Caresheet

Housing

You can start out with a ten gallon enclosure for a baby dragon, but you will eventually need to upgrade. A baby dragon will be able to catch crickets easier in a smaller enclosure. Keep in mind that Bearded Dragons grow at a pretty rapid rate if healthy and properly taken care of (in most cases). Bearded Dragons grow to about 18-20 inches and German giants can reach up to 24 inches. In today's market a lot of dragons are crossed with German Giant lines. All of our enclosures are custom made (48w x 18h x 24d) from critter condos which can be purchased from them directly or at caliente dragons. Avoid using artificial plants for decoration because they will eat it.

Lighting and Temperature

You will need a fluorescent UV light and a basking heat light. The UV light is very important. You can purchase these lights at your local pet store. The fluorescent bulb that we use is a ZooMeds reptisun 10.0. Your basking light wattage may vary depending on the room air temperature and size of your enclosure. You want it to be from 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit on hot side and 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit on the cooler side. You want to place the basking light on one side and that will be its hot side. Bearded dragons need a cool down side and a warm side so they can regulate there own body temperature. The heat is real important as it helps with the digestion of their food. We have our lighting set on timers that cut on at 0500 (5AM) and off at 1600 (4PM). You can purchase them for under 10 dollars at any hardware store. We do not recommend heat rocks as they do not heat up the enclosures and have been known to cause burns to animals. It will only heat up the dragon through direct contact and could cause thermal burns to the body of the dragon.

Feeding and Water

Bearded dragons need to eat fresh vegetables and gut loaded insects daily. Younger dragons tend to eat more insects which assist with the rapid growth. As dragons grow into mature adults they tend to eat more vegetables than insects. Insects can consist of crickets, mealworms, superworms or horned worms. Some people feed their dragons other insects. I chop up my vegetables small enough for the babies to swallow to prevent any choking. The vegetables consist of romaine lettuce, mustard greens, collard greens, squash, carrots and turnips. Make sure you wash the vegetables good prior to serving due to possible pesticides. After we place the chopped veggies in the food dish we add a little bit of water until it floats. This will become the main source of water for the dragons. If there is any remaining vegetables that did not go into the food dish you can store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator. That will save you time and energy for the next feeding. Also keep a separate water dish filled with clean water daily. When a bearded dragon gets dehydrated in can definitely affect its appetite and could lead to serious problems.

Ground Substrate

I have read and heard of different things as far as what to use. Keep in mind that bearded dragons are native to Australia and do not get all the special care in the wild. It is much cheaper to purchase sterilized playground sand from your local hardware store or colorful sand from Walmart. It's about 5 dollars for a 50 pound bag. We really don't recommend the colored sand because it will dye the skin of the dragon. Bark or wood shavings could cause impaction and lead to death.