I have 2 male bearded dragons, about 6 years old and very healthy. The larger one is about 18" and a perfect specimen. I have had them both(from the same clutch) from the age of 4 months. To me they are pets like a dog or cat would be.

They live in separate 60g tanks most of the time. Frequently I let one of them run around in the room to climb around, explore and get some exercise. The room is well carpeted with no escape holes anywhere.

However, the door to the room doesn't latch, so I have to lock the top lock with a key. And, unfortunately, there is a cat door right outside the door. For much of the day, the sun shines right through the cat door, making it attention grabbing to a heat-loving reptile. NOTE: this is not my house, I share it with the owner.

One day I came home and found the door ajar. I searched the room for the larger lizard, but he was no where to be found. It was already dark, so I took a flashlight and made an exhaustive search around the house for him, without any luck. I checked again in the morning hoping he might have come out from his night-time hiding place, but no lizard.

I live in Southern California, and it was spring, so the elements were not my main concern. I was mostly worried about him getting eaten or run over. I asked the next-door neighbors and told them to be on the lookout. Each day I did a local search for him, but after 6 days I had pretty much given up hope.

On the sixth day I posted flyers with a scanned picture all around the neighborhood hoping that I could at least find out what had happened to him and get some closure. To my amazement, the next morning I got a call from a woman at the end of our street who had found him.

It turns out he got REALLY lucky. About 2 days after he disappeared, they had found him sunning in their driveway. These people were animal lovers with several pets. They actually took him to a pet store to find out what he was. Then they bought an outdoor style cage for him with a hot rock and course sand substrate, so that he would have a proper environment.

They told me they could tell he was a pet by the way he responded to them. In fact some of the people at the pet store had offered to take him that first day. As I said, he is a beautiful lizard with a great personality. In another couple of days, they would have given him to someone at the store as a pet.

I feel incredibly lucky for him to have wound up in such good hands. I reimbursed them for the equipment and now I have an outdoor enclosure. Both of the lizards spend a lot less time out of their tanks now. Before I leave every morning, I walk back to double check that the door is locked, they don't need to be going out on any more adventures.

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