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Bearded Dragon Care Sheet |
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~diurnal, terrestrial (good
climbers), omnivorous~
Size and Longevity:
Bearded dragons usually grow
up to 18-22" if fed right. This should take about 1.5-2 years to
reach, and they have a total life expectancy of 6-8 years.
Housing:
Beardeds may be housed
together, but only if all dragons are females. Males will try to
breed with the females too young, and this is detrimental to
their health, and may cause egg binding. This is when the eggs
impact the female and the only way to fix it is to bring her to
a vet. Please read the Breeding section to learn more. Baby
Dragons CAN (If necessary) live in a 20 gallon Long. They will
have to be upgraded to a bigger tank once they reach 8", which
is usually at about 2 months of age. Adult BDs need at least a
55 gallon tank for one or 75 is fine for two. 40 breeders also
work for 2 adult dragons. It depends what you can get, really.
They will require a basking spot of 110 degrees. This can be
accomplished by using either a 100 or 150 wt. Basking bulb. They
will also appreciate a rock or ledge going up to the light. There should be a food dish with vegetables always at
hand. Water bowls are ok to have, but they usually don't drink out of
them, as they don't see still water. Some people will buy a
water fall for them (which I hear they love) or you can just
spray them every morning and give them a bath once a week.
Calcium sand is your best choice for substrate; it retains the
heat very well and is very easy to spot clean. It much be
cleaned twice a year. The Temperature should be about 80 at the cool end and have a
basking spot of 110. This is vital and must be checked,
otherwise they will not digest properly.
Diet:
Because Bearded dragons are
omnivorous, they eat a wide variety of vegetables. I use
the same thing as for my iguana: equal parts of: yellow squash,
acorn squash, and butternut squash. Collard Greens
are the best staple diet though. You can then just blend up enough to feed the BD for 5 days
and keep it in the fridge. Every five days, repeat. (This only takes
about 3 minutes). All this can be bought at Publix. Live
Food: For crickets, the length of the cricket should be no
longer than the distance between the dragon's eyes.
For juvenile to adult you may feed crickets and super worms. I use
crickets and just breed them. Super worms are a little costlier, but
they are much more nutritios. For adults, you may feed mouse
pinkies once a month, but no more, and there is really no reason
to feed them that. Some roaches are just as nutritious as the
pinkies, but without the bones. I breed the orange spotteds,
Blaptica dubia. Make sure
you dust every couple feedings. Juveniles should get it once a
day, adults only once a week. Average the in-betweens. (Dusting: put crickets in container with RepCal and shake {this is a high calcium powder made specifically for
dusting}) At adulthood you may still use crickets but
you don't have to feed them as much as when they were younger.
Every couple days is sufficient.
THE BAD STUFF:
Do not listen to other
pet stores when it comes to their diet! Research!
Lettuce: High in fiber = dehydrates the dragon, which is
bad. Low in nutrition, which is bad Celery,
cucumber, carrots: High in oxalates, which bind protein =
bad.
Mealworms: Exoskeleton is made of
chitin, (kite-in) which beardies cannot digest = impaction =
bad.
-Juveniles are mostly
carnivorous, and as the grow, become more herbivorous.
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