Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone. My name is ARI and I'm new to the board. We took my brother's 3 year old veiled chamelion to the shop tonight and I fell in love with the sweetest baby bearded dragons. I've set my mind to getting one, and since we have experience with our three chamelions (and their eggs), I think it'll be good for me to get a pet of my own... the girl said that they're great pets (she has lots of reptiles... snakes I think), and she gave me some information that I'd just like to verify:

1. Their poop smells, but once you clean it out, the actual aquarium does not absorb a smell

2. She said she has never seen one bite, or even try to bite, EVER. My brother's chamelions sometimes hiss, but she said that the dragons are VERY friendly, and could even sit on my shoulder while I watch TV and they enjoy to snuggle in the breast area and everything. PLEASE CONFIRM THIS.

3. They are vegetarian, except for the occasional cricket, and eat lettuce... WHAT KIND?

I'm set on getting one, but I guess I thought you guys would be able to point me in the right direction. Thanks a million,

ARI

Their poop usually doesn't smell too bad. If it does, the dragon is probably sick. It is you choice whether or not to feed crickets, me and several others have had sucess feeding pellets. Most are very nice, but there are a few biters out there.

I've had many bearded dragons for several years, and also take in ill ones from rescues and pet stores when they call me. In all that time I have been bitten once by a sick baby one as I tried to force a fresh shed meal worm in his mouth.... I deserved it, I was pushing it in and he opened his mouth to eat it and bite down, it broke the skin, barely.... This is the only time I have ever been bite.

Herpetologist consider bearded dragons to be one of the most social of all reptiles and they have very unique personalities.... some are jealous, some are possessive, some DEMAND attention, all of them tend to love to drive us nuts at times.

As Adults they eat mostly veggies and salads, but as growing babies they need protein, either crickets or silkwoms and when older (6 months) they can have super worms... as the other poster said, some feed the rep-cal brand pellets ... some babies will not eat them unless encouraged or started on them young.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS! That's great, positive info, and I'll let you know how it all goes.

Most of the information given to you is acurate but there is alot left out.

Don't feed iceberg lettace as it doens't have anything good in it. ALways offer a mixture of dark greens and vegetables:

Stables: Dandelion greens, Collard Greens, Mustard greens, enchive, escarole, parsley

Infrequent: frozen mixed vegetables (thawed and chopped smaller for younger beardies), swiss chard, carrots, string beans, melons, strawberries, grapes, peas, squash, Romaine, Kale, beet greens, radish greens, turnup greens.

Rarely: Bananas, spinach.

Crickets should be fed two to three times a day for very young babies, twice a day for 2month to adult. Insects should be dusted every other day with calcium and multi vitamine powders.

Heating and Lighting. UVB bulb is a must (Rept sun 5.0 or the new 8.0). Basking temps should be 100 F- 110 F for babies, 95F - 105F for juveniles and adults. Cool side of tank should be in low to mid 80's F. Night time temps can fall to 70's F.

One last recommendation, it is always better to buy your bearded dragon from a reputable breeder thana petstore. They tend to take much more care of their babies, ensuring they are eating greens and are healthy. They also tend to be cheaper than what the petstore sells them for.

As for Biting. They can and do bite. However if properly socialized and not tormented they won't bite or very rarely do so. Watch their behaviour to get a good ideal if they are going to bite. Wide gaping mouths with beard extended is a good indication he is feeling defensive. hissing is also part of their bluff display to frighten off predators. Sudden movements towards them can also trigger a lunge with either an actual bite or bluff attack. WIth careful movements and patients most dragons get friendly and accept regular handling.

THANKS so much! Actually, the store we go to is not a "petstore" but a specialty store... each section (birds, reptiles, fish), have their own salespeople who own many of those kind of pets and know lots of info on them. as well, they only get their animals from reputable breeders, or people who have bred animals that have come from the store (my brother's little chamelions - in a year - may find their way back to the store)... thanks for all the extra info... the stuff about food was stuff that I didn't know.. also about the biting... but I'm glad to hear that they are a fairly easy-to-handle pet... i want something I can hold....
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Jason, Ichiro, Mika & Toki
1.0 veiled chameleon
0.2 dwarf panther chameleons
razior_@hotmail.com