Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, so I am looking into getting myself a few bearded dragons, I have done a good bit of research and whatnot, but still have a few questions.

First off, Impaction. So, I have read about how sand can cause impaction in beardies, young and adult. Also about babies eating too large of insects causing problems. Now I have a few questions on this subject.

What about actual Astro-Turf? I was looking at some stuff at Lowes, which was a good natural sand coloring, which would look nice I think, but would real astro-turf be too rough? Should I stick to actual reptile astro-turf type stuff, or are they the same?

Now, with baby beardies, can you just feed fruit or veggies to keep them from having the Impaction problems? If not, would roaches be a safe choice? Ofcourse use the younger, smaller roaches, but I would like to be sure that they will be ok for them to eat.

Now I have a few questions about my enclosure and incubation ideas.

I have looked into enclosures by Show Case Cages, and they look great, but I was wondering what if I build something similar, but out of wood, and coated it in Polyurethane? Do you think this would hold up or would it eventually still get damaged by water?

I also have an idea to create a good environment for an incubator.
Here is the basic idea, I would build a coffee table type thing, about 2.5'x2.5'x1.5'(H.) In each of the four corners, would be a Desktop Wind Tower Fan, all pointed towards the middle. In the middle of it all would be a 20"x20"x.5" piece of wood on a rail system, which is where the incubator itself would be placed. All of the fans would be plugged into a Thermostat, then the Thermostat and the Incubator would be plugged into a UPS. The front of the thing (I have no clue what to call this thing) would have two doors that open from the middle and swing outward, like on a normal coffee table.
Do you think this would work to keep the air inside uniform to help keep from frying the eggs?

Forgot a few more questions about Housing and baby beardies.

What would be the best housing idea for beardies? Would it be best to house them all alone, then introduce them in a neutral environment for mating? House one male and one female together all the time?

What about the babies? How many babies should be housed together and in what size enclosure? Also, when do bearded babies reach full size?

Well, I'm nowhere near an expert like some of the responders that will reply, but I'll help till they come.LOL.

The baby dragon that I had wouldn't take veggies/pellets for about 4 or 5 months, he was still a hatchling and only took crickets. Eventually, he started trying the pellets/veggies and now he likes them.

When he was a hatchling I kept him on newspaper, until now he is about 3.5 inches body and 4.5 inches tail. So I keep my dragon on sand mostly, but I do have rocks and wood for him to jump around on. I don't suggest the sand, for baby/hatchlings.

And an enclosure roughly 6 feet long and 2 feet hig, and 2 feet deep is an ideal size for a pair of dragons. Currently I keep my dragon in a 20Long setup, because it is easier to ensure he is eating/catching the crickets.

And as a suggestion, I say just start w/ one. Let it grow and then get it sexed once it is big enough, so you don't get stuck w/ two males.

Thats all for now, cause I can't remember anymore of the questions you had. LOL.

I'm sure others will help out more.
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Leopard Geckos
Sahara (Normal)
Ghost (Blizzard)
"The Baby" (year old Albino)

Bearded Dragons
Junior(hopefully male/unsexed)

OK, lotsa questions.

Impaction. Feed baby dragons crickets with bodies no longer than the width between their eyes and you will never have a problem. I would stick with crickets rather than silkworms etc. for babies. feed babies 2 to 3 times a day and dust with calcium w/ D3 (no Vitamin A) every meal but one that you dust with a multivitamin. (again no vitamin A)

The right sand cannot cause impaction under normal circumstances. Stick with paper towels, newspaper or reptile carpet till they are at least 12" though.

Asto-Turf. Well my outside cage has outside carpet (looped but no backing, I trim my dragons nails and it is no problem) but it is not the plastic grass type. If that's what you're talking about then I'd just be concerned if the fibers can come loose.

Baby dragon food. You'll find generally they just won't eat much but live food. If they eat any significant salad in the first few months you're lucky. Always offer it but make sure you offer all the live food they choose to eat. Protein builds dragons. Appropriately sized roaches would be fine but I'd stick with crickets. Small dragons eat a lot of small bugs.

Enclosure. Home made is fine with polyurethane. Consider melamine.

Incubator. I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. lllreptile.com sells Hova-bators for $39, I doubt you can make one that works as well for less. I own 3.

Baby housing. Groups of like 5 are fine. Separate by size and monitor closely to prevent submissives from not eating or basking. Separate stressed dragons. A weight scale works great for this. A 20 long (30 x 12 x 12 high) is fine. 90% of dragon growth is in the 1st year. (more like 9 months though) then a slow continuance or the next 2 years.

Breeding. If you buy a baby male and a baby female from a breeder that are about the same size then it is fine for them to grow up together. Just make sure that your enclosure is designed with 2 dragons in mind to prevent disputes over basking sites etc. It can be hard to introduce dragon strangers. Too much for me to type. sorry.

I have to disagree about the previous posters suggestion to raise males and female dragons together. This will almost always mean your female will be bred far to young, not to mention really stress her when he gets sexually mature before she is old enough to safely have eggs.

Female dragons should be at least 14 months old. This ensures they have time to reach full maturity and size before burdened with the added demands of producing eggs. Females can become gravid as young as 6 months but just as human girls can have babies at 12, it doesn't mean it is good for them to have babies at 12. 6 months is just like being a pre teen to a dragon. Waiting till they are fully adult ensures bigger clutches, much less change of egg binding, infertile eggs, or other health issues.

You can house babies together in a cage but if you do have a male/female pair (or male/male group) separate them before they both reach 6 months of age. All female groups can be raised together though I still will double check their sex at 6 month no matter how good the breeder says they are at sexing 6" babies. Everybody can make a mistake and since they have a 50% chance of being wrong...anybody can make an educated guess and be right half of the time.
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PHLdyPayne

Dragons mature when they mature. Regardless of what we'd like. I have an 8 month old that is gravid that has never been with a male. Egg binding is much more common when the eggs are infertile. They're like soft grapes and hard to push out. Mating generally happens only in the spring. Regardless of age. Ideally you should buy a dragon born in April. It becomes a problem when breeders manipulate the conditions to have drgons hatched in August or later.

astro turf is ok as a substrate for bearded dragons as long as its the kind that doesn't have loops in the weave (ie anything that can catch bearded dragon claws or toes in), and care is taken that no frayed ends are left on. Dragons can and do eat these and it can cause impactions.

Bearded dragons need to have insects in their diet, especially baby dragons. Feed insects no bigger than the space between their eyes or soft bodied insects like silkworms (these can be bigger than the space between their eyes but I don't suggest more than twice as big for dragons under 10"

Your incubator plans, going to need more details...but personally I find it sounds way to complicated and difficult to make than a basic incubator needs to be. Using a coffee table will make it really heavy and not practical in the long run.

I am also concerned that you want to buy several dragons and go right into breeding. If you never owned dragons before, i suggest to not worry about breeding right now and concentrate on raising up your dragons. You do have a year to research how to breed dragons, how to build incubators and how to set them out, as well as what to do to prepare for breeding your dragons, what incubation medium to use and temps etc. Breeding dragons is expensive, takes alot of work, time and effort, not to mention space, and a love of the animals. A couple of female dragons can produce 100 eggs each every breeding season..that means alot of mouths to feed and house. You can easily have cricket bills for hatchlings of $45 a week or more.

Also, bearded dragons should be housed separately, even if you plan to breed them. Though females can get along, they don't always and even cage mates who have been living at peace with each other with no problems, can suddenly turn on each other.

For building a cage, urathane or similar wood varnishes are fine to seal and protect the wood. Just make sure it has a chance to dry completely and is kept in a well ventilated area for a few days to ensure all fumes are gone. Then it is safe for your dragon to be housed in.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the info guys!

First off I want to say I don't want or plan to go straight into breeding, just getting all my info in line for further down the road. I plan on getting a single dragon right now, then in a year or more if things go well I may consider it.

Secondly, I saw the Reptile Carpet Zoo Med makes in person today, I always thought it was an astro-turf type thing, but it is not. I think I may go with that instead, as it is less abrasive.

Again -- BD, Payne, Jake -- Thanks a ton. Answered alot of questions I had.