Bearded Dragon Care Sheet

 Life Span: 4-9yrs

Housing: Bearded dragons do best in a wooden vivarium, these will hold the heat well, keeping the animal nice and warm. For hatchlings you will want smaller wooden enclosures to ensure no escapes happen, young dragons are tiny and make great escape artists! For adult an enclosure of 4x2x2f is good but the bigger the better, if given space the dragon will use it. While they are Terrestrial they do enjoy climbing small distances so climbing opportunities are a bonus. 

Substrate: When it comes to the substrate there is a massive argument   about whether to use sand or not and while sand can be dangerous if you use the correct sand it can be safe and enriching, so the best sand substrate to use is a Play sand and topsoil mix, this is because the sand does not clump together removing the risk of impaction. Other good substate options are slate tiles, these are great at absorbing heat and being a natural nail trimmer for the dragon. Personally i would suggest a mix of both. 

Heating: Heat bulbs are a must for these animals, heat mats will not produce the heat needed in the correct way, dragons are natural basking animals and will find a high spot to lay in the sun, when using a bulb you must use a bulb guard so the animal can burn themselves. The temperature on the basking/warm side should be 36-45c and the ambient/cool temp should be 25-31c. The heat bulb should be used with a thermostat.

UVB/Lighting: Bearded dragons absolutely need UVB, without it they are at a high risk of dying or developing MBD, a t5 tube is one of the best options to use as it covers all of the enclosure (depending on size) and doesnt have to be replaced as often. These animals will need a natural day/night cycle so switching off the lights at sunset is best.

Humidity: There is still a lot of research going into how much humidity these animals need and while they are from a more arid environment it has been shown that daily misting of the enclosure and at least some humidity within the enclosure  is helpful to the animals shedding and hydration.

Diet and Water: Bearded dragons are omnivorous, meaning they will eat both meat (insects) and veg. Some great stable insects are morio worms, Dubia roaches, Locusts and Crickets with the occasional fruit beetle grub as a treat. A bowl of fresh veg daily is vital to a balanced diet and leafy greens make a good diet, along with cucumber. All food should be dusted with calcium powder. 

Housing Together: No, this is one of the worst things you can do with a dragon, while young you can keep dragons together but as soon as they start reaching maturity and as soon as they are big enough they will become territorial and begin killing and eating eachother, these animal are solitary and should only be mixed when breeding, even this needs to be closely supervised.