Archive for the ‘Bearded Dragon Tips’ Category

You can build Bearded Dragon enclosures and you can also build shelters and basking perches for your pet. Making your own enclosure isn’t difficult as long as you know how to construct housing that fits your Beardie’s needs. Basking perches can be created out of simple objects that you either find or you can buy a commercial product. Some of the materials you can use to make a basking perch are items like rocks or driftwood. If you use found items though, make sure there are no unwanted guests hibernating in the material. You don’t want to introduce that into your cage and possibly harm your pet.

One item that some owners find themselves in need of when keeping Beardies is an incubator. An incubator is used to hatch Beardie eggs. What it does is help to keep the temperature at a constant rate to help make sure the eggs are successfully hatched. That’s one of the problems some owners have when incubating eggs. They fail to keep the temperature at a consistent level. If it gets too cold, it can delay the hatching and if it gets too hot inside the incubator, the embryo can be destroyed by the heat. Eggs that look deformed in any way such as dented or collapsed egg may not contain a viable embryo but there are no absolutes with dented eggs and live Beardies have hatched from eggs that seemed malformed.

If you choose not to buy an incubator, you can build Bearded Dragon incubators yourself. You can get a small fish tank and use the heater that came originally with the tank setup. You can place a brick down in water-don’t let the water cover the brick, put vermiculite in a tray and put the tray on the brick. Once that’s set up, place the eggs in the tray.

If you’re planning to buy a Bearded Dragon, why would you want to think about insects? Because that’s what they eat. Actually, it’s only a portion of what they like to eat and need to have as a staple in their diet. They also have to some fruits and plenty of vegetables. The feeding time schedule is different for the little ones than it is for a full grown Beardie. As with an infant child, juvenile Beardies need a lot to eat in order to grow. They need to be watched with almost the same tender loving care you’d give to a baby. Watch out for their nutritional needs and their housing needs to.

With a Bearded Dragon why would you need to be careful with their housing needs? Don’t they survive well in captivity? The answer to that is yes, but only as long as they have their requirements met. You cannot stick a Beardie in any type of enclosure and expect him to thrive. You need an enclosure where he’s free to roam around and you need that enclosure to give him both space to warm up and space to cool off. Your Beardie will let you know by certain behaviors whether or not he’s too cold or too hot. If he gets too hot, you’ll see a panting type action. If he gets too cold, he’ll become lethargic.

When you love a pet that’s a Bearded Dragon why would you need to know about how to take care of impaction situations? Because it’s a common problem among these lizards. They either eat something that’s too big for them or they swallow something they shouldn’t and a problem develops. More often than not, an attentive owner can quickly solve the problem without further care by placing the Beardie in a warm (never hot!) bath.

Once you have your Beardie, you’ll need to know how to feed Bearded Dragon. The type of food and how often to feed will depend on how old the lizard is. The nutritional needs vary from juvenile to adult and you want to make sure you don’t underfeed your pets since this can lead to malnourishment. The primary food source for a Beardie is made up of two parts-plant and insects. Insects are considered meat for a lizard. When you have a young dragon, his diet will consist mainly at first of insects. You can make sure your juvenile eats a proper diet by remembering the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of his food needs to be from insects and twenty percent of his food should be from plants. You should feed a young Beardie at least twice a day.

While you can feed adult Beardies pinky mice, you cannot feed juveniles the mice. The insects you can give the younger lizards include mealworms, waxworms, crickets and earthworms. When you give insects to Beardies, you want to be sure and gut load them. Gut loading refers to feeding the insects either foods you have at home or a commercial based product designed specifically for gut loading. Some of the foods you can use to gut load insects are carrots, cornmeal, and cereals. Juveniles should also be fed insects that have been dusted with calcium carbonate.

Handling the food is also an important part of how to feed Bearded Dragon. You can train your Beardie to take insects from your hand but you’ll want to be nimble to avoid getting nipped until they learn how to take it from you. It’s important that you feed your pet enough at mealtimes. If they don’t get enough to eat, they’ll develop the habit of biting on their tank mates or even their own tail.

There are at least 10 supplies you’re going to need when you become the proud owner of a beardie. Bearded Dragon supplies can range from do it yourself versions to readymade and convenient ones. You’ll want to have the best environment for your pet, because if it’s not happy, it can stop eating and start suffering from anxiety-related health woes.

Here are the top 10 bearded dragon supplies every owner needs:

1.) Terrarium – make sure it’s big enough for your new pet (which means measuring it). You may choose to build an outdoor enclosure if you’re in a warm climate, too.

2.) Substrate – a must have bearded dragon supply because it absorbs the odors in the cage.

3.) Food Dish – the food may not stay there, but it’s good to have a food dish – especially if you’re feeding your pet a supply of wet food.

4.) Water Feeder – don’t let your beardie dehydrate. They love the heat, but they also have to stay hydrated or they will become sick and die.

5.) Plant Decor – do some research from the pros and find out if the fake or real plant decor you’re choosing could harm your new pet.

6.) Flat Rock – bearded dragons love to sunbathe so make sure they have a place to sprawl.

7.) Heat Source and Thermometer – your windowsill isn’t a strong enough heat source in most instances. You need a reptilian heat lamp. You can also get a thermometer for the habitat to make sure it stays at a comfortable level for your pet.

8.) Live Prey – the bearded dragons love crickets and you can buy a cricket keeper for your home. They will also eat mealworms and even small mice in some cases.

9.) Vegetables – watch out when feeding vegetables to your pet. Carrots make a good treat but too many and your pet could die of Vitamin A toxicity. Choose fresh greens like collards and mustards (but not spinach).

10.) Prepackaged Bearded Dragon Food – you can get this at Amazon but make sure you choose the right kind for adults versus juveniles.

When you’re caring for a bearded dragon that’s sick, you may have to nurse it back to health. In other articles on this blog, I instruct you not to bother with feeding your beardie lettuce because it has virtually no nutritional value. However, they love it – so if your bearded dragon is sick, you can try to coax it to eat by feeding it some lettuce.

It’s important that before you even become the owner of a bearded dragon, you find a vet who can treat it if and when it becomes sick. While it might be your fault for feeding it the wrong foods or not properly caring for it, beardies also get sick for reasons you can’t control.

Stress and anxiety can make your beardie sick and cause it to stop eating. Don’t put it in a bad habitat or tease it with a mirror to see its reaction. And don’t let other pets such as a big dog terrify it for fun. Your beardie could get very sick from this stress.

Your bearded dragon might go into brumation, and shed its skin. This is normal and they won’t eat a lot during this time. But if it’s bleeding, not going “potty” or getting dehydrated looking, rush it to a vet right away!