Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting a bearded dragon this weekend & the person I am getting him from has had him for several years & mists him regularly & wets his vegetables daily but never has put a bowl in the aquarium with standing water in it saying they don't drink from bowls of water & I have heard this before. A friend of mine who also has bearded dragons says his does drink from bowls of standing water & I should have a water bowl always in his cage. I get alot of conflicting info when it comes to the dos & don'ts of bearded dragon care. I suppose both ways work or the dragons wouldnt still be healthy or alive. Any further advice/opinions would be appreciated on this subject. Thanks.

You have to weigh the advice you get and decide for yourself what makes sense, it's your pet, and you want it to do well for your sake and the pets sake. Don't let people intimidate you with thier opinions, as you may well know what opinions are like. Everyone's got them and some of them don't smell so good! Just get the benefit of everyone's advice and interpret it into your little world! That's what I do, but it's only my opinion... I don't even have a beardie yet.
-----
ETChipotle

I just do a ton of research. After awhile you get an idea of who to listen to and who not to. You will also see most of the successful advice seems to be in the majority. If you see 2 caresheets that say feed your beardie 10 crickets a day and 15 caresheets that say feed your beardie as much as it will eat in 15 minutes your best bet is to go with the majority.

Another wise thing to make sure you do with regards to husbandry is read the forums....for a long time. It doesn't matter if a problem posted is an issue of yours or not, go ahead and read the post. This will also help you get a good idea on what is successful and what is not.

Also, there are methods that will work but some are going to be new and experimental. Some will tell you they know one or two people who have done something a certain way for years and it has been successful. Well that is fine and dandy but if it differs from what has been proven over and over again to be successful and goes against what the majority of experienced keepers suggest make your decision wisely. The esperienced keepers know what signs to look for if problems begin to occur. Most likely a newbie will not recognize these signs before it is too late and the experience of having a beardie may go from an enjoyable one, which is what it should be, to a big frustrating mess.

Beardies really are amazing creatures and will give you years of enjoyment as long as they are kept healthy and happy.
-----
Rob Talkington

I wonder if there ia a book out there I can buy that is written by an experienced group/individual that gives me all the info I need to get started that is the tested for years & proven to work methods?

even the most recommended book I've seen still has a few things that conflict with the most popular advice. It would be a good step in the right direction, but no book is going to be the holy grail of beardie care. You are still WAY better off doing lots of research from different sources.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

>>
>>-----
>>Amanda
>>------------
>>2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
>>0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
>>1.0 ferret (Playstation)
>>1.0 cat (Wally)
>>0.1 dog (Tima)
-----
Rob Talkington

I have over a lot of BD enclosures. I took the water bowls out of most of them. If your BD likes to soak and drink then leave it in but it is not needed. Just keep a close eye on things in the summer when its very hot. make sure your BD stays hydrated.

this is an old pic

if you look at my current set up you wont see water bowls.
they do get misted regularly however and their food is always moistened
facilities

-----
Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com
Win a FREE Florida Orange Beardie
www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Main/specials.html

Ok, you look like you have alot of experience raising dragons & know what your talking about. What about substrate? what are all the "safe" substrates? I know these animals come from Australia outback & there is sand there so how can all these sands not be digestable & safe to use? I am very confused about this as it doesn't make any sense. I am currently using cob bedding & vita-sand claims to be digestable is swallowed as its ultra fine. What about washed play sand is that digestable? Please help.

Hi, I went through the same thing when I first started out everybody has their own methods, so dont just take one persons advice but experiment with everybodies advice. With water I heard the same thing, some say they wont drink from a bowl and others they will, I first only sprayed my dragons, but then I wanted to try out a bowl, now I sprayed my dragons for years and they never evn seen a water bowl, yet they knew what to do with it when I finally gave it to them. The problem I saw with the bowl is they make a mess with it so I gave that idea up pretty quick, and now I use a dropper. I drip water on the dragons nose until he/she starts drinking, this way you dont waste water like you do when misting and the whole cage doesnt get messy.

As with substrates I think the safest thing is going to be newpaper or shelf liner, but if your like me your going to want something that look natural. I have used almost every kind of sand ( except the calcium or vita sand my cousin had a bad experience with that with one of his geckos), including the esu walnut bedding. I find that just regular sand works the best and looks the nicest like the play sand or the sand that is made by zoomed the reptisand. but again dont just take my word on something compare it with others and find out what works for you

Dan
Kryptic Morphs

"so dont just take one persons advice but experiment with everybodies advice."

DO NOT experiment with everybody's advice unless you want to have a dead beardie or one which you have to constantly make healthy again.

In situations such as a "water bowl or not" it might be fine to experiment but with most aspects of beardie care experimenting with everybody's advice is a bad, bad idea.
-----
Rob Talkington

I think maybe it was intended to be like, "experiment with everyone's advice in your head then decide what's best." LOL but someone new to this might take it the wrong way. Good thing to clarify!
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Thanks for all the advice, what I have got from all of you & from different sources on the net is that there are many different people raising bearded dragons "succefully" without problems & these people don't all use the same substrate, feeding patterns are different, heating temps aren't 100% identical BUT these different methods work for these people so in conclusion there is no ONE correct way to rasie a bearded dragon. There are several different roads that all lead to sucess. Now I understand that there are definate "wrong" things to do that will kill or harm the dragon but these people who have been raising them for years & had bearded dragons for years that raise healthy dragons obviously have different established raising techniques that are all sucessful.

Thanks to you all for clearing up my confusion. I will just ask the guy who has been raising the dragon I am getting for the past 2 1/2 years with no problems what he has been doing & continue to mimic those patterns cuz obviously if hes remained alive & healthy for 2 years he must have been doing something right.

It would be foolish for you to mimic those patterns unless you have done the research we've been harping so much about. I'm not saying his way might not be the best way to do things I'm just saying DO THE RESEARCH NECESSARY TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION! If you have done the research necessary and still decide everything he tells you is the best way then so be it but I have a scenario for you.

What if this gentleman has had his dragons on walnut shells for a couple of years without any problems whatsoever and suggests you do the same. If you decide to take his word you have put your beardie's life in jeopardy. This gentleman may have done the same thing you're doing and taken one person's advice a couple of years ago and been very lucky. The luck may stop with you and before you know if you've got an impacted beardie that requires surgery and costs you hundreds of dollars. Not to mention your beardie will be suffering the entire time and his life is now at risk.

That's the kind of risk you take by taking one person's method and mimicking it. Sure, there are a lot of different methods that people use and are successful with but there are also a lot that people get lucky with and even some methods that simply don't work, but by the time the keeper has figured it out, it's too late and the beardie either dies or has to be euthanized.

I urge you again to do the research suggested and make up your own mind. Taking one person's methods will be foolish and your beardie may suffer because of it.

Besides all of that I wish you and your future beardie the best!
-----
Rob Talkington

And once again I urge you to read those articles I provided about substrate.

"Corn Cob Litter
Along with the risk of impaction and injury due to accidental ingestion or uptake, corn cob can abrade the mouth of reptiles setting up ideal conditions for mouth rot (ulcerative stomatitis) to start. Pieces may also become lodged in the glottis of smaller reptiles and cause death by asphyxiation. Bacterial and fungal growths resulting from cob wetted by food, water, urates, and feces are common with corn cob and may cause illness or skin infections in the reptiles."

Maybe this guy has been lucky not having problems yet, or maybe the lizard has underlying problems that you don't know about yet. Fact is, there are SO many things that would be better for the lizard! Why take the chance?

It seems like you got what we were saying, but for some reason you still want to only take one person's suggestions rather than learning for yourself. Don't take short cuts when it comes to educating yourself about the pet your are about to get! It's not hard work, and it can be fun to learn new things and know you are providing the absolute best!
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I read that sheet & have now been dissuaded from using the corn cob bedding but the sheet also had negative things to say about all of the substrates on there to. They would say good things but then come back with a negative to counter it. Is there not a 100% safe substrate to use for the bearded dragons? I guess the best thing on there sounded like paper towels or washed play sand(though I used to use washed play sand on a snake I had & when pouring it in the aquarium I could tell it is quite dusty.

There are a few they list with no negative points to be made. Unprinted newspaper, paper towels, linoleum, butcher paper. Pretty much anything your beardie can't consume or get caught in (I've heard some reptile carpets can unravel.)

There is one thing a lot of people are starting to use that isn't listed on that website. Non-adhesive shelf liner. It is a flat, rubbery surface you can lay across the bottom of the tank. It is non-absorbent, has no odor, impossible for them to eat or pull apart, and very easy to clean. As far as I know there has yet to be a person experiencing a problem with this endangering their beardie.

-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Cool, Thanks. Where can I pick up this non-adhesive shelf liner & is there a certain type of it to get or all I have to ask for is non-adhesive shelf liner & I can't go wrong? Other than just rinsing it off with hot water is there anything I need to do to it before putting it in the cage?

You can find it at Wal-Mart usually. The brand I use is called Duck. What you want is the smooth top liner. Some of the other kinds have deep groves or are woven and that makes them harder to clean. When you're looking at them just think about how you're going to have to wipe them off when they're soiled and pick the smoothest one.

Here's a link www.duckproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=5&subid=23&plid=104

You can disinfect it by soaking it in a 10% bleach 90% water solution. Then rinse it off VERY well and let it air for about 24 hours. It's easier if you keep two inter-changable pieces so you can have one clean at all times. I spot clean them with wet paper towels daily.
-----
Amanda
------------
2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)