Welcome to beardies!
What age beardie will you be getting? I ask this because if you are getting a baby there will be a few things you will need to change. I'd hold off on the sand until the beardie is 10-12 inches (to reduce chance of impaction if they eat some). Washed play sand (from places like Home Depot) is better than any of the pet store sands as they can be dangerous (stay far away from calci-sand!) I use "Duck" brand non-adhesive shelf liner--it is easy to clean and provides traction (one of my adults has a sand box in one corner). For babies papertowels are recommended--to keep baby out of his poo (lessens parasites) and is easy to change. Also for a baby you may need to section off the tank a 50 gallon is hard for a baby to hunt in and may make them a little insecure.
A 50 gallon is fine for ONE adult--although we house ours in 75 gallon tanks. Beardies are solitary and do well by themselves--with attention from you of course! Many house 2 adult females together--tank needs to be at least a 75 gallon. Even 'roommates' who have gotten along for years may get grumpy and do serious damage to their once "friend"! It is not wise to keep males and females together (outside of the few minutes needed for breeding)--the male may constantly try to breed stressing the female--or the female will be breed when she is too young...again, they can 'turn' on each other--and it is tragic!
Use lights or a ceramic heat emitter (fits in light socket) to heat your tank. DO NOT use a heating pad and definately NOT a heat rock--those are dangerous because beardies cannot feel heat on their tummies. Their heat needs to come from above--their 'heat sensor' is located in the top of their head. **The only exception for a heat pad is if you use a particle substrate and your house temps drop below 65F at night--still a ceramic heat emitter is best if needed.
Make sure your strip light has a UVB bulb--the "B" is very important for beardies. It is also a good idea to supplement with calcium/D3 (Repcal pink jar) and a multi-viatimin.
Another important thing to get is a digital thermometer or temp gun. It is important to get a good reading on the basking spot. We keep the cool side around 7F5 and the basking spot about 105F.
Once you finalize your set-up post a picture if you can...and of course post a picture of your new beardie!
A good site to read up on beardies--and especially their food is www.beautifuldragons.com
DM
