Problems with Bearded Dragons!!!

[whatmeworry]

Hey guys,

I've been keeping Diamond pythons for almost 3 years now, and was hoping to expand my collection with some bearded dragons. I am just wondering, what are the negative aspects to keeping them. Like, what are the hardest things about them?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[eddie123]

definetly their food costs. For babies it can be quite a jump, for adults its not so hard. This can be solved by breeding food.
saying this there are hundreds of benefits they are definetly an awesome species to keep!!!

 

[Chris1]

nothing is hard about them, and theyre a really awesome critters.

negatives, (in comparison to snakes)
they need feeding daily, you can skip the odd day but be prepared for filthy looks.
which means they poo alot more too,..and their poo can smell reaaaaaalllly bad,...
they NEED a UVB source, tubes are expensive, but the sun is free.
they also need more heat than snakes, which means your electricity bill will probably rise a bit,..
watering is a manual thing since most wont drink from bowls

housing them together doesnt always work, eg, i have 5 cages for 7 dragons, the rest cant live together. (1 trio of old ladies who seem past the age of fighting, the rest live alone)

im having a really hard time trying to think of negatives!!

 

[whatmeworry]

Thanks to both of you, yea i thought the feeding would be a concern!

 

[eddie123]

if you buy bulk woodies and start breeding it wont cost you anymore than $60-100 for the rest of your lizard days

 

[damian83]

Unless you breed crix your self which I'm about to start. But there great companions

 

[treeofgreen]

i have both.

Snakes are cheaper if you do the normal petshop runs for food.
I was breeding crickets while they were 6 weeks to 8 months old or so that must have saved me hundreds.
I had too many crickets in the end, and would be giving some away every week or 2.

Now that my 2 bearded are onto a heap of vegies (i think they go more crazy for vegies than crickets or woodies) its pretty cheap.

I havent found the smell to be too bad but i do clean em every 2 days. I have 2 bits of astro turf the same size for their cage, so i just sit em on my shoulder while i rip the old one out and chuck the new clean one in. Then i just disinfect and hose of the dirty one ready for the the next clean. I am in a good rhythm now so its easy.

If you have been used to snakes and thinking bout beardies.. just get one brother! I couldnt be any happier hey, they are like lil children sometimes. They have sooks and show their love more! much bigger personalities.

Main problem i have found is: Feeding when they are young. Mine were abit slow to start, but once they get over their new surroundings and feel abit more secure they turn into little pigs Only now at the 9 month or so mark have they started slowing down and starting to prefer their vegies more.

Tip: If you have a glass tank, make sure they have plenty of hides and places to feel secure. Once i put up a few bits of cardboard (so all sides werent glass) they started feeling much better. You could just tell.

Now they are used to it (they are in a high traffic area, they watch us cook and clean and have dinner lol) they are fine and seem to just show off abit when people are around.

wow sunday rant... soz

 

[whatmeworry]

Thanks guys!!! No, dont worry about the rant, I enjoyed it My only concern with breeding crickets is, wouldnt they be incredibly noisy?

 

[treeofgreen]

We are abit weird... i actually love the sound of crickets... lol... I had them in the house for awhile... it did get too noisy for my brother and he had a winge, so i moved them to the garage. We have an enclosed garage and i never noticed the sound from the outside.

- - - Updated - - -

It would depend on what your house is made of / the layout.

And breeding them was way too easy lol...
There are plenty of guides around here but my recipe was:

big cheap storage tub from crazy clarks or 2 dollar store
chinese container with moist soil
organic carrots(wife is an organic nut so our animals eat well)
egg cartons for hiding

that was pretty much it. Ohh i did make a lil ramp for them to get into the laying container, just made it abit easier and looked cute when they used it lol

 

[whatmeworry]

sounds good, thanks again for your help!!!! I really appreciate it! I am just looking in advance, as I havent done a tonne of research into them as of yet, and have no idea when they breed/hatch etc.