Central Bearded Dragon Care

[Varanoidea]

Hi guys! I have been browsing the internet for care sheets and the like but I would like to ask some questions and clarify a few points on the requirements of keeping a beardie myself for any owners who have time to answer.

1) How large should an enclosure be for hatchling beardie. I keep reading that the size for an adult should be roughly 900 x 450 x 500 but I can't find much on hatchlings?

2) A UV light needs to be on during the daylight hours if the enclosure is not facing natural sun, and needs to be turned off at night to simulate natural day/night cycles. A heat globe needs to be on 24/7 to provide a temp. gradient of 41C in the basking spot and a cool spot in the mid 20C.

3) Is a heat-pad sufficient heat for a hatchling or is a globe still required and is sand an appropriate substrate for a beardie?

4) After letting a hatchling settle in to his/her new home and is feeding well can handling begin for a minute or two a day, gradually increasing as they grow larger?

As for feeding schedules I'm having trouble finding something that is very specific i.e ratios of insects to vegetables as they age, the amount of times a week/day a beardie needs to be feed from a youngin to an adult, and the relative portion sizes to the age i.e amount of crickets per day.

These are all the questions I can think of currently, all advice and recommendations are appreciated, I'd like my lizard to be as healthy and happy as can be.

 

[borntobnude]

HI ,
1) a small ish click clack is all you need
2) temps look ok maybe not quite 41 , 34 is all we have our bubs at -- i may be corrected on that one
3)a heat pad is Not the best choice they tend to be a lathargic lizard and will spend a lot of time on a mat and might get a burnt belly
4) we let ours alone for a week and now the kids hanle them eah day for a few minutes
they need feeding daily and twice a day wont hurt the bubs are eating about 6 small crickets each twice daily and one ate some clover today for the first time

keep asking questions and you will keep learning

 

[treeofgreen]

Beardies rock.

1. That size is fine for a single beardie for life. Mine went straight in to as hatchlings. Obviously bigger the better though HIDES HIDES HIDES they need to be able to feel secure

2. UV doesnt go through glass or plastic. So have UVB source in the cage. MVB bulbs do UVB and UVA and awesome for their basking spot. basking spot temp of low 40s (mega important)

3. Dont use heatpads. Basking spot (cheap floodlight from bunnings) and either compact UVB coil (no less than 10.0) or a tube style one. OR you can use a singular MVB bulb.

4. Sounds perfect (ours stay out for hours some days)

Under 1yr: 80% live food (crickets or woodies) 20% veges (have veges present at all times, even if they dont eat it at first)

Over 1yr and older you should slowly tone down the live food (to every few days) to end up at 80%vege 20%live as adults. Usually adults are considered 1.5 -2 years old (i think, correct if im wrong)

With feeding as hatchies, i let them eat as much as they could in about a 10-15 min period and would try doing that twice a day, but usually it was once. Always had veges available to them.

This seemed to work well for my 2, both are healthy and strong and growing well!

Amazing animals, you wont be disappointed! Welcome back to reptile keeping btw!

 

[Varanoidea]

Thank you for the info, keep it coming guys. Do you recommend any particular brand of bulbs?

 

[Lewi_11]

Thank you for the info, keep it coming guys. Do you recommend any particular brand of bulbs?

I use arcadia and trixie UV fluro tubes for beardies.
As for heating, i use a SPOT halogen, with a tight beam angle, that way it heats up a basking spot and doesn't heat the whole enclosure like a flood would. it creates a good thermal gradient. I have a beardie in a 3 ft enclosure at the moment, his basking spot is 42* and the cool end is ambient room temperature.... Possible because of the tight beam of the spotlight.

 

[oOLaurenOo]

Not sure what you meant by a heat globe on 24/7. Night heat is helpful for babies, especially through there first winter but its important they get a good night cycle of darkness too.

 

[Varanoidea]

So a hatchling can go into an adult sized tank straight up?

 

[treeofgreen]

So a hatchling can go into an adult sized tank straight up?

Sure can

 

[Chris1]

i wouldnt house an adult in anything smaller than 4x2x2 foot, even that seems small for the larger beardies.

beardies should be heated from above, using bright lights, a well lit cage is important for them. As is UVB.

UVB will not penetrate glass, so putting the cage near a window is useless for that.
(although they do love a window view)

you can partition off a section of the adult enclosure if ur beardy seems stressed in the full size, mine have always been fine going straight into the adult enclosures.
the bigger the enclosure, teh better the temp gradient, i have no idea how you would get a gradient of 42-20 in a small tub,...

basking spot should be around 42, digestion is compromised at under 38.

sand is ok once they get bigger, i keep mine on paper towels/newspaper for the first 4-6 months depending on growth.

feeding is also dependant on the growth rate, keep an eye on the length, once they stop growing lengthways, i put them on an adult diet.

never let ur beardy get fat, fat beardies die young from liver disease.

 

[animal805]

The 24/7 heat thing is not the way, I let all my adults and hatchies sleep in complete darkness and without any heat source unless ambient temps in my reptile rooms drop below 10C. It gets terribly cold in the arid regions from which these guys come from. As long as they have somewhere to hide/sleep they are fine without night time heat. It actually is more benefitial to allow them some "cool" time.

 

[Varanoidea]

I use arcadia and trixie UV fluro tubes for beardies.
As for heating, i use a SPOT halogen, with a tight beam angle, that way it heats up a basking spot and doesn't heat the whole enclosure like a flood would. it creates a good thermal gradient. I have a beardie in a 3 ft enclosure at the moment, his basking spot is 42* and the cool end is ambient room temperature.... Possible because of the tight beam of the spotlight.

Do you turn your heat light off of a night or do you leave it on 24/7? Thanks.

 

[dragonlover1]

Do you turn your heat light off of a night or do you leave it on 24/7? Thanks.

all heat is off at night unless it's really cold (less than 15c) and they are young,remember they come from the desert where it's virtually freezing at night.
As for size of tank,I use 2' tubs for babies then upgrade to 3' tanks at about 3 months then into a 4'

 

[justin91]

This thread has helped me out a fair bit to. Some very good information. Answered several of my own questions.

 

[Varanoidea]

Thank you for all the info guys! I hope I'm not bothering you too much with questions. I am doing research in books and the internet but it's also nice to get answers from keepers first hand. I have read that hatchlings require their food supplemented with calcium and vitamins 4-5 times a week, is this true? If so could people tell me what brands that they use? Thanks again.

 

[DeadlyDanny80]

3ft tank with my three month old Beardy bottom centre... She climbs the entire background & is very adventurous & active... Living orchid far right... I bath her once a week minimum & have had no issues with compaction to date.. Smashes crickets, woodies, zucchini & squash...

 

[Varanoidea]

I have no idea where to get a tank around my area, except a pet shop nearby where I got rabbits for my Olive.

 

[justin91]

I have no idea where to get a tank around my area, except a pet shop nearby where I got rabbits for my Olive.

Make one. You'll be so much more satisfied building your own. Heaps of diy tips. Should check it out

 

[Varanoidea]

Make one. You'll be so much more satisfied building your own. Heaps of diy tips. Should check it out

I'm looking at a 48" x 18" x 24" tank here that I will buy and build a wooden stand/hood around it, will that be big enough for an adult?

 

[Varanoidea]

After a lot of research, this is what I am up to:

(a) Enclosure, Decorations and Substrate

I have a reptile one enclosure that is 1200 x 600 x 600, and plan on putting the hatchling straight into this size. Some people have said that it is okay for hatchlings to go straight into adult sized enclosures, could others clarify this? If it's too big then I will just get a sheet of perspex to separate it. Also as it's a glass enclosure I will place backgrounds to hold the heat better. Is ultra-fine sand appropriate for use for a hatchling below 1 year old? If not I was thinking of getting sandstone tiles with the rough side up until after it's 1 year old before switching to fine sand. As for decorations I'm planning on adding a few hides, a basking spot and minor vegetation to keep it simple for his first months.

(b) Heating and Lighting

From what I know hatchlings require a basking spot of 41°c to digest properly and a cool end of the mid-low 20°c using a SPOT Halogen bulb from somewhere like bunnings. For UV I was going to buy a Repti Glo 10.0 UVB tube. Are they appropriate products to use? I plan on turning the UVB tube and the heat light off at night at around 7:00pm and back on at 6:00am in the morning, so it gets a good 11 hours of heat and daylight. I've been told (and read) that they don't need heating during the night due to their dessert environment unless it drops below about 17°c. Also, could someone inform me as to how far away the basking spot should be from the heat source and the UVB? Thanks.

(c) Handling

Once I place it in it's new home I won't try to begin handling until I'm confident its eating properly and enthusiastically, then I'll begin hand feeding and handling it for a few minutes a day, gradually increasing the time as it grows larger.

(d) Feeding Schedule

Hatchlings under 1 year old need to be feed 70% protein and 30% salads. Since I am away for school between 8:15am and 4:15pm, feeding it three times a day isn't a preferred option. In the morning the heat and UV will be turned on at 6:00am to give it the time to warm up to digest, and at about 7:00am I will feed it 40 or so crickets. When I get home, I will feed the same amount of crickets again. It will have salad available throughout the day in the form of greens and vegetables (the exact variety of which I am still yet to research). After a year, they need the reverse ratio of salads and insects.

(e) Supplementation

In the afternoon feeding session, the crickets need to be dusted with a calcium supplement (could anyone suggest a brand?) and a multivitamin supplement once a week (I hear Rep-Cal Herptivite is good). Again with the feeding, the calcium supplement can be reduced in frequency as they are no longer growing once adults.


Finally conformation from you guys before I dive into it would be appreciated, can't wait!

 

[andynic07]

40 crickets for a young beardie sounds excessive. As for veggies try bok choy , butternut pumpkin , baby spinach and a lot of people use dandelion greens but I do not. Stay away from the watery veggies like iceberg lettuce as this has little nutrients. I mainly use the darker green leafy veggies and a little fruit.