Bearded Dragons Care- How to Properly take Care of Your Bearded Dragon

Bearded Dragons originally hail from the scrub lands of Australia. There are two main types: inland and coastal. Inland Bearded Dragons are the most common, and are also known as Yellow Headed Bearded Dragons. Adult male Bearded dragons can grow up to two feet long (24inches). These dragons are skillful climbers who are naturally curious and alert to their surroundings. So if your Bearded Dragon seems sluggish and inactive, you may want to take a close look at the habitat you have provided for it, and see if it needs to be improved. You should also make sure there are veterinarians in the area who know how to treat Bearded Dragons.

If you do not have a Bearded Dragon, and are considering becoming a pet parent of one, you should do a thorough inspection before purchasing. Check to see if the Bearded Dragon is alert. When you walk up to the cage, the Bearded Dragon should come near to observe you. However, if it takes no interest in you or anyone else, be wary because something is wrong. Remember these creatures are naturally very curious and active.

Secondly, look for infection. Does the bearded dragon have limbs that look infected? Is there gunk in the dragon's eyes? If so, this is an indication of an unhealthy Bearded dragon. In addition, do you want to purchase a baby bearded dragon, or do you want to purchase an adult bearded dragon?

Taking care of a Bearded Dragon can be expensive. Taking care of them is simple if you build the right habitat for them. However providing the habitat and diet can prove to be some what expensive, especially for baby Bearded Dragons. Babies tend to stress easily and need to be fed at least two to three times a day. They also tend to have large appetites that can consume 20 to 60 baby crickets a day. This can be costly.

However, adult bearded dragons only need to eat once a day, and can be fed a variety of foods (especially because they are omnivores), such as: collard greens, mustard greens, locusts, meal worms and roaches. Be careful not to feed your Bearded Dragon specimens that you might find in your yard for they may be infected with pesticides and other types of yard gas that can threaten the health of your Bearded Dragon.

Being omnivores, Bearded Dragons have a diverse diet. Earlier I mentioned that Bearded Dragons can eat collard greens and mustard greens. However, they can eat kale greens. Basically, they can eat any type of greens. (That is not to say that they can eat lettuce though.) They can also eat:

Carrots

Beans

Locusts

Peas

Waxworms

Meal-worms

Crickets

Earthworms

Squash

Chopped meat

Butter worms

Zophobas worms

Red worms

(Be sure to provide special supplements for your Bearded Dragon at least twice a week.) Make sure that the food you feed to your Bearded dragon is not any bigger than the space in between its eyes. Food larger than this can cause serious health implications for your Bearded Dragon. For the proper "Bearded Dragons care", there is a chart above that will let you know what size insect your Beardie can eat in comparison to its age.

For the proper "Bearded Dragons care", you must have the right habitat. To successfully provide a suitable habitat for a happy and health Bearded Dragon, you must mimic its natural habitat.

What does the natural habitat of a Bearded Dragon Consist of?

The natural habitat for a Bearded Dragon consists of:

Bushes (Once you obtain your own Bearded Dragon, you can provide artificial bushes and trees, etc.)

Trees

Rocks

Logs

Caves (They like to play hide and seek...it's true!)

Sunlight

(Make sure you also provide sturdy places for them to climb and hang.)

The terrarium

For the proper care of your Bearded Dragon, you must provide the proper terrarium or aquarium for it. Make sure that the terrarium or aquarium is properly ventilated. For baby Bearded Dragons, nothing less than 40 gallons, for adults, nothing less than 55 gallons. The more room the better and the happier your pet will be.

Sunlight

A Bearded Dragon needs 12-14 hours of sunlight a day. To provide this for your pet, you must acquire a Reptisun 5.0 fluorescent UVB bulb. Remember, these lights should stretch almost to the entirety of the cage, and the light should not be inside the cage but outside (hanging over) the cage. You will also need a combination light fixtures that is able to handle both fluorescent fixtures and incandescent fixtures to provide the necessary nutrients for your Bearded dragon. Be sure to also keep a thermometer in your cage so that you can check to see the temperatures in the habitat.

Providing proper "Bearded Dragons care" is important. You need to make sure that a you keep your Bearded Dragon cool or hydrated. You can two do this in one or two ways.

1) Have a spritz or spray bottle in which you keep water and spritz your dragon every other day.

2) Give it a bath! This is great for hygiene and for cooling your beardie as well. Only fill up the water until it is chest high. To prevent your Beardie from drowning, do not leave it alone. With the proper Bearded Dragons care, your Beardie can live ten to twelve years.