This is my first post on the ball-pythons.net forum and ironically enough I'm posting about bearded dragons.

***just realized this post turned out way longer than expected, for those too lazy to ready (I would fit this category), drop to the bottom two paragraphs for my ultimate questions without the background.***


I've been considering getting a ball python for a while and finally stumbled upon a very well-run pet store near me. It's a fairly small store that I never thought much of. I went in earlier this week out of curiosity and was surprised at the selection and quality of animals they had. Everything was very well taken care of; well fed, no over crowding, clean cages, etc.

Anyway, I went in looking for snakes and came out seriously considering bearded dragons instead. I had a friend with a bearded dragon when I was a kid and I always thought it was a really cool animal, but hadn't thought much about it since. The store had an adult beardy, a juvenile that was about half-grown, and some very young babies. I feel like they had fairly good prices for the bearded dragons, though that's all relative I suppose. They had the juvenile and complete cage setup for $180 I believe, and the babies were $70 I think (without a cage setup of course).

I live in Alabama but will be in Houston this summer for an internship. My original plan was to get a ball python after I get back from my internship, but those bearded dragon babies are hard to pass up. I've had many animals in the past and feel that I'd be more than able to take care of it properly but am wondering how the actual transportation would be possible for the summer.




Is there any good way to transport a beardy (or snake for that matter) in a car for 12 hours? I would be traveling at night so there won't be any natural light and I'm worried about it getting too cold and/or stressing the animal out too much. Has anyone transported beardies or snakes for long car rides, and does anyone have any advice as to whether or not it would be possible, and how? The only way I can think to provide some heat in a car would be using HotHands around the cage, or something like that.

Also, how big of a cage is required for a baby beardy? If I do get one before my internship it could work out well if I could get a smaller cage that is easier to transport while still providing a quality living space for the beardy. Once getting back after the summer I would then get a larger cage as the beardy out of the first one.


Thanks in advance for all the help!