The following is an article from my pet care website: petcaresheet.com.

Keeping Bearded Dragons as Pets

The Bearded Dragon is one of the best pet lizards you can keep. If you want a lizard that is a bit bigger than a leopard gecko this may be the pet lizard for you. Bearded dragons are easy to keep and tame. They are fun to watch as they chase their prey. They also put on a display on interesting behaviours such as “arm waving” where the female will lift a front leg and “wave”.

When threatened, bearded dragons can extend their spikey “beard”. This behaviour is rarely found in captive bred tame bearded dragons.

Where can I buy a Bearded Dragon?

You can buy bearded dragons at pet stores, reptile expos or from breeder’s websites. Classified ads are also a good way of finding unwanted bearded dragons. You may even be able to find a Bearded dragon that comes with a set up. Whenever you buy a bearded dragon, you should try to buy captive bred stock. Wild caught bearded dragons may have parasites or diseases. They can also be stressed from living in captivity and your new pet may die shortly after buying.

I recommend buying captive bred bearded dragons whenever possible. There are so many private breeders nowadays that there really is no excuse for buying a wild caught Bearded dragon. Private breeders will also have a range of different colour variations or “morphs”. Choose a Bearded dragon that is alert, has no open wounds or puss, watch out for missing body parts such as toes which could be a sign of an unsuccessful shedding. Check the Bearded dragon for past injuries. They could cause problems in the future. Overall, if your bearded dragon looks healthy, then it probably is.

Young VS Adult Bearded Dragons?

You may ask yourself whether to buy a young or an adult bearded dragon. This typically depends on the needs of the pet owner?

If the bearded dragon is for a child that is going to handle it, a sub-adult (almost mature) or an adult bearded dragon would be a good choice. Hatchling bearded dragons are more fragile. Buying an older bearded dragon will cost more than getting a hatchling.

How Big do Bearded Dragons Get?

Hatchling Bearded dragons are about 4 inches (10cm) in length while adult Bearded dragons can reach a length of almost 2 feet (60cm).

How Long Do Bearded Dragons Live?

A captive bred bearded dragon’s life span is between 6 to 10 years. However, a well looked after Bearded dragon can live almost twice that long. With proper care your bearded dragon will live a long and healthy life.

Bearded Dragon Tank Set Up

Bearded dragons live in the desert and so their habitat is hot and dry. You will be trying to replicate these conditions in captivity in order to have a healthy pet. This section of the bearded dragon will outline what you will need to set up a vivarium for your bearded dragon.

Bearded Dragon Tank Size

Having the correct tank size for your bearded dragon is important to give it room to grow and move around in. A terrarium that is too small may stunt their growth and make them anxious. As bearded dragons can grow to almost 2 feet in length it is important to give them an appropriately sized vivarium. It is best to stay on the safe side and give you pet a tank that is slightly larger than it needs. A disadvantage of this is that it may be difficult for your bearded dragon to hunt down their food since there is more space for their prey to escape and hide from them.

Bearded Dragon Size Tank Size

Baby bearded dragons = 20 gallon
10 – 16 inch (25 – 40cm) = 40 gallons +
16 – 20 inch (40 – 50cm) = 50 gallon + (minimum) 75 gallons (ideal size)
20+ inch (50cm+) = 75 gallon + (minimum) 120 gallons (ideal size)

Best Kind of Tanks for Bearded Dragons

There are many different kinds of terrariums available for housing bearded dragons. The most commonly used vivarium is your standard glass tank. While these are easily obtainable and cheap they do not hold the heat in the tank as well as other terrarium options.

You can also buy wooden or melamine cage. These will hold the heat within your bearded dragon’s habitat much better than a glass tank. Most of them come with sliding glass doors making it easy to access your bearded dragon.

PVC cage are another kind of bearded dragon cage you should consider getting for your pet. They are virtually the same to the melamine or wooden cages except for the fact that they are made from plastic instead.

Vision cages are often used by professionals or hobbyists. These are our favourite cages. They are made from moulded plastic. They are also easy to clean and come with build in lighting fixtures. For most bearded dragon keepers, the standard glass tank will be the best housing option for bearded dragons.

Bearded Dragon Vivarium Accessories

Your bearded dragon will need more than just a tank. You should provide your bearded dragon with heating, tank décor, tank cover, substrate and hides to help your bearded dragon feel secure.

Tank Covers

Depending on the kind of cage you keep you your bearded dragon you may need a screen lid. If you are using a tank with an open top you will a screen cover. Not only will it prevent your bearded dragon from escaping, it will stop other pets such as cats from getting in and hurting your bearded dragon.
The screen lid is also important for ventilation and it will ensure there is adequate air circulation in the vivarium.

Heating Your Bearded Dragon Vivarium

As bearded dragons comes from desert environments you will need some readily available specialised equipment to ensure their habitat is adequately heated. The optimum heat range for your bearded dragon is 85F-100F. Avoid using heat rocks, as they can burn and injure your pet bearded dragon.

You do not want to heat all of your tank. Your bearded dragon terrarium should be heated at one end. This will be your bearded dragon’s basking area. It will go to this area in order to heat itself. By only heating one area of the vivarium, there will also be a naturally occurring cool end of the tank which is not heated by any equipment. Your bearded dragon will go to this area if it feels to warm. It is important that you monitor the temperatures of both the hot end and the cool end of the tank as well as the humidity to ensure you are creating the perfect environment for your pet.

Heat Mats

Bearded dragon owners use basking lights to heat their bearded dragon’s enclosure. If the room you keep your bearded dragon in drops below 70-65F you will need a heat mat to ensure that the temperature does not drop too low for your bearded dragon.

Basking Lights

A basking light is a lamp that creates heat in a specific area of the tank to provide heat for your bearded dragon. It is important that you buy a high quality light bulb as the cheaper ones can burn out quickly or even explode. For this reason, I recommend reptile hobbyist basking light bulbs from Zoo Med.

Tank Lighting

As bearded dragons come from the desert you will have to provide them with a UVA/UVB florescent light for 12-14 hours a day. You should use a full spectrum light so that it replicates the full UV spectrum of the sun. This light is not a replacement for the basking light. Your bearded dragon will need both a basking light and a tank lighting with UVA/UVB.

I recommend the full spectrum light from Reptisun. This tank lighting will provide you bearded dragon with all the UV rays that your bearded dragon needs to remain healthy.

Checking the Temperature and Humidity Levels

To ensure you creating the optimum environment for your bearded dragon you should monitor the humidity and temperature levels in the vivarium. The humidity levels should be as low as possible since bearded dragons come from desert climates. The temperature should be between 85-110F during the day time and no cooler than 65F at night.

You should buy temperature and humidity gauges so you can check the levels. They are inexpensive so you should buy two. One temperature and humidity gauge for the warm side and another for the cool side of your bearded dragon’s tank.

Tank Substrate/Bedding and Flooring

It is not recommended that you use loose substrate such as wood chips or sand for your bearded dragon. This could cause impaction, this is a serious issue that can occur if you bearded dragon ingests the substrate and it blocks its digestive system.
Instead, you should use a reptile carpet or newspaper as a substrate for your bearded dragon. These options will be cheaper than using sand or wood chips anyway and will be safer for your bearded dragon.

Bearded Dragon Tank Decor

Reptile Hides

Your bearded dragon will require a place where it can hide and have some privacy. Having a hide in your bearded dragon’s enclosure will give your pet a place where it can feel safe and secure. There are several different hides available for reptiles. I like the natural look hides by Exo Terra.
When you choose your hide, make sure it is big enough for your bearded dragon can move around inside the hide. If it is too small your bearded dragon will not use it. You should not remove your bearded dragon from its hide, even if you do not see it for a several hours. If your bearded dragon is using the hide, it is because it needs somewhere to feel safe.
Branches
Bearded dragons are great climbers and you should give provide your pet bearded dragon with areas it can climb and explore. One way to do this it to put branches in your bearded dragon’s terrarium. Not only will it make the tank more visually appealing but it will act as a basking platform for your pet.
If you collect your branches from the wild, make sure that the wood is clean and the bark is removed. I also like to put my branches in the oven for half an hour to kill off any insects that might be hiding in the wood.

Basking Platforms

Basking platforms will be used by your bearded dragon to bask and sunbathe beneath its basking light to get warm. You can use rocks, branches or cork bark to act as a basking platform for your bearded dragon.

Feeding your Bearded Dragon

Bearded dragons are omnivores, this means they will eat both insects and vegetables. Your bearded dragon’s diet will depends on its age. Young bearded dragons will eat 80% insects and 20% vegetables while adult bearded dragons will eat 20% insects and 80% vegetables.

When choosing the size of feeder insects to give to your bearded dragon, make sure that the size of the food is not larger than the space between your bearded dragon’s eyes. If the insects or vegetables are wider than the space between your bearded dragon’s eyes, it may choke and die. It is best to stay cautious and feed your pet appropriately sized foods.

Feeding Young Bearded Dragons

Young bearded dragons grow quickly and because of this they will need to eat more insects than fruit and vegetables. Don’t worry if your young bearded dragon does not eat many vegetables, they know what they need to eat. Simply, leave some vegetables in their tank during the day.

When feeding your bearded dragon insects, give them as many insects as they will eat during a 10-15 minute period three times per day. After 15 minutes you should take our any uneaten crickets. If you leave crickets in the cage they will stress your bearded dragon and may even start to nibble on and damage your pet.

Feeding Adult Bearded Dragons

Adult bearded dragons do not put as much energy into growing as young bearded dragons. As a result, their main diet will come from vegetables rather than insects. Once a day, you should need adult bearded dragon insects in the same way you would young bearded dragons: once a day feed them as many crickets they will eat within a 15 minute period. After 15 minutes remove the food from their vivarium.

Insects for Bearded Dragons

Firstly, you should not feed your bearded dragon wild insects that you find in your house or outside. You should feed them insects that you can find at pet stores. Feeder insects such as crickets, mealworms, dubia cockroaches, locusts, superworms, butter worms, black soldier fly larvae and waxworms can be fed to bearded dragons.
The staple feeder insects that you should be feeding your bearded dragon are: crickets, mealworms, dubia roaches, superworms and locusts. When feeding locusts to your bearded dragon it is best to remove the back legs of the locust as they have spines and may get stuck in your pet’s throat.
Butterworms and waxworms should be fed to your bearded dragon as treats as your bearded dragons can become addicted to waxworms.
Safe Fruit and Vegetables for Bearded dragons
• Squash
• Collard greens
• Pumpkin
• Turnip Greens
• Mustard Greens
• Apples
• Melon
• Strawberries
• Grapes

Bearded Dragon Vitamins and Supplements

Bearded dragons need vitamins and minerals in order to remain healthy. Calcium and Vitamin D3 are the most important nutrients for your bearded dragons. However, you may also want to give them iron and vitamin A supplements to keep your bearded dragon in the best condition.

Vitamin A

You should give your bearded dragon vitamin A. Often, bearded dragon owners are worried about giving their pet too much vitamin A as their pet may suffer from vitamin A toxicity. However, this problem is caused by giving their pet too much synthetic vitamin A supplements and bearded dragon owners should not worry about the vitamin A levels in the food they give to their bearded dragon.

Giving bearded dragons vitamin A in supplement form force the bearded dragon’s body to absorb the vitamin A into their bodies. If bearded dragons obtain too much vitamin A from their bodies they will simply excrete the excess vitamin A obtained naturally from their foods.

The good news is that you can but reptile vitamins that use Beta Carotene instead of synthetic vitamin A. The most popular multi-vitamin for bearded dragons is Herptivite Multivitamin for Reptiles as it ensures that bearded dragons receive the correct amount of vitamin A.

Iron

Generally, bearded dragons will get their iron levels from the vegetables they consume. However, as young bearded dragons eat mostly insects, getting the correct levels of iron into younger bearded dragons can be more challenging. As a result, you may opt for an iron supplement to provide younger bearded dragons with iron.

Calcium and Vitamin D3

Both calcium and vitamin D3 are the two most important vitamins and minerals for bearded dragons. They help bearded dragons to grow strong and healthy bones as well as giving egg laying females the nutrients required for making eggs. Bearded dragons are unable to absorb calcium without vitamin D3 so you should ensure that they both receive nutrients at the same time.

Wild bearded dragons would receive their vitamin D3 from sunlight. However, since pet bearded dragons are kept indoors you will have to provide them with a vitamin D3 supplement to ensure they have the correct vitamin D3 levels that they need. If you bearded dragon has a full spectrum UV light you can reduce the vitamin D3 dosage by half.

The amount of vitamin D3 and calcium your pet bearded dragon needs will depend on its age. Baby bearded dragons will require a daily dose, juveniles should be given one dose 3-4 times per week while adult bearded dragons will only need one dose per week. I recommend the Rep-Cal Calcium with Vitamin D supplement for bearded dragons.

Handling Bearded Dragons

Bearded dragons are generally quite calm and docile pet lizards. They will tolerate handling well compared to other lizard species. To pick up your bearded dragon make sure your move slowly and do not grab it by the tail of pick it up too quickly or it will feel threatened. Pick it up from underneath and place it on your lap or shoulder. Most adult bearded dragons will happily sit still on their owners shoulder and will just lounge around.