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Care of your
Bearded Dragon
Hatchlings- The hatchlings
can be a bit more delicate than
many other lizard species. There
are a number of details that you
must pay careful attention to be
successful in raising a baby
bearded dragon. They do quite well
on a diet of crickets of an
appropriate size (for hatchlings,
º inch crickets or smaller),
small mealworms, waxworms, and
greens and other vegetables.
Often, crickets or other items
that are too large will cause
digestive problems in the small
gut of the baby dragon leading to
a seemly mysterious death. The
little dragon will be fine one day
and listless the next. The right
size food item will be no longer
than _ the width of the lizards
own head. When in doubt, err to
the small side and resist feeding
larger food items for as long as
you can. It is important to supply
vitamins and minerals to your
growing dragon. This can be
accomplished by “gut-loading”
crickets by feeding them such
items as orange slices, carrots,
salad greens, fish flake food, or
a commercially available cricket
food prior to giving them to your
lizard. Additionally, the crickets
can be dusted (coated in powder)
with a quality commercial
vitamin/mineral powder just before
providing them to your dragon to
eat. Hatchlings should be fed
every day to maintain a healthy
growth rate. Some hatchling will
accept fruits and vegetables early
on, while others are only
interested in the food that moves.
Keep a small water bowl available
at all times, just be sure to
clean it regularly. Your baby
dragon may not recognize standing
water in a bowl, so it is a good
idea to mist or lightly spray the
dragon daily to be sure it doesn’t
become dehydrated.
Adults- The adults are a
medium to large size (18 to 24”),
active lizard that will require a
good amount of space. As far as
the cage goes, the larger the
better. Use larger prey items
(large crickets, superworms,
pinkie mice, etc) and offer more
vegetables and some fruits. Adults
will consume a good amount of food
and feedings can be once a day,
four to six times a week. They don’t
need vitamin supplementation quite
as often either, maybe with every
other to every third feeding.
Breeding females can be fed extra
and supplied with vitamin and
mineral supplements more often to
compensate for reproductive energy
expenditures. You can expect your
dragon to live at least 8 to 10
years or more with proper care and
nutrition.
 General-
The Inland Bearded Dragon comes
from the hot, dry deserts and of
Australia and is well adapted to
desert life. They are active at
daybreak and remain active
throughout the daylight hours,
sleeping soundly at night. A
10-gallon tank will comfortably
house a single baby to juvenile
for about 8 months or so. Beyond
that, these active lizards will
require more room. A 55 gallon
tank will be sufficient for a pair
of adult bearded dragons. Paper
towels or newspaper make for quick
and easy cleaning and eliminates
the possibility of baby dragons
ingesting any sand or gravel. The
adults, however, can be kept on a
sand (or Calci-Sand) substrate
without problems. Add some rocks,
branches, or other cage furniture
to make an interesting landscape
for your dragon to explore.
Provide dragons with an area where
they can hide, such as a rock
shelter or hide-box. Although a
heat pad, or thermostat controlled
heat rock can work as a heat
source, we prefer and recommend
heat bulbs in a reflector dome as
a primary source of heat. Proper
lighting is essential to the long
term health of your dragon. In
addition to a heat bulb, you will
need to provide a UV (ultraviolet)
light source so that your dragon
can properly synthesize vitamins
and metabolize calcium in its
body. Again, this is achieved
using a specialty light bulb.
Recent advances in commercially
available UV producing bulbs have
made it very easy and much cheaper
to provide the right lighting. Don’t
skimp on the lighting for you
dragon, it will die without the
right lighting.
Other Helpful Info:
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Always buy a healthy captive bred
animal and learn as much as you
can from the source that you are
buying it from, such as age, sex,
what is it eating, etc.
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Find a local veterinarian who is
knowledgeable about reptiles before
any problems arise!
Þ
Buy a good book about Bearded
Dragons or at least a book with a
decent section about these animals
and keep it on hand for reference.
This care sheet contains only
initial information to get you
started and is by no means
complete.
Þ
Enjoy your Bearded Dragon! These
are awesome and intriguing pets.
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