Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK... First off, let me just say there are A LOT of contradicting statements out there on how to raise and care for a Bearded Dragon!!! Anyways, I dont know how old me beardie is (she was dropped off at my house by a neighbor since they have seen me with many exotic animals before) but she is roughly 9-10 inches including tail in length. I immediatly started researching EVERYTHING on beardies, but again i'm getting a lot of mixed answers! Will some one please tell me all the basics, is sand really bad for a substrate? What temp. should she be at now at 9-10 inches? How much should I be feeding her? I currently feed her a fresh bowl everyday of collard greens, I alternate diced carrots, green beens and raspberries every other day for a variety, oh yea she also gets about a dozen crickets about once a week. Is this not enough for her size? should I feed her more until she is older? I do sprinkle all food with calcium powder by the way. Oh and her temps are basking 95-100 and cool down 80-85. I have her in a frequented room becuase I heard they love activity and are very curious (dont want her to get bored, LOL) anyways...oh yea her tank is a 20 gallon long. Any info would help! Please if you need any more info just ask, I monitor her every second, I have fallen in love with her! Thanks so much!!! Sorry its so long!

i keep mine basking at 120, hot side 90,85, and cool side down to 70. the diet sound good, make sure ur putting calsium suppliment in there, and feed her as much as she can eat. anything else? make sure she dosent get dehydrated

I dragon that small needs crickets everyday, and most will eat 3 dozen crickets a day or so. Your basking temp can go a bit higher. The veggies and things are good, you can keep offering them as well.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

a 20 gallon tank is not going to be large enough for much longer. you should try to buy at least a 40 gallon or build your own. The diet sounds good, but up the cricket amount. My dragons are getting to the age were i can start to cut back on crickets a little bit. I give them crickets every other day, and veges 24/7. You could try something similar to that. As many crickets as they can eat in a 10-15 minute time. Hope i helped.
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**Am I the only one that gets frustrated when I cant find just plain old white paper towels?? I dont want any dorky lookin flowers in my snake or dragon cages! Its the little things in life that bother me....**

1.2 Bearded Dragons. Chong, Cheech, Unnamed
0.1 Anery Motley Corn. Cleopatra
1.0 Creamsicle Corn. Faunzy
1.1 Black Labs. Buddy, Booger
1.0 Room mate. Clayton - requires more clean up than my pets.

Everything sounds good so far, and others have already made good suggestions. I would like to add that you should offer mixed salad every day, instead of just one thing at a time. Collard greens are great, but also offer dandelion greens, escaroli, mustard greens, endive and other dark leafy greens. Don't have to have all at once but at least two of the stables should be offered everyday with other things thrown in for variety. Spinach, lettice and leaf lettace should be not offered. Romaine can be offered as a treat, but mix it with collards and other quality greens.

Crickets should be dusted with calcium with D3 and a multi vitamine once every other day till you are sure the dragon is over a year old, then once or twice a week is fine.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks a bunch everyone for the help. I appreciate it! What about the substrate? Is the childrens play sand ok? I was told it would be great becuase its already sanitized since it is going to childrens sand boxes. Let me know what you guys think about substrate please? I will take all of your suggestions into mind and see what works best for her (what she likes best). Again, thanks a bunch everyone!

I do not use play sand, but have heard that it is a good choice. My beardie is also about 9 inches, and is 5 mo old. He eats like CRAZY! He will eat about 2 dozen, sometimes more, crickets a day (a dozen per feeding, i feed twice a day). Just give him as many crix as he will eat in 10-15 min, as mentioned before. I keep my basking at around 102-105. You can turn the lights off at night. The food only needs to be dusted about every 3rd feeding, you dont want to over do it. Also, do you have a UVB light? This is VERY important to beardie health. Good luck.

I keep a reptile dish with distilled water in my beardies tank at all times...fresh water everyday...I also sprinkle water on the fruits and veggies I offer...I put in fresh veggie and fruit mixture every morning and although mine is almost 8weeks he seems to eat a bit of it...I also drop water on his nose everyday with an eyedropper, sometimes he licks it off, sometimes not...most that use sand use washed(less dust) playsand, it should also be sifted to keep out any large particles...I use plain white paper tiles but will be switching to tile since crickets can get under the towels...I just don't want to chance my beardie dying from the sand