Sand fire (which are yellow) and also red varieties.

Can Beardie's Be Kept Together?
Bearded Dragons are very sociable animals and can be kept together very easily. Currently I keep mine alone as I have quite a few reptiles and I don't really have the room to get a bigger viv and it is always better to get a bigger viv if you are housing two together. You must never keep two males together though as they will fight. My Beardie quite often sits at the front of his tank watching everything going on in the house. I let him out most days and give him a bit of a run around the house, I don't keep him out for too long though as I don't like him to get cold. Always ensure that if you let your Beardy out, you pick up any loose objects that could be eaten. As I previously said, they are very inquisitive animals and will pick up almost anything and try to eat it.

Summary
On the whole these animals are easy to look after as long as you understand the commitment you are making when you buy them. Sometimes it can be a pain cutting up the fruit and veg every single day but this is vital to your animal's good health. As long as you do your research and understand the time and costs involved, keeping a Bearded Dragon is a very enjoyable experience.