Hey guys, we just got two small bearded dragons... Any advice would be wonderful...

I don't know anything about them in person, but i did look through google for what they need. But any advice would really help..

What to give to eat?
what do you through on the glass bottom, like sand/peat/etc.?
How many times do you feed?
Heating?
Light?

Here's my little bit of knowledge:

As juvies their diet consists of 80% crickets/roaches/mealworms and 20% salad. As adults this is the opposite.
Juvies should not be fed live mealworms.
They have to have UV light (helps with their metabolism) and they must get calcium powder.
They UV light will provide heating during the day, but at night you should use a heating pad.
I was also told that beardies need to soak in luke warm water often to help with moulting.

Marula will be able to give you excellent advice and to correct me where I was misinformed

+1 Ceno

TH

They're an Australian dessert animal so they require hot and dry conditions.

You get reptile sand for them. You can get it at pet stores. Like a light sandy colour


They need a basking lamp in a spot in their cage. As far as I remember they need a hot spot of about 32 degrees. You can set them up a basking spot on a branch somewhere with the basking light right above it.

They do need a UV light too. They need calcium powder too. Usually dusting the crickets works well enough.

They'll eat crickets and mealworms etc but they also need veggies and leafy foods too. Unfortunately this is as far as my knowledge goes on this topic. You'll have to do a google into what plants they can eat and what plants aren't good for them.

Feed them crickets/bugs about 2-3 times a week. The ones I've seen were given greens everyday. But I'm not too sure on this.

That's about as much as I can give you. Hopefully someone else will be able to give you more info (and correct whatever I got wrong :blush: )

The only problem with sand is, that it can cause ingestion, leading to impaction, which causes serious health issues.

Miss M would be the best person to speak to regarding this.

TH

Got my girl a Beardy 2 months ago, best forum to visit would be bearded dragons.org if not mistaken, there is allot of advice out there and also allot of it wrong, as my girl found out.

Main thing is the lighting needs to be correct and also the food. Crickets are ideal, mealworms is a bit dangerous when they are small, 2 reasons. The worms have a hard outer shell and the beardies do not always kill them when they bite, creating the possibility for the worm to bite the beardy. Also the beardy struggles to digest the worms at that young age.

You also need to give them calcium every 2nd day or so. Just cover the crickets with the calcium and that will be enough.

A good way to make sure your beardie ate enough is to feed him for 10 mins, about 3 times a day (if you have the time). Yes they eat every day, Levi ( our beardy eats approx 60 crickets currently andis killing my wallet but they slow down when they are bigger and eat more leafs than crickets.

They also say you ned to give it vitamins, but if you feed the beardy the correct greens it will get the required vitamins. You can get a herb pack from any fruit and Vedge store. Also if you feed beans and carrots and vedge to the crickets the beardy will absorb it from the crickets.

The beardy does not need a heat pad in SA warmer climate in the summer, good indication if the beardy gets to hot is if it sits with its mouth open.If it gets realy cold use the heat pad but leave the lights of then, alsways good to have separate switches for the lights and pad. They also won’t drink water like a dog, they are reptiles from a hot area. You can wet the leaves they get and they will get the water from that You can put them in luke warm water ep to its neck every now and then for a bath as it help when they are growing and the skin starts peeling (molt).

Never get water into the nose of the beardy as they get a infection and die because they can’t breathe so thry not to spray him like the T's. Supply a nice log for them that bring them closer to the heating lamp for during the day.

Also make sure you buy the correct UV lamp as there are plenty of Chinese brands (1 or 2 of the hundreds work) that can cause eye bulging. Be careful with heating rocks as the beardies do burn sometimes.

Also make sure your substrate is correct if it is the wrong kind of sand they can die due to the sand clogging the intestines, ask your trusted pet shop to supply the correct substrate. We gave Levi tiny wood chips supplied by the pet shop, as these contains some minerals and also is digestable.

The temp for the beardies should be anything from about 90 F to 110 max F.

They also enjoy the direct sun so take them out sometimes (Levi enjoys his sun everyday) and you will see a changeas they love the sun

Also do not fed your beardy just before it sleeps as they require the UV light to help digest. Do it about 2 hours or max 1 hour before he sleeps.

If there is anything I missed which you are not sure of PM and I will see if I can help and make sure I get an answer. As my girl is quite clued up on this amazing reptile.

On the side, the expo had some very nice beardies, looked very healthy!