Bearded dragon care
Life span, origin and colours
Bearded dragon's can live up to 10 years or longer if properly cared for.
They come from Australia 🇦🇺.
You can get many colour variations.
Here are the some colours you can get, however a dusty brown is the most common colour you will see in a lot of pet stores.
(This one is mine..this is the main colour you get them in...he only lived for eight years as he's a rescue..he stayed with me for about five years but he pasted away due to a unknown illness)
Diet
Bearded dragon's eat both plants and animals
An adult bearded dragons need 80% plant and 20% bugs in their diet where babies and ones under a year old needs the opposite
They needs both to get the right amount of nutrition.
Supplements can be used such as calcium powder, this will lower the chance of them getting a disease called metabolic bone disease or MBD for short.
This is where the body takes calcium from the bones so the lizard can live and many other things.
They eat animals such as locust, crickets and meal worms and wax worms
It's five crickets or locusts for one bearded dragon.
You can give five or ten meal worms to one bearded dragon.
Wax worms are meant for treats as they are fatty and can cause obesity. So give them five once a week or every two weeks.
You can even feed them a pinkie (baby mouse) at the end or start of each month you just can't give them bugs on the day you feed it a pinkie
You can breed all these animals easily and it will only cost you about £10 maybe less. You just need a:
-tub with holes to put them in
-a egg box or if you want a log (clean it first with warm water, not needed for wax or meal worms)
You can feed them grass, lettuce or even leaves.
You can't give them a tub of water but you can buy water gel in pet stores, or put a tiny bit in with the calcium powder and turn it into a ball they will eat this and then you won't have to bother giving it to your lizard.
With their salad give them non ice burg lettuce, cucumber and peppers.
Don't give them a lot of peppers or cucumber as they can get a disease called mouth rot.
It's not nice and I had one up a rescue centre I help out at and it unfortunately didn't get better so he pasted away.
You can also give them dandelion leaves, just wash them first.
Other foods you can give them is fruits, vegetables and leaves/plants like:
-Rocket
-broccoli
-watercress
-spring onion (mainly the green bits)
-Acorn squash.
-Asparagus (raw).
-Bok choy.
-Cabbage (raw).
-Celery.
-Collard greens.
-Kale.
-Lentils (cooked)
-Mustard greens.
-Parsnips.
-Radicchio.
-Turnip greens.
-Zucchini (raw).
-Artichoke Heart.
-Bell Peppers (raw).
-Butternut squash.
-Carrots.
-Chicory.
-Cucumber (peeled).
-Endive.
-Kohlrabi.
-Okra (raw).
-Pumpkins.
-Spaghetti squash.
-Yams (raw).
-Yellow squash
-Basil.
-Carnations
-Chives
-Clover
-Dandelion greens
-Day-lilies
-Impatiens
-Maple leaves
-Mint leaves
-Oregano
-Rose petals
-Rosemary (fresh)
-Sage
-Thyme (fresh)
-Apple
-Apricot
-Blackberries
-Blueberries
-Chayote
-Cherries
-Cranberries
-Figs
-Grapes
-Guava
-Mangos
-Papayas
-Peaches
-Pears
-Plum
-Prunes
-Raisins
-Strawberries
-Watermelon
Don't give them a lot of fruit as it cause mouth rot
When cutting the food and all their food, make sure it's as big or smaller then the space between their eyes as if it isn't they will choke
Water MUST be changed and available at all times, and feed everyday.
Enclosure
The minimum size of your vivarium must be 3ft long and 2ft wide and tall, this will house two bearded dragon's. However I recommend it for just one as you can get one called a German giant and they are way bigger then the normal bearded dragon.
Enrichments
logs and rocks should be put in your enclosure as they love to climb, the rock help traps heat so they can bask, you can put your rock under the basking light.
You can buy their logs and rocks at pet shops or go out and collect them from your local forest or woodland area, just wash them first in warm water for logs and warm soapy water for rocks
You can give them rock caves if they can fit in it.
You can also give them fake plants, however you need to be careful as some are known to mistake this for food and eat it
Substrate
The substrate they have is sand, you can get this sand from pet shops or you can use child play sand.
Or you can use reptile carpet
Temperature
The temperature must remain hot at all times, at each end of the enclosure there must be a hot and cold side.
The hot side is where you put your heat lamp, this side need to stay between 25 cel - 35 degrees.
The cold side where there isn't one needs to be 15-25 degrees.
You need to give them a basking and a UAV light.
They need a 12% UAV bulb.
If it breaks replace it as fast as you can.
The UAV lights needs to be replaced every six months as it runs out of the UAV.
The light it's self will work but it does need to be replaced.
Here are some good examples of bearded dragon enclosure
Cleaning
They need to be spot cleaned everyday. Witch means taking old food and any poo out.
They don't poo as often as us and other animals so don't be to alarmed.
Their enclosure needs to be full cleaned once a month.
This is where you replaced the sand with new sand and wash the enclosure and all the logs and rocks.
You can also wash your beardie in your bath. Just fill it up so its not to deep add in a log so your beardie can rest.
The deeper the water the more your beardie will swim and this is good exercise for them.
Breeding and gender.
If your dragon has eggs and you want them to hatch you MUST be careful when getting them out the enclosure and putting them in a incubator.
Once you turn the egg the baby is dead.
Plus their eggs are soft.
Once mated and its successful it takes them 5-6 weeks to develop the eggs, it then takes 50-100 days to hatch.
Put a nesting box in its enclosure. This normally is a dish washing bucket so it's deep but not too deep. This needs to be filled with both sand and soil mixed together.
If you don't do this your beardie will start to egg bind, this is where they won't lay the egg and can soon die, However they are known to live with it but can't breed again.
Never put two males together.
Males must be on their own, or can be with females if you want baby's.
If you see these it means it's a male.
Signs of ill health in bearded dragons
Droopy eyes: if their eyes appears droopy it can be a sign of kidney issues. If you believe it has droopy eyes take it to a vet as if it's left untreated your beardie can go blind.
Swollen or puffed out eye: there is many meanings behind this it can mean its shredding around the face or can mean it has a overdose of vitamin A or can mean parasites on the eye causing it to to be infected. If you are unsure what it can be it's best to take it to the vets to be on the safe side.
Diarrhoea: can be temporary if you have made a change to its diet, can mean it has low levels of stress and/ or have just eaten something bad. If it's any of these things it shouldn't last long however if it happens frequently it means your beardie have a parasite or worms, if so take to the vet.
Dehydration: if you have a ill then hydration is important. Here are the signs of dehydration.
-sunken eyes
-wrinkled skin
-lack of energy
-lack of appetite
If your beardie is dehydrated. Try to coax them to drink water or sports drinks but don't give them too much at once and only use certain sports drinks. If this don't work you can Bath them as they do tend to let water into their skin or you can get a syringe (without needle) and put it in its mouth.
Metabolic Bone Disease: this disease is caused by lack of calcium and vitamin D3 and/or can mean it has phosphorus or has a weakening of the bones. Signs to look out for:
-bumps you can see or feel on the legs
-it's having or is twitching, ticks, spasms, or is having tremors
-bumps on its back or tail
-swollen jaw
-is having a jerky movement when walking
It can be easily treated by using the right and proper multivitamin. But is always best to consult a vet. Faster you stop it the more of a chance the animal can live. If it's spine is twisted and bent then it's better to put it down.
Mouth rot: it's not closing its mouth and has some lumps around the mouth, best to take it to a vet. This is mainly caused from it having high sugared food.
Facts
-breaded dragons have a mild venom. This will not kill you or make you ill but after a little while from being bitten you will start to feel a little pain and throbbing in the bitten area
-male dragons have two penis's called hemipenes
I hope this helps, but still if you have any questions please ask. Even if it's for another animal
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