The Bearded Dragon Manual. Philippe De Vosjoil
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us wonder if the true intelligence potential of bearded dragons has yet to be discovered.
The bottom line is that beardies can vary greatly in personality and intelligence. It is this writer’s opinion that intelligence should be as important a factor in selective breeding programs as vigor and color.
Size
For a first-time owner, a 6–8-inch juvenile that appears to be in good shape is a better long-term survival prospect than a 4-inch baby and is well worth the extra cost. If good color is important to you, ask to see photos of the parents and note the genetic line. Keep in mind that juveniles will change color as they grow and shed to adulthood, some quite dramatically. Baby color is not adult color.
Occasionally, breeders offer older dragons past their reproductive prime but with several good years left as pets and family members. Keep in mind, though, that it is very difficult to judge the age of an older bearded dragon. You may be considering what you are told is a two-year-old dragon that really five years old and will not be with you very long or could cost quite a bit in vet bills.
Selecting a healthy bearded dragon is the first step in a rewarding relationship with your new pet.
Signs of a Potentially Healthy Bearded Dragon
Many owners purchase bearded dragons through online breeders. Often, you can get a feel for the quality of a breeder’s animals just by assessing his or her website. Prices can also alert you to the difference. As a breeder, it costs a good amount of money to raise high-quality dragons. A good breeder will take the time to coach you before the sale and after your dragon arrives and be available to answer questions in the future.
Price should never be the deciding factor. Remember that you get what you pay for. Many first-time owners will buy the cheapest dragon they can find and then fill up an adult-sized enclosure with hundreds of dollars worth of backgrounds, expensive substrates and basking bulbs, a plethora of rock formations, hammocks, and play items. Many of these items are detrimental to the dragon’s health by keeping the juvenile under constant stress. This, to me, is like buying a $50 puppy and spending $300 on a leash that chokes the puppy. We have received countless calls from people who purchased their first dragon from a pet store, a show, or an irrepsonsible breeder in this way. In two weeks or soon after, the dragon is dead, and the several hundred dollars’ worth of cage items are useless. This situation is traumatic to you and the family and did not turn out too well for the dragon, either.
Instead, spend as much as you can afford on investing in a good-quality dragon and then simplify the setup. Your dragon (and your bank account) will thank you. Bearded dragon juveniles need only a very simple setup in a 20-gallon long tank. This allows them to find food easily and make the enclosure their home territory.
If you purchase a dragon at a pet shop or reptile show, there are some things you can look for. Healthy hatchlings may open their mouths and threaten to bite when a large hand approaches them. This is normal behavior for a healthy baby. Babies who appear to be sleeping in your hand may actually be listless and ill.
Look for belly marks, which are dark striations or patterns on the belly of the dragon. These dark markings are a sign of stress. Like people, bearded dragons kept under constant stress will become ill.
Stressed-out babies are dark and thin.
Look for an animal with rounded body contours and without visible skeletal outlines, particularly along the hipbones and spine. Make sure that the digits and tail are intact. Your dragon should be bright-eyed and either active or resting comfortably under a basking bulb with its head and upper body raised. It should be bilaterally symmetrical: both eyes should be the same size, and the dragon should not have a kink or bend in its back.
3: MAKING A HOME FOR YOUR DRAGON
We strongly urge you to keep your bearded dragon within a suitable enclosure. Allowing a dragon to roam free in your home or even in a single room may appear at first to be a good thing, but what may be perceived as freedom for the lizard can become a death trap.
Dragons that are loose in households fail to keep themselves adequately warm and hydrated and thus can become immune-suppressed, potentially falling ill from infections. Moreover, humans might step on loose dragons, or household dogs and cats may treat them as prey. They may receive serious or fatal electrical shocks from wires or equally serious trauma from toppling books, lamps, and the like. Loose dragons risk setting fires by bringing combustibles, such as curtains, into contact with hot items, such as light bulbs. Responsible bearded dragon owners who are dedicated to providing the best for their pets keep their dragons in appropriate enclosures and let them out only when they can be supervised closely or share time with the family.
Consider the number of dragons and their sizes when planning an adequate habitat.
Enclosures
Bearded dragons are moderately sized lizards that, as they grow, require larger enclosures. When deciding on an enclosure, it is important to consider the bearded dragon as a two-stage lizard even if you want to invest right away in the larger enclosure it will need when fully grown. The very best size for a 6–7-inch juvenile dragon is a 30- inch-long by 12-inch-high enclosure, which is essentially a 20-gallon long tank. You can keep the dragon in this size tank for about four months after bringing it home. Keeping a baby dragon in a larger enclosure is problematic because the dragon may fail to find its food, water, basking sites, and shelters. He may be overwhelmed by the size of the tank and feel insecure and stressed. The UVB may be placed too high to be effective. As the baby grows, however, you will need to provide a larger enclosure.
The smallest enclosure for one or two adult bearded dragons is either 4 feet long by 2 feet deep or 6 feet long by 18 inches deep. A standard 55-gallon (48-inch-long by 13-inch-deep) aquarium can house a single adult specimen, but do not go any smaller. A smaller tank will restrict activity in a way that is not optimal for the animal’s welfare. Bearded dragons cannot thermoregulate in a tank or enclosure that is too short. Bearded dragons need to adjust their internal temperature accordingly to become hungry, to digest food, and to cool off to prevent death.
The most widely sold enclosures in the reptile trade are all-glass tanks. These are fine for bearded dragons, but there are two potential problems: many stores do not carry the larger sizes, and their size and weight make them challenging to transport. There are also large, lightweight plastic molded enclosures with sliding glass fronts sold in the reptile trade (e.g., Vision Herpetological) that can be designed for housing bearded dragons. You can order these enclosures online if your local reptile store does not stock them.
Fire and Ice Dragons uses 48-inch-long by 24-inch-wide by 24-inch-high white melamine enclosures with solid tops, bottoms, backs, and sides; sliding glass front doors; and vents in the back. They are easy to clean and very bright internally. They keep the dragons happy and, thus, showing their best colors.
When choosing an enclosure, it’s important to consider your bearded dragon’s needs first and foremost—not what will look best in your home. One customer built a bearded dragon setup from an old cabinet because he collected antiques. The floor of the cabinet was almost square in length and width, and the cabinet was very tall. It had a dark wood stain. He removed the front doors and installed glass. Then, he went to buy the bearded dragon. There were some problems, though. First, the size of the cabinet was inappropriate: 36 inches by 24 inches, rather than the minimum 48-inch length that an adult requires. Next,