Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I have recently decided to become a proud owner of my first dearded dragon. I have had many raptiles in the past, mostly geco's, I've done my research to ensure I know as much as I can b4 i purchase my dragon however there are alot of different views on raising these wonderful raptiles so I am jus wondering if someone could answer a few questions I have. First, terrarium size, how large or small should I go concerning the size needed for a baby dragon keeping in mind I realise an upgrade will probably be necessary in the future. The breeder I have been in contact with assured me that the size of the cage didn't matter as long as I made a "pen" inside to prevent shock from the transfer. Second, because I live in Saskatchewan, is an under cage heating matt a good idea, especially in the winter? Thank you for your time and any other helpful advice for a beginer would be appreciated.

For a baby bearded dragon a 20-35 gal long tanks is fine. Of course once they are about 8 months old you will need to move them to the adult tank which needs to be at least 4'x2'x2' in size (though some height can be loss, floor space is more important than height).

For heating, an undertank heater isn't needed. A basking light (just regular household bulbs work great and are much cheaper than the petstore basking bulbs) for the baby tank should be 75-100w, so the baskign spot is between 95-115F (the higher end for babies and young bearded dragons). Air temp should be in the 80's with the cool end around75F. Night time temps can drop to 70F or a bit lower. If your house temperature gets lower than 65F, then a nighttime heatsource will be needed. A ceramic heater is good or night heat bulb can be used.

Remember, deffinitely need a bulb that produces UVB.

Best thing to do is set your basking light and uvb bulb on a timer, with 14 hour days and 10 hours night.