Hi, I am fairly new to keeping Bearded Dragons I have kept various unusual pets over the years ranging from ball pythons to ghecko's to spiders.

We bought Dave from a reptile shop about 4 months and he has come on in leaps and bounds, when we got him he fitted width ways nearly in his carrier case that is probably much the same size as a long take-a-way plastic tub and 4 months on he is pretty much more than double his original size.

There are lots of things to take into consideration when thinking about taking on a bearded dragon, they don't take up a lot of your time but you do need to make sure you research on how to care for them a lot before you buy.

You will find lots of conflicting advise both from reptile stores, the internet and breeders on how best to care for your beardy, one of the most common arguments is what substrate to keep him/her on , most will tell you that you can keep them on calcium sand but this can lead to a thing called impaction if digested by small beardy's, basically they swollow it and it clumps in their bellies causing major problems even death , another cause of impaction is feeding them something that is too big for them to digest, the golden rule is not to give them anything that is wider than the gap between their eyes, keeping your beardy at the right temperature is a must as well as this aids digestion.You can try using different forms of substrate for your beardy, we still keep Dave on kitchen roll, others include, astro turf or slate tiles.

Bearded dragons are very socialble animals and love interacting with you , our one has got into a routine of being fed, then bathed in warm water , doing his business then sitting with my husband for 15-20 mins, normally he just snuggles into your t shirt and falls asleep whilst you stroke him. It is important to keep up with the handling of your beardy to maintain the bond he has with you which will make him feel safe, it will also benefit later on if he needs to be treated at the vets.

Expect your bearded dragon to grow very rapidly in it's first year, fully grown they will reach between 16 and 22 inches.

So where do we start, choosing a tank for your beardy, you need to be careful with shop owners as they don't always tell you the truth about things, maybe they don't really know or maybe they just want a quick sale but take it from my experience don't let them fool you into buying a tank that isn't going to be worth your money, the one we were sold came as a kit which included the light and the heat mate, rocks, drinking water bowl , sand (which we found out we couldn't use) a cave and a cactus, we were told he would be able to stay in this tank for at least a year, but there is no way on earth he will be able to comfortably live in the one they sold us , so I would advise going for a pretty big tank to start off with as it will be more beneficial in the long run.

We bought an Eco Terra tank set, they have a very good website and I would advise having a look on there for price comparisons. http://www.exo-terra.com/ .

Tank Set Up

Bearded dragons in their natural habitat like basking in the sun absorbing the sunrays for most part of the day, they do this as the heat the sun gives off helps with their digestion, you need to have a nice basking spot for your beardy in his tank , so pop a rock in there for him to chillax on, I wouldn't advise buying a heat rock as all the reseach I have done on them suggests that your beardy could end up burning his tum if they go wrong, and also because beardy's don't have a great number of nerves on their undersides so can easily burn without realising,you also need to give him a cave where he can hide if he wants to .

LIGHT

Your beardy's home will also need the right light to keep him healthy, You wil need a UVB light, uvb is needed by bearded dragons so they can absorb calcium in the food that they eat, if you do not have a uvb light your bearded dragon would develop Metobolic Diesease, You can get these special lights in the form of light tubes, you must get one that says UVB and UVA, the uvb needs to be over 5% or higher. It is recommended that the distance of the light from your bearded dragons basking area is about 6-8 inches, this ensures they get enough uvb light, these lights need to be on for at least 10-12 hours per day and have no white light on overnight in your beardy's tank. You should replace your bulb every 6 months or so to ensure it is still giving off uvb rays as it could stil be giving off light but not uvb. In the summer and if the temperature is say over 70F you can put your beardy out in the garden to enjoy some real sunshine, make sure you put them in a secure enclosure and have a hideout for them to get some shade and also make sure they have their water with them.

TEMPERATURE

Your bearded dragon needs certain temperatures in his tank set up , for during the day a normal household bulb (for heat source) along with your fluorescent tube will work well, you need to make sure your beardy can't get near this bulb as it will burn itself, the larger the tank the higher the wattage of the bulb to get the correct heat set up, the temperature for during the day should be between 78-88F, and in the 70's at night. You need to make sure you have a thermometer in your bearded dragons tank to keep an eye on the temperature in there, if it gets to cold your beardy will not be able to digest food properly and will become ill. We have ours set up with incandescent lights above the tank which we turn off at night, this means we need another heat source so we have a heat mat under the actual tank not inside it to keep his temperature level at night , you need to make sure this is only at one end of his tank so he has somewhere cool to go if he feels the need to.

FOOD

Your bearded dragon is an omnivore , you will need to give your beardy a varied diet to keep him well and in tip top condition, He will need a combination of vegetables and insects, our one really loves grated carrot, you should offer your beardy a variety of veg but try and avoid things like lettuce as that has very little nutritional value and is mainly water. Young beardy's eat more crickets than veg , when they are an adult it is advised they eat more veg than crickets , you also need to gutload the crickets before you feed them to your beardy , stick some veg in their container, you also need to dust the crickets with calcium powder.

Here is a list of some nice munchies for your beardy to try out , Peas, Carrots,Strawberries, Grapes,Celery, Apples, Melon,Green beans, Banana, Peas,Mango,any green leaf vegetable, but avoid brocolli as I have read that this can bad for them and also cabbage. If you have a lazy dragon who doesn't drink much you can use frozen veg for them to eat this is because as it thaws out it will produce more moisture, DON'T PUT IT IN THE TANK FROZEN , let it thaw in its food bowl then place it in its tank. We give our beardy on average 6-7 crickets a day along with his veg , he will eat more if we put more in but it is best to not over feed him.

Enjoy your Bearded Dragon, they are wicked animals , and anyone that says a beardy is a boring pet they coudn't be further from the truth, watch , learn and enjoy as your baby beardy grows into a fabulous adult that will entertain you with head bobbing if he is male and arm waving of she is a female........