Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had 2 eastern bearded dragons, George and Kazul since January 1996. Both of them were I think a couple of months old when I got them - a lot bigger than hatchlings.

Today I found Kazul curled up underneath the big branch in their cage, stiff, eyes sunken in and all bloody underneath her beard. : < George is looking a bit sad and is munching on his favourite treat, a lettuce leaf, rather sadly.

Last time I did any serious research was about 1997 when the figures were about: average life span in captivity 1.5 years, record lifespan 9 years - a lizard that lived in Australia and was fed nothing but PAL, a tinned dog food. (I'm in Australia and my lizards eat dried cat food and whatever greens I have spare, the occasional lettuce leaf as a treat and the odd insect. George still looks fine!)

A few photos of Kazul, taken several years ago can be seen here: http://www.geocities.com/audreyfalconer/kazul/Kazul.html

So, what is now the average lifespan of a beardie?

Audrey

1 Eastern beardie (George)
1 Children's Python (Monty)
0.1 Russian Blue cat (Saskia)
1.0 Husband (Leon)

Kazul 1995-2004

Is that what happens when they die? They get a bloody beard?

For inland BD the current lifespan on average seems to be 6-10 years with good husbandry. I think the record age was something like 12 years if I remember correctly. Not sure what it is for eastern BD's though since they are not common in the states.

Cat food is not something that is not recommended but you've obviously been doing something right if your BD lived to 8.5 years. Current captive diets usally consist of fresh greens daily and either crickets, silkworms, or BD pellets or a combo between the three. Either way the greens should always be available.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Do you know what the cause of the bloody beard was?

Oh yeah, if you are wanting to do more research on the current husbandry techniques check out a number of the care sheets available on the web like www.beautifuldragons.com which is a good site with a great nutritional guide. I would suggest reading several though since some tend to vary sligthly.

I know how painful this time is for you and sympathize with your loss. I recently lost a red nigerian uromastyx that had only been with me about 2 years. So I Know that after 8.5 years you must be very sad.