sorry, I was thinking the sand for adults and not babies. Interesting findings with the calcium sand - I heard it was the safest medium to keep them on - I myself never have because it was too expensive. Tx Marula

right so, feed outside enclosure if you want to prevent impacting the beardie

I would say no sand at all, beardies have the tendency to lick things in order to taste what it is, they will keep on tasting stuff over and over. Impaction is deadly. My beardie gets 5 crickets in the morning and 5 in the evening, then some bearded dragon kibble and fruits and veg. They amount of crickets you feed stay the same they just get bigger as the beardie grows, overfeeding can kill them and too big prey will lead to paralysis. They do not always take to food the first time and only learn later on that it is edible so keep on offering. If it seems like it is moving it might 'inspire' them to eat it. Mealworms may cause them to die if fed on them too much, they are strictly a treat. Although they love worms of any kind!!!!! Roaches are good too. Crickets provide fibre, mealworms or superworms fat and roaches protein. (Superworms are preferable as they are apparently softer than the mealworms.) So mix it up a bit. I bath mine onece a week and then wash the bath with Domestos and hot water. Whenever their stomachs are not going a lukewarm bath does the trick. They need natural sunlight and their behaviour changes a lot after a "tan". They get busy and alert. Sometimes on a hot day I let him bake on the grass and then but the sprinkler on which is too cute as he tries to swim on the grass.
I got mine to drink water by using a syringe dropping a drop of water on its nose every few mins. Like I say if anything moves they will try it out so you could take a polystyreen cup and make a really small hole in it and pour some water in and let it drip on a waterdish which is not standing completely flat. They cannot drink like other animals so they need to be able to lick it off.
They can become really spoiled regarding food and sometimes even bored, in fact they might stop eating their old food if they are bored with it. They do not need the red lamps during the night in summer only in winter. They start to brumate in winter when they get older and they will eat and move less during that time. The white part of the feces is their hardened urine.

How much do you need to clean the enclosure and why are they so expensive to keep is it because of electricity or buying there food all the time?

You need to clean a growing dragon's poo every day... sometimes they even poop twice in a day. An adult beardie may poop only every few days, depending on its level of activity and its diet.

Then about every month you give the cage a deep clean and disinfect it.

They are expensive to keep because of food and electricity, but also because you have to replace the UV tube every six months.

Breeding beardies is rather pointless at this point in time, as they go for sometimes less than a hundred bucks, which will hardly cover you own expenses. Unless you have very special coloured animals, but even these don't seem to sell very well right now. The market seems to be saturated with beardies.

Yes I noticed there are beardies everywhere.But does the UVB light need too stay on all the time or just like 3 hours after feeding?And my house always stays about 25 degrees so in winter and in summer about 32 degrees so will a basking light be needed if its that warm in my room?

Goldenspider wrote:

And my house always stays about 25 degrees so in winter and in summer about 32 degrees so will a basking light be needed if its that warm in my room?

That is a good question... Marula?