Bearded Dragon?

AS, we'll leave this here in OP to see if you get any response and if not, I'll fly it over to the 'Writing about Animals/Nature' forum to see if we get better turn-out there.

They're remarkably friendly, I always think of them as the attention whores in the reptile house. ^_^

(Just wanna let you know, I had one for about a year and it ended sadly. The best I can do is let you know what I was told.)

For the most part, they're not too hard to take care of, but you have to be consistent. You'll need to get soft shell crickets or meal worms from your pet store. You can raise your own (keeping both types of bugs can smell) but you'll want to be fairly close to where you can get more of them readily enough. Feeding them regular black crickets was bad for their digestion (when they get bigger you can probably dump household spiders and whatnot into the tank). I had to dunk my crickets in calcium powder before I gave it to the bearded dragon. And you'll want to make sure you have day and night lights at the top of the tank. These are important in the lizard's growth and body maintenance.

At first, I had a fuzzy green mat at the bottom of the tank, but my little guy kept getting his little claws stuck in there when he was chasing bugs, so please get a different flooring than that, lol. Cold blooded animals like to have a rock in there to sit on, I actually had a heated faux rock I switched on occasionally (the heat was warming and said to aid digestion).

The younger the lizard, the more difficult it is to raise it. I'd recommend you get one at least a year old, just to take some pressure offa you. I actually had a small iguana before the bearded dragon and that didn't go so hot either. >.< If you little guy looks sluggish, don't waste time to try and figure out what's wrong. Asides from that, buying and reading a good book on bearded dragons can't steer you wrong, eh? ^_^

Good luck, I hope you get one (or a pair, so cute!) and it works out splendidly. Keep us posted on the getting one/not getting one eh? ^_^

-An

I'm going to move this over to Animals/Nature now, just in case there's someone over there who's got more to add. Hang on!

We had a bearded dragon that my brother's family & I shared for 10 years. Lizzie was an awesome pet and very friendly. We passed her back and forth to each others houses to enjoy from time to time.

I would get another one any day...with the exception that i have waaay too many pets to look after at this point. But, I think you would be surprised how much you end up liking them.

Good Luck!

We had to slow down to avoid one sitting in the middle of the road yesterday.

(Sorry. I know this is no help at all!)

chevbrock said:

We had to slow down to avoid one sitting in the middle of the road yesterday.

(Sorry. I know this is no help at all!)

Click to expand...

LOL, chev!

That was random. We like random around here.

They are a good first reptile. Here's a link to a good website on reptile care, for a start:
http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

Agree with not trying to raise a baby - as with almost any pet, babies are more trouble - see if you have a local reptile rescue that has an adult you can adopt. However I would differ with Chimera on the idea of feeding them insects you find around the house or outdoors - you don't know where they've been and whether they've gotten into someone else's pesticides.

Do make sure you feed it plenty of calcium-enriched foods. Reptiles are prone to developing metabolic bone disease if their diets are calcium deficient. And you'll need to use the proper lighting to help them utilize the calcium.

I did an article on this a couple of months ago but can't find my folder of research at the moment. Maybe one of our vet-type folks will correct this if I'm wrong.

That is correct about calcium. It's particularly important to add calcium to insect foods like crickets because they have the wrong proportions of calcium to phosphorus. You can dust them with calcium powder but many think it's better to keep the crickets long enough to feed them nutritious food before you feed them to your reptile. This is called gut loading, you can Google it. There are cricket foods you can buy that are calcium enriched.

(Not a vet, just a former reptile zookeeper.)

wombat said:

That is correct about calcium. It's particularly important to add calcium to insect foods like crickets because they have the wrong proportions of calcium to phosphorus. You can dust them with calcium powder but many think it's better to keep the crickets long enough to feed them nutritious food before you feed them to your reptile. This is called gut loading, you can Google it. There are cricket foods you can buy that are calcium enriched.

(Not a vet, just a former reptile zookeeper.)

Click to expand...

We used to "gut-load" the crickets first and then sprinkle them with the calcium before feeding them to Lizzie. We had her for 10 years.

There's no harm in doing both but it's probably better not to rely on just the powder. The problem with only doing the calcium powder is that unless your animal eats everything really fast, it's not clear how much powder is left on a cricket by the time it gets eaten. Not only does it fall off but they will uncooperatively groom it off themselves.

wombat said:

There's no harm in doing both but it's probably better not to rely on just the powder. The problem with only doing the calcium powder is that unless your animal eats everything really fast, it's not clear how much powder is left on a cricket by the time it gets eaten. Not only does it fall off but they will uncooperatively groom it off themselves.

Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply that the crickets were the only way we fed the calcium - just a steady thing we did.

didn't think you did - just clarifying for anyone reading along.

wombat said:

didn't think you did - just clarifying for anyone reading along.

Click to expand...

Ohhh! LOL...I kinda wondered...

Now I miss Lizzie.

Before you get the lizard you might want to see if there is a vet in your area which knows anything about them. It isn't the same as their usual group, some vets specialize in exotics, most do the best they can, but if you ask before you get one you'd have a better chance of finding the vet with the experience you need.

Stlight

I had one; it was very ill mannered. Very high maintenance and though it was lot of fun at times, we finally parted ways. I divorced it.

Everyone mentions the calcium powder, which is good, but they also need UV lighting, which come as fluorescent bulbs to help them absorb the calcium into their bones, otherwise their bones become brittle. This is especially important for diurnal reptiles. The calcium supplement should also contain vitamin D3, which helps in the absorption as well. My opinion on heat rocks is to avoid them, I have come in contact with a few too many scorching heats rocks that would burn the belly of the beardie. Instead, use a heat lamp and place it in close range to the hot side of the cage, but out of reach of the lizard so it does not burn itself. The cage should have a hot side and a cool side so the beardie can adjust its body temp. And, avoid feeding insects from outside, you don't know what chemical they just walked through. Adults would like a diet of insects along with a few fresh veggies and fruits, while young they are strictly insectivorous. Keep fresh water with them all the time. I can't think of more to say.

The only good reptile is a pair of boots. Carry on.

If they taste anything like a chuckawalla, then they are very tasty. They also make great belts and hatbands.