Bearded Dragons

Tuesday I will be getting my first Bearded Dragon. I have read up a lot on these guys so I feel pretty prepared. Just wondering if any experience owners have any tips and such. Also if you would post pics of your setups/enclosures I would really appreciate them. Any feeding tips would be helpful as well. Thanks!

Never feed the end of a bok choy leaf

I was at the san diego reptile show and when i came home my beardie was dead my dad feed him the end of a bok choy leaf also mercury vapor bulbs are a great light to use as they provide uva and uvb in the same bulb

Thanks for the tips and I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

Chameleon Loco said:

I was at the san diego reptile show and when i came home my beardie was dead my dad feed him the end of a bok choy leaf also mercury vapor bulbs are a great light to use as they provide uva and uvb in the same bulb

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the end of a bok choy leaf? i have feed my guy bok choy dozens of times.

Also i dont mean to spam but this video might help with the encloser and lighting...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udjFGvwOVE

also check out the other videos for things like bathing, feeding, ect

What type of substrate are you planning to use?
Be careful of sand and don't use calci-sand; impaction is not a good thing.... I actually use non adhesive shelf liner that I get at Canadian Tire; kinda like Lowes or Target in the US.
I have an amazing little guy that is such a cool pet (he is little because he was a rescue that was not fed or treated properly for quite a while )

naich said:

the end of a bok choy leaf? i have feed my guy bok choy dozens of times.

Also i dont mean to spam but this video might help with the encloser and lighting...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udjFGvwOVE

also check out the other videos for things like bathing, feeding, ect

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Thanks for the video Naich, I'll check them all out!

jax7271 said:

What type of substrate are you planning to use?
Be careful of sand and don't use calci-sand; impaction is not a good thing.... I actually use non adhesive shelf liner that I get at Canadian Tire; kinda like Lowes or Target in the US.
I have an amazing little guy that is such a cool pet (he is little because he was a rescue that was not fed or treated properly for quite a while )

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I was planning on using tile, I like that idea the best, and I happen to have enough laying around


Thanks for the posts guys, I appreciate it!

I am not sure what killed him

My dad feed him the hard part of the bok choy leaf not the green part but the other part. That is my best guess on what killed him

I supplement mine the same way that I do for chameleons. I gutload the insects the same way too.

I also give them a salad 2 or 3 times a week including dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squazh, zucchini, carrot and a small amount of pear, apple, melon, berries, etc. in addition to the insect part of the diet.

My last one to die was 11+.

kinyonga said:

I supplement mine the same way that I do for chameleons. I gutload the insects the same way too.

I also give them a salad 2 or 3 times a week including dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squazh, zucchini, carrot and a small amount of pear, apple, melon, berries, etc. in addition to the insect part of the diet.

My last one to die was 11+.

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O good to know about the supplementation, thanks kinyonga

I don't know if your new lizard is a baby or not, but if it is not an adult, be really careful to make sure you get enough calcium and d3 into it. They can grow extremely fast at times- mine often do spurts of an inch in a week or two- that kind of growth is really demanding on the lizard.

It's just me, but personally, I'd be very uncomfortable on any kind of supplementation schedule for a rapidly growing dragon that did not involve daily calcium with d3. Or real sunlight without d3.

Adults do fine with less supplementation. Adults can be fed mostly vegetables (90%+)- wild dragons eat that way, captives are rarely fed that way. Insects can be fed a few times a week to supplement and as a treat. Rep-cal bearded dragon pellets are a good way to round out the diet and ensure it is fairly balanced. They can be fed 100% rep-cal as well- but surely fresh veggies are much better for them if the salad is balanced. There are many resources online about how to balance an iguana salad- you can use that for the salad part of the diet.

I've bred these guys many generations since 1994. I've also fed large groups of them several different ways over the years to find out a little more about them- for example I've raised babies to adults producing babies on 100% vegetarian diet before. (I don't recommend- they were healthy, but didn't grow as quickly or quite as large or breed as often or produce as many eggs, although eggs and babies were very healthy looking).

Here is part of my setup during the summers-

There are 8 terrariums to a tarp, and 8 tarps total (1 isn't visible in this picture). There are 1.2 dragons per terrarium.
My oldest are at least 12 years old.

Thanks flux for all the good info, I'm not sure how old he is, he was described as a juvenile at about 11 inches. I will def take your advice on the supplementation.

There are 8 terrariums to a tarp, and 8 tarps total (1 isn't visible in this picture). There are 1.2 dragons per terrarium.
My oldest are at least 12 years old.[/QUOTE]

Damn bro you have 192 beardeds at home. Plus all your chams! When do you have time to sleep.

I have two beardies- Aubrey is in the top and Elliot is in the bottom- they are not kept together. They have a 2nd floor in their own viv so they have plenty of moving room. The floor is tile that is not glued down easy to remove and clean. They each have a sandbox for digging, but they are not fed in it.
I use the Mercury Vapor bulbs on them.

I did use spray foam and styrofoam to make the rocks, bridging and ledging. It is all covered with grout. I used water stain to make it look more rock like then sealed it all. This is 4 years old now and holding up fine

I am getting my first bearded dragon (yellow morph) from an amazing breeder in Wisconsin sometime next month. All I have to pay for is shipping if the weather allows, if not I am going to pick it up. :3

ChameleonRave said:

I am getting my first bearded dragon (yellow morph) from an amazing breeder in Wisconsin sometime next month. All I have to pay for is shipping if the weather allows, if not I am going to pick it up. :3

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Kinda random, but funny you mention Wisconsin, and you are from a town called Watertown.

I'm from Watertown, WI.

BTW, whos the breeder you speak of?