A hatching or juvenile will do good in a 10 or 15 gallon tank. As adults, the bigger the better. They seem to enjoy the extra room with plenty of branches and rocks to climb and bask on. The tank should have a good, safe substrate. For hatchlings though, paper towels are best to start with. There is always debate on what is the best substrate. Washed play sand seems to rank pretty high with beardie owners. I use Repti-Sand from ZooMed, and have used crushed walnut shell and Calci-sand. Shop around, ask your vet, and find what you think is best. You can add fake plants also. Heat and lighting are both VERY important for your beardies health. They need UVB lighting for their bodies to properly manufacture Vitamin D. This helps their bodies to use calcium efficiently. The also need a good heat source. Get a daylight heat bulb and put it on one side of the tank. Get a thermometer to monitor the temperatures. They need a high heat of 100-105 for proper digestion. The cooler end of the tank should be about 80-85 during the day. At night, the temps can drop into the 30's (So I have read) but I keep mine in the higher 60's. I have kept a heat pad underneath the basking site, on low, just for extra heat to their bellies when they sleep. And BOY do they sleep!! They are deep sleepers!! Check my Links page for other sites on this! They need to have a good combination of day/night. About 14 hours of daylight in the spring/summer and about 10 hours of daylight in the winter months. I have timers on my tanks, so it is easy to set them and they automatically shut on and off. Comes in handy if you work late, sleep in, etc.

Sex: Sexing young bearded dragons isnt an easy task, once they approach around 4 months old, it becomes easier. What you want to do is basically study the area on its tail right above the ventral opening.  If it's a female you will not see any hemipenal bulges which means there will be a slight protrusion above the vent.  If it's a male, in the same place you will see hemipenal bulges which can be seen from either side of the tail.  In between the two hemipenes on the male you will see a slight indentation in the center.

Water/ Diet: Beardies are omnivores. They eat both plant and insects. Crickets seem to be the best insect you can feed them. They will also eat mealworms, superworms, waxworms, even maggots. Be careful to not feed your beardies crickets that are too large. It will cause impactions and they will have a difficult time passing them when they go potty. A good rule of thumb is: Make sure the crickets are no bigger than the space between their eyes. Every other day, dust the crickets with a calcium powder. Rep-Cal is the best I have used. Just dump some into the bag of crickets, "shake and bake" them dump them into the tank. Make sure though that there are no stray crickets left in the tank when lights go out. They could nibble on beardie toes!! Better safe than sorry! Offer crickets a few times a day rather than once or twice a day. Mealworms are best for juvenile and adult beardies.

Vegetables should also be offered every day, twice a day. Dark, leafy greens are best. Iceburg lettuce is a big NO-NO!! It offers no nutrients and will sometimes give the beardies the "runs'!! Some good veggies to offer are collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, carrot tops, zucchini, bell peppers, yellow squash, carrots, green beans, peas, and cooked corn. Every once in awhile I will add some fruit as a treat for them. They LOVE bananas, but they contain phosphorous, which blocks calcium absorbtion. Apples, strawberries, melons, grapes and pears can be offered. Spinach also has phosphorous so use in small quantities, occasionally, same with the bananas.

Beardies usually won't drink standing water, but I have a bowl of water in their tanks. I mist my beardies every other day with lukewarm water. They will lick it off their face. If you have plants in the tank, you can mist those too. In the wild, they will lick the water and dew off of plant leaves. Since beardies come from the desert areas, they conserve water in their bodies very well!!

Shedding/ Illness: Beardies will shed as they grow. They shed in patches. You will notice your beardies skin getting a dull greyish color, then he will rub himself on branches and things to break the skin. It will take a day or so. Your beardie can get sick for several different reasons. A dirty tank, improper temperatures, too small of an enclosure, improper UVB lights all can contribute to an ill pet. Lack of UVB can cause Metabolic Bone Disease, and luckily if caught when they are young it is reversable. MBD will cause your beardie to twitch his back legs, severe cases can cause seizures in its whole body, leading to paralysis and/or death. Dirty tanks can lead to internal parasites, improper temperatures can lead to respitory infections and a loss of appetite. If for ANY reason you think your beardie is sick, don't wait..take him to a good reptile vet ASAP.

Breeding: All you need in order to get your bearded dragons to breed is a large enough enclosure to allow breeding to take place and an egg laying site.  The best thing to do is to put your bearded dragons through a slight brumation period which means you need to reduce their daylight hours for about 2 months as well as drop their temperature slightly...most will still breed without brumation but the fertility rate is low.

During breeding, males will often chase females around the enclosure while bobbing their heads and stomping their feet.  The male will also attempt to bite at the skin behind the females neck. He will eventually be able to mount the female once she is in the right position.

After this takes place, about 4-6 weeks later, the female will dig a burrow about a foot deep or so in sand in the ground to depost her eggs.  Once this is done, carefully remove each egg and place it in a incubation medium such as vermiculite or perlite.

Eggs should be set up in a plastic glad container or a tupperware container that contains one part substrate (vermiculite) and one part water mixed in with the substrate, along with an air hole or two and a sealed lid.  The eggs should be then placed in a room or incubator at 82-84 degrees Fahrenheit for about 65-75 days.  Right before hatching, the eggs will start to collapse and hatch within about 24 hours. 

At this time, the bearded dragons will usually stay inside the egg for little while as they absorb whats left of their egg sac, which is their source of food / energy / growth.  Hatchling bearded dragons will often eat within a few days after hatching.

STEPHANIE WINTERS & AL ROACH

View Second Bearded Dragon Care Sheet