Bearded Dragon Care Sheet
Housing:
Baby bearded dragons can be housed in a 15-20g long style tank but as adults they will need a 50-60g or larger tank or enclosure. Dragons should not be housed in 10g tanks or smaller because it does not give them the opportunity to thermoregulate (have a hot end as well as a cool end to adjust body temp.) Temperatures that are too high can cause aggression in dragons. Enclosures should have a screen cover that can release heat yet keep the dragon in.
Dragons should be provided with branches to climb on and many enjoy something to hide under while they sleep.
If you intend to house young dragons together it is IMPORTANT to maintain their feeding schedules as they will not hesitate to bite toes or a tail of a cage mate when hungry. Dragons housed together should always be of similar size as a larger dragon will not hesitate to eat a small dragon. Reptiles are territorial and may fight when caged together. A male and female Bearded Dragon can generally be kept together (as long as both are of breeding age around one to one and a half years or are under 6 months as breeding a dragon too early can stunt growth and is generally not healthy for the animal), however, the male may become too aggressive during the breeding season and have to be removed. Two females can also generally be kept together when of the same size, however there are exceptions to this rule.
Substrate:
For baby bearded dragons we recommend using paper towels, tile, or reptile carpet as substrate. As the dragons get older (12" +) we switch them to sifted playsand. This must be cleaned often and entirely replaced regularly. Some caution against using sand as a substrate due to the chance of impaction but we have not had any issues. Whatever the substrate you choose, be sure that it is not something that holds a lot of water as too much humidity can cause respiratory infections in dragons. On that note, we do not keep water dishes in the enclosures, nor do we mist dragons. Instead we use an eye dropper for baby dragons to give water daily and give baths a couple times a week for older dragons to get their water. Dragons that eat a lot of veggies and greens get much of their water from their diet. We also add water to greens/veggies.
Do not use cedar shavings, gravel, crushed corn cob, kitty litter, wood shavings, or potting soil that contains vermiculite, pesticides, fertilizer, or wetting agents as substrate.
Lighting:
Bearded dragons require UVB lighting. We recommend the use of a Zoo Med 10.0 UVB bulb. Dragons also need a basking bulb of 75-150w generally depending on the size and type of the enclosure and distance from the bulb to the basking area. Dragons also appreciate natural sunlight.
Basking area should be 100-110 degrees and the cool end should be 75-80 degrees. Use a digital thermometer or temp gun to test this, especially seasonally.
Diet:
Dragons of different ages require different diets. Baby beardeds need a lot of crickets. We feed two meals of as many as they will eat each day. The size of the crickets should be judged by the distance between the eyes of the dragons. Generally hatchlings eat pinhead to xsmall crickets. Crickets should be dusted with a calcium supplement. We also give the hatchlings finely chopped greens and mix in some phoenix worms or mini mealworms just to get them eating it. Adult dragons eat greens daily and get crickets and/or superworms 3-4 times a week with the exception of a female holding eggs. Dragons are also sometimes fed pinkies, especially breeding females.
Some acceptable fruits and veggies include:
Kale, collard greens, mustard greens, yellow squash, carrotts, romaine lettuce, apples and bananas.
Check out an awesome food chart here.
