Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Interested in becoming a bearded owner, but am more worried about the long term cost of ownership over the initial cost. Seems as though these guys eat sooooo much that it could become very costly to feed and maintain them at an optimal level.

So here's the question. What does is cost you per month/per dragon? and what does that cost entail?

Thanks,

-Patrick

Most of us can't really say cost for just one, as we mostly own multiple herps. I spend $40 to $80 (Either $40 or $80, depending how much my herps eat that month) a month on food, which is the only real regular cost. However, mines probably one of the highest food cost for what I get, since I will only feed silkworms. If you want to do crickets, it will be MUCH cheaper, but a hassle.
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Zeo)
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos (Vienna, Chomps)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever, Rocky, 10 years young

OK based on what I have seen thus far ( I am setting up for 2-3 for spring) here is a breakdown.

Housing complete $200-$300 depending on what you use.
Main food staple (crickets, mealworms etc...) $45 per month
Other supplements (veggies, fruits,vitamins etc...)$20 per month
Medical care (fecal recommended at least once a yr) $60 per visit.

Tehre are other things I might have missed so fellers and ladies please feel free to fill in.

The only other things to keep in mind is that the UVB bulbs need to be replaced in their cages every 6 months. Of course at the intial setup you would need the tank and also the cover/hood fixture I can't really get you prices since mine are all full grown so they have much larger cages than your baby would have. Alot of this other stuff is just amenities that I choose because it is less work but each of their setups have the ceramic heat emitter and the holder for that, they have thermostats/thermometers to regulate the heat, their hut/perches/etc. Really on a monthly basis as far as food we spend about $50-80 for three adult lizards (which includes mealworms/superworms/crickets/waxworms/greens). Once suggestion I would make to lower the cost of substrate is to get just Wheat bran flakes from a feed store when the beardie gets large enough. I get a 50 lb bag in town here for $7.99 and I can get 2-3 changes of their substrate each out of it. I know I didn't give you that much information really as far as cost but more just things that you might need to consider that maybe you hadn't thought about. If you have the money I guarantee they are more than worth it. A good site to go to just to get an idea of what things cost is www.lllreptile.com. I refuse to buy anything from PetSmart and so I typically order cage accessories from them.

After you drop the huge chunk of money at the initial purchase ($250-$500 including the dragon price...initial cost could vary widely depending on setup) the actual monthly cost is minimal. I have only one BD as of right now and he eats silkworms and pellets. The veggies cost almost nothing when figured in with the regular grocery bill. The pellets last forever, and the silkworms, well that's a whole other story.

I've spent $40 on silkworms and he's still eating on them a month later. I'm trying to breed and raise them, so there will hopefully be no monthly cost involved at all. If you go crickets, it will cost less, but then you have the hassle of the crickets, which I gave up on. As far as a monthly cost of crickets for just one beardie, can't help ya there. Hope this helped a bit.

I don't really spend much per month on my one dragon. He was raised on a pellet diet, and the pellets save a ton of money.

5 pound bag of pellets (looks like it'll last 6 months or so): $20
a bundle of fresh greens (lasts a week): $1
multivitamin and calcium supplements (looks like it'll last A LONG TIME): $10

So it's breaks down to about $10 a month on his main diet. He also gets can o' crickets (which he LOVES) and used to get mealworms as treats. We'll be trying out silks soon too.

In addition to the responses you have already recieved, you can expect a slight increase of your monthly power bill. I have a large variety of herps that I breed, so figuring the cost of only one beardie would be impossible for me.
Cricket

I have 5 adult BD and 4 adult frilled dragons. I buy 1500 crickets every two weeks. Crickets are about $14 per 1000. So that is about $42 per month on crickets. Add another $5 for veggies and maybe a $1 for veggies. That is only $48 a month and I have a ton of lizards! The frilleds also eat nothing but crickets (w/ roachs and worms as treats) so it would probly only cost you about $30 a month on food. As for everything else. A MV bulb would run you about $45 a year. One cermic heat emitter will last about 5 years. If you use sand in the bottom you need to change it out about once every two months (if you sift the waste out a few times a week). A 60lb bag of sand is less than $3. So it is actualy really cheap to keep these guys!
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0.3 Normal Leopard geckos
1.0 High Yellow Leo
1.2 Albino Leos
3.1 Frilled Dragons
0.0.7 Baby Bearded Dragons
1.4 Adult Bearded Dragons
0.0.4 D. Leucomelas
1.0 Adult Albino Corn
0.1.1 Normal Corns
1.1 Creamcicle Corns
0.0.1 Crimson Corn

I have way too many animals to mention. I buy AT LEAST 10,000
crickets a week. 4000 of these are to breed so I have an adequate supply of pinheads, 1/8s, & 1/4s for my babies. 2000 of these are 1/2inch for feeders, and the other 4000 are larger crix to feed all my adults.
Cricket

np
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0.3 Normal Leopard geckos
1.0 High Yellow Leo
1.2 Albino Leos
3.1 Frilled Dragons
0.0.7 Baby Bearded Dragons
1.4 Adult Bearded Dragons
0.0.4 D. Leucomelas
1.0 Adult Albino Corn
0.1.1 Normal Corns
1.1 Creamcicle Corns
0.0.1 Crimson Corn

I spend a total of $360 monthly just on crickets. This does not include $25 every 2 months for superworms. This also does not include the cost of my cricketchow & gutload for the crix. The wheatbran for the supers, calcium/multivitamin supplements, or any of the veggies. I average spending $20-$25 weekly at the grocery store on mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, yellow squash, zucchini squash, and carrots. I have 2.5 adult beardies, one sub-adult beardie, 2.1 adult uros, 3 young juvenile uros, and 1.1 iguanas(both over 5ft long). These are only the ones that I have that eat veggies & crickets. I have numerous other herps that are strictly carnivores. 1.3 adult leopard geckos, 1.1 adult frilled dragons, 11.15 adult veiled chams, and 10 pair of snakes of various species. Then there's the rodents I breed to feed my snakes, have to keep them all fed & the bedding changed. This list also does not include any of my babies, or any that I have as pets. Now you have to figure in the cost of the cleaning products I use to disinfect the cages & accesories. Also the sand & replacement bulbs. And like I said earlier, the power bill.
My husband has called me a d@mned reptile junkie. I do some of the reptile shows and that helps cover the cost of herpcare.
But we've really gotten off the subject here. The guy wanted to know how much it would cost him for only one beardies expenses. My answer would have to be- very little, when you compare the cost to the joy these wonderful creatures bring, IT'S WORTH EVERY DIME!
Cricket

Being Canadian, my price range going to be different but just convert the total cost into US dollars using any one of the many currency converters out there on the internet.

currently my dragon is about a year old (wow, the time sure has flown). I bought her at about three months of age. The first year is the most expensive year of dragon ownership as this is when they eat the most and move to their adult sized cage.

If you buy a baby dragon, you will need a 20 gal tank (mine I put in a 35 Gal tank at three months and moved her into her large 5'x2'x2' enclosure when she was about 6 months old). For the initial cage, light fixtures, hide, log, vitamines and calcium suppliments, I paid around $150. Then $60 for the dragon, so $210 Canadian to get my dragon and all I need to keep it happy. Crickets, I paid about $20 for 1000 crickets, adding in shipping and taxes. Course, had to spend about $15 to get a bin set up for the crickets.

Cricket costs for the first 5 or 6 months would be about $20 for crickets, plus about $6 on mixed greens. So for the first 5 months or so, you can feed your dragon for about $30 a month to be on teh safe side. Once they get older, they eat older crickets and more of them, and more greens. so the monthly cost will go up a bit, but in reality, not much more than $5 or $10.

However, since June of this year, I have switched to silkworms, which cost more but tend to last longer and have alot less hassle than crickets. So with silkworms and greens, plus silkworm chow (which tended to last a couple months so will spread the cost over those months) you are looking at about $60 a month.

Some notes here. For a single dragon, a bottle of repcal and a bottle of multivitamine, will last a year or pretty close to one. I haven't used up either bottle yet and I bought my dragon in March 2003, so not quite a full year has gone by of me owning the dragon. That said, my multivitamine bottle is still about a third full, and my calcium, probably around half. It is good to take a fecal to the vet at least once a year (twice would be ideal, and any time things don't seem right with your dragon). Fecals can range between $15 to $50 each, depending on the vet. (again this is in Canadian dollars).

To finish, bearded dragons don't have a really high upkeep cost per month, typically under $50 a month. However, it can be less or more, depending if your dragon gets sick, needs to be treated for parasites etc. then the cost could jump from $30 that month to $300, so it would be a good ideal to ensure you have free money for the unexpected expenses. If spending $30 a month is the Maximum you can afford, then better not to get a dragon till your income is more lucrative. Remember that dragons will be with you for at least 5 years, maybe longer.