Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, we've had "Eddie" for approx. 5 weeks now and he's doing great. (our first bearded dragon) He's gone from 6" to 9",, it's amazing how fast they grow!! I've read somewhere that they should be approx. 12" before you let them do some exploring around the house. And by "around the house" i mean in the upstairs hallway with all bedroom/bathroom doors closed and absolutely nothing for him to get into or under,,, just my son and I for climbing toys. Is this a good idea?? bad idea?? any suggestions?? I welcome any information I can get. Thank-you

If you can be sure that there is no place for him to hide or injure himself there is no reason he can't run around with supervision now. It sounds like you will have a constant eye on him, but just be aware that they can be fast little suckers. I've never seen that specific rule, but at 12" they aren't as likely to get into the really tight small spaces, so that's probably the thinking with the advice you heard.

Then you can lengthen the leash to give your BD "range" to roam in. He will still be exploring the radius of the leash, and still won't get into areas he shouldn't. To lengthen the leash, remove the nylon cord it comes with and go get a rawhide shoestring from a leather store. This should stretch the leash out to about twice the length of the cord. Then you can "hitch" him/her up to something in the middle (I made a base out of a round piece of board and an "eye-screw" drilled into the center), and the BD will be "free to roam" while you're not around. Great exercise!!!
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Dl

do they make leashes small enough for a 9" dragon?? I'm pretty confident that he can't go anywhere in the area we will set up for him,,, it'll be complete supervised time----i have two very large dogs (one's a curious german shepherd pup) so the Beardie won't be able to be roam without being watched. I actually haven't 'formally' introduced the animals yet. Our lab probably won't even care (he's never bothered or really noticed the birds or even the guinea pigs),, the german shepherd pup (he larger than the lab already---closing in on 75-80lbs) is a tru pup in every sense of the word,,, clumsy, curious, wants to play with everything,,, and likes to 'pounce' on things,,,, probably not good for a little dragon. The leash may come in handy later tho. Thanks