For ages: 10 & up, with adult supervision
Pet lifespan: Approximately 7-10 years
Pet size: up to 24″ long (average is 16″-20″)
Habitat: Desert

The Bearded Dragon is a medium sized (adults can reach 24 inches) lizard, with a blunt arrow-shaped head and spiny throat. It’s throat will blacken when excited or agitated. It is native to Australia. There are seven species of bearded dragons, the most common in the pet trade is Pogona vitticeps.

Safety & Cleanliness:
Please remember that all pets can/may bite or scratch, and may transmit disease to humans. Keep your Bearded Dragons home clean and wash your hands before and after handling your Bearded Dragon or cleaning his/her home. Infants, young children, pregnant women, people with compromised immune systems, and the infirm or elderly are at greater risk of infections and should use caution when in contact with the pet or its habitat. Consult your doctor for more information.

Handling:
Give your Bearded Dragon 3-4 days to adjust to his/her new surroundings, then try holding your Bearded Dragon for short amounts of time. Juveniles tend to be a bit more nervous than adults. Handling your Bearded Dragon often will keep him/her tame. Take care to never handle your Bearded Dragon by the tail, it could break off.

Housing:
An adult Bearded Dragon should be housed in an enclosure the size of a well-ventilated, 40 – 55-gallon aquarium or larger while babies and juveniles can be kept in a 20-gallon long aquarium. Hatchlings should never be housed with juveniles or adults. To prevent territorial fighting, never house two males in the same enclosure.

Different substrates to use on the bottom of the enclosure include newspaper, paper towel, indoor/outdoor carpet, tile, and for adults, washed play sand and the formentioned. Juveniles or hatchlings as they have a tendency to eat everything in site, the sand, can lead to serious impaction problems. I don’t recommend calci-sand as it tends to harden like cement when it gets wet.

A branch should be laterally placed under a basking light on one side of the tank. Include a basking area close to the heat source. Also add a wood or rock hiding place in the cool area of the home. A clean water dish should be available at all times. A secure screen lid is a must. Giving your Bearded Dragon a bath a couple of times a week in warm water for 20 minutes will also keep your dragon hydrated and impaction free.

Temperatures:
The enclosure needs a warm end and a cool end, allowing the lizard to regulate its body temperature. The temperature gradient during the day should range from 75 F (24 C) on the cool side to 85 F (30 C) on the warm side. A reptile heat lamp should be used to provide a basking area with temperatures ranging from 90-100 F (32-37.7 C) for adults and up to 105 F (40 C) for babies  & juveniles. Keep the humidity level in the habitat between 20-30%. A hygrometer (humidity gauge) will help you keep track. DO NOT USE heat rocks as they can cause severe damage even death to your Bearded Dragon.

Night time temperatures should drop no lower than the low to mid 70s (21 C) on the cool side of the tank. Maintain a nighttime temperature between 65-75º F (use a ceramic heat emitter if necessary). You should Place a thermometer at each end of the home to monitor temperatures.

Lighting:
Use a daytime UVA/UVB fluorescent bulb for approximately 12 hours of light per day to help your bearded dragon process calcium. The fixture has to be placed within 8-12 inches of the animal and the light must not be filtered (through glass or mesh). The bulbs used should emit both UVB and UVA waves. I recommend Repti-Sun 10 UVB fluorescent bulbs. There good for up to 9 months.

Diet:
Bearded dragons are omnivore that require both plant and insects in their diet. Adult Bearded Dragons will eat various insects like crickets, roaches, silk worms, horn worms (commercially grown). B. dubia roaches are one of the more popular for feeding. Superworms may also be offered as long as dragon is 16″ or larger to prevent impaction. You may offer mealworms and waxworms once a week as a treat for your beardie, otherwise to fatning. Adults can be offered pinky mice once every 6 months. A rule of thumb when feeding hatchlings or juveniles is no feeder insect larger than the space between there eyes.
NEVER FEED FIRE FLIES/LIGHTNING BUGS, HORNWORMS FROM TOMATO PLANTS or CARROTS, may be fatal to your dragon(s).

For the plant side of the diet, a small mixed salad of greens, (such as collard, mustard, dandelion, endive, turnip) may be mixed with grated fruits and vegetables (such as winter squash, pumpkin, crookneck squash and zucchini). Mustard greens are the closest green that would mimic what they eat in nature, and there inexpensive. Iceberg lettuce should be avoided, it offers very little nutrients.

Bearded dragons need calcium in their diet. This can be provided by either coating insects with a reptile calcium supplement or sprinkling a small amount of calcium supplement on the vegetable greens. For hatchling & juveniles, calcium supplement should be given every other day. Adults, once a week as they are no longer growing. Use of calcium supplements and proper UVB light will help prevent your Bearded Dragons from developing Brittle Bone Disease (BBD).

Health:

Signs of a healthy bearded dragon:
* Clear, alert eyes
* Muscular tail
* Sheds regularly during growth
* Eats and drinks normally
* Breathes easily
* Well-formed droppings every 1-3 days

Things to watch for:
* Runny droppings or red streaks in droppings for more than two days
* Eating or drinking less; weight loss
* Swollen joints
* Discharge from the eyes, nose or mouth
* Shedding problems; discolored skin

If you notice any of the signs above, please consult an experienced Reptile Veterinarian as soon as possible.

Sexing:
Males can be differentiated from females by the presence of pre-anal and femoral pores (which are almost impossible to see on very young dragons, making them difficult to sex). A good source for sexing your dragon. Explains in more detail and shows images.

** The information contained in this care sheet was collected & compiled from various Internet sources & personal experience with my own Bearded Dragons. **

Last updated 06.29.09