Thinking about adding a Bearded Dragon to my collection.

[andi8887]

Ok, so my hubby being the awesome man that he is (after much begging and cookie making lol) has decided we can add a bearded dragon to our small zoo of pets. I've already done a lot of research on them. But I just thought I would run this by all of you and see what you think.

I already have a colony on superworms going and have a good standing with the local petshop for crix and other worms. Veggies are not a prob.
I have a 65 gallon tank and a 20L as a nursery. I have a florescent hood for the 65 gallon and extra heat lamps and bulbs from my ball python's stuff (got everything in bulk) I've put in my order for a UVB bulb our petshop doesn't carry them. I plan on using papertowels a substrate while its a baby and moving up to a few sheets of repti-carpet to switch back and forth for it as an adult. Is there anything else I'm forgetting? I mean I know a hide and a branch etc..but is there something else I should look into before starting to really look into bringing a dragon home?

[AtlasStrike]

Awesome!!! Beardies are fabulous. Just make sure for UVB that you are using either the reptisun 10.0 by Zoo Med or the Arcadia D3 12%. All the other bulbs are iffy for beardies, and that you have an accurate thermometer (duh!). Bright white light for basking is needed to make sure they don't stare at the UVB and hurt their eyes (silly monsters). Sounds great. Expect for a baby to eat ALOT and have fun!

[BP_love]

Bearded dragons are awesome pets- hardy & docile. Since they are from the desert, i kept mine on sand (regular playground sand, not repti-sand). water dish, although most will be stimulated to drink by water drops sprayed on decor plants or acquarium walls. And finally, the most important thing would be a flat surfaced basking rock below your basking light. After they eat, they need heat to digest the food and they do that by resting their bellies against the warm surface. They love the comfort of doing it as well. Being social animals, i dont think a hide is necessary but thats up to each owner. might be a good idea in the early satges as the babies are more skittish. Hope this helps

[andi8887]

Any info helps. My kids (2 & 4) are really excited about getting a dragon..I think they just want to watch it eat bugs lol. I love doing research on reptiles so I'm reading everything I can get my hands on. But like with the UVB lights no one really said "Hey these lights suck don't use them" so yeah I'm really happy with that bit of info. I'm kind of worried about what size light to use and can I use a UTH with a beardie? I have a ball python in a 55 gallon in my bedroom I use a UTH on her tank to keep it at 75 ambient temp..with a thermostat of course. Can I do that with a dragon? I mean I've seen people going off in other forums because someone mentioned them in their thank. I was figuring a UTH on the hot side, with the basking light, UVB and nothing on the cool side of the 65 gallon, would that work? Or should I go for the ceramic heater?

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

The size light is dependent on your basking temperature. You will probably need either a 75watt or 100 watt basking bulb. Definitely get an infrared temp gun... don't use the stickers.

I would not place a basking bulb above the UTH. That could be extremely dangerous and is unnecessary. As long as your house is above 68-70 degrees, you do not need supplemental heat for the dragon (besides the basking light of course). If your house drops below this, add the UTH but only turn it on after the basking light is out.

Ceramic heaters are fine. It's just personal preference.