Bearded Dragon

G&T

My son aged 12 is looking to get one of these for christmas,
have no problem with it,but I would like it to be kept in his bed room.
There are younger children in the house also.

He is ok with this but I have a few queries before we commit,

Do they need a light on by night,
is there much light from the heat lamp's ?

Is it likely to be noisy at night,
will it keep my son awake ?

He has this idea in his head that when he
is reading in bed at night the dragon can
sit on his chest and he will pet it! Possible or not?

He would be a very good carer and im willing to help
him,

Any advise out there?

Sofiztikated

Hi there.

Beardie make great pets, they truly are "dogs of the Lizard World"

Beardies are dinural - active during the day, and sleep during the night. They won't make too much noise at all, apart from some slight rusling if they get restless.

Check out the net for caresheets, reptilerooms.com is a great resource, but despite what some say, DO NOT feed pinkie mice, its a practice that isn't advised any more except in rare circumstances. Do NOT use calci sand or any kind of sand for that matter, they do not live on loose sand in the wild, more hard compacted clay type sand, and can die through injestion/compaction.

It can be a big outlay for beardies, they need a fairly large tank, 4' x 2' x 2' at the minimum, UVA/UVB light AND a lamp for heat for them to bask in, no heat rocks/mats though, they can get burned. And add on top of this up to and in some cases over 100 crickets(crix) a day when they are young, but this changes as they get older, less crix more veg.

A spot thermometer is also good, not those plastic dealies most pet shops have, 2 is better so you can measure your cool and warm side.

Yes your son can train them to sit on his chest, they'll like the heat, but will take a while before they are big enough to do this.

I don't have one at the moment, due to space restrictions, but will be getting one soon (if her indoors agrees, one more pet isn't THAT big a deal!) They all have different personalities, a friends used to have such a superiority complex with me, he used to look down his nose at me, and only me, as if to say "What are you looking at, monkey boy, we used to rule the world!"

Let me know how you get on.

monty_python

Sofiztikated wrote: »

no heat rocks/mats though, they can get burned. .

heat rocks are a big no no for all reptiles but undertank heat mats are a great way to heat a viv. i have used them in every viv i have had and never had a problem. for extra saftey you can plug it into a thermostat

G&T

Thank's folk's great advise,

Will take note of what you said about the sand and heat mat,
the girl I asked in the Maxi Zoo shop I was in told me I
needed one of everything.

Could one of ye do me up a shopping list of what to get,
we have nothing,dont want to kill the poor thing:D

Just to add,we have underfloor heating, not sure
if this has any bearing on what heat mat is best(told you I hadn't a clue)

Thank's again

Busta Hyman

shopping list

Viv - depends on if you your getting a baby or a sub adult. Juveniles need a smaller tank as they stress in a larger tank. 4' x 2' x 2 is what i have mine in and that will suit an adult pair.

Heat Bulb - Can be a standard household incandesant spotlight to heat an area of the tank to about 40F for the beardie to bask on

UVB bulb - HAS TO BE 10.0 UVB NOT 5.0! and the beardie needs to be able to get as close as possible to it (i.e. he needs to have a spot where he can get to about 2"


Heat Mat - size of which depends on the size of the viv

Thermostat - To control both the heat mat and basking bulb either a dimming type (if you have light emitting basking bulb or pulse if you have non light emitting heat sources)

Timer - For the lights

Vitamin Powder - I use nutribol it works well to dust the prey food

Kricket Keeper - Not essential but makes it easier the keep / gutload and get at the feeder prey

Crickets - to feed to the little fellah

Substrate - DO NOT USE SAND / REPTI SAND OR OTHER LOOSE SUBSTRATE for young beardies. mine is slightly bigger and i use flavins oats for substrate.

Decoration - as you see fit but it does need some places to hide

Thermometers - to monitor temps

Water Dish - For water .........

Veg dish - For veg

A Good Beardie Book + About 100 website care sheets

Underfloor heating is not a substitute for heatmat and small beardies need feeding 3 - 4 times a day sub adult 2 times. i reserched bearded dragons on and of for about 8 years b4 i got mine they do take a lot more looking after than most other pets

MODS I HAVE 2 URLS FOR THIS LADY AND ANYONE ELSE THAT WANTS TO GET OR LEARN ABOUT REPTILES BUT WANT PERMISSION TO PUT THEM UP HERE

if i think of anything else i will edit this post

miss no stars

I'm not going to second guess your parenting as you know your son best and you've also stated that you're willing to help. But beware, help might turn into sole carer. Your son is about to change into the horror that is a teenage boy!

My own brother got a beardie for his 16th and he is still not mature enough to realise that if he doesn't clean the vivarium, the little fella could get sick and die. He doesn't handle him enough, clean up his poop, feed him, give him water - do anything really! So now my mother and sometimes I care for the beardie. He could lose all interest fairly rapidly.

I wouldn't hedge any bets on only having to help him with it for a year or two until he's a bit older basically.

If you do decide that you don't mind caring for a beardie for its whole life, then good luck and happy ownership

Busta Hyman

miss no stars wrote: »

clean up his poop

i am anal (pardon the pun) about poop cleaning cause it STINKS 2 days ago smig (my beardie ) had a crap and hid it behind a rock i knew immediatly hed done it but couldent find it . had to lean the whole tank out and fill with fresh oats the next day. they are not animals to get unless you are comitted to the amount of work it requiers to look after them.

2qk4u

Some good advice there.... My beardie is 1 year old now and wont eat crix any more.He takes mealworms and locusts.He doesnt eat as much veg as Id like but he likes carrot,cabbage,lettuce and banana...He lives in a 4x2x2 viv that I build my self.Its a bit basic but he likes it that way... He gets out for a ramble every day.My kids love him but his nails are a bit too sharp for the youngest lads to lift him up. In the summer he wil sit outside basking in the sun.... Great pets...

miss no stars

2qk4u, your beardie is just about identical to mine (I mean... my brothers )

Busta Hymen, I know what you mean.... He lives in my brother's room and it STINKS the place out, the cat nearly passed out. Seemingly my brother can leave it days if he so wishes without it getting to him. After about 18 hours my mother removed it yesterday.... along with all the bark around it naturally and I cleaned the viv today (before anyone goes getting ideas about us being bad owners, we had left it that long to try and get my brother to clean it out but eventually gave in for the beardie's sake - this is why I say to be cautious about getting animals for children, and yes, 16 year olds are children).

bikki

Used to have a few of these, i loved them to bits.

Had the usual tank set up. I always turned the lights off when i was going to bed, but always left the heat matt on.

They are desert lizards so they are used to cold nights in the wild.

Mine also lost intrest in crickets but used to go mental for locust.

Ben in reptial haven didnt recommend meal worm as they can block the stomach as they dont digest well. I feed them wax worms every know and again as a treat.

My dragons used to spend most of the evening running around the living room. They loved to be handled. Just clean up there pop very regularly has it stinks. Dragons also loved going in bath, which is also good if they are constipated.

Busta Hyman

2qk4u ive seen your setup b4 somewhere!! it looks class

mine is in a 4x2x2 tank as well but recently hes gone off cricks as well but hes way too young to give em up. will keep an eye on him and see what happens.

Our man in Havana

Permission to post up links As long as they are not nasty!

Busta Hyman

links for beardies

reptile-community.com

nutrition guide

Bearded dragon types

Sofiztikated

2qk4u, you built your tank, where did you get the slides and glass for the front? Thats all i'm missing from my build, and I can't find them anywhere.

Busta Hyman

Sofiztikated wrote: »

2qk4u, you built your tank, where did you get the slides and glass for the front? Thats all i'm missing from my build, and I can't find them anywhere.

sliders in b+q about €5 per meter (there is a top and a bottom size)

glass in a glass shop

i built mine and its not nearly as difficult as i thought it would be

Sofiztikated

Busta, I all but love you.

I've had to put my project on hold for, oh 8 months, because nowhere I look had them, most didn't even know what I was talking about.

Me - Hi, I'm looking for a W rail, to make a sliding glass door for a cabinet. Them - Em, how about a shower door/uPVC door.
Me - No, its only about a foot and half high.
Them - What, your shower?
Me - What shower? No, the cabinet.
Them - So do you want this shower?
Me - Bye

oranfahey

Hi,
just a few tips for those keeping beardies in bedrooms and worried about the smell. Try changing the substrate, any particle base substrate will have the smell linger as poo and stuff you might miss small particles scooping it out. I changed to tile it makes it easier for my beardies to move around their tanks also and all I do is keep a roll of toilet paper beside the tanks and wipe up when neccessary. This means I also need to fully clean down the tank less often. Also regular baths generally mean they will poo in the water not the tank.
Finally for the person who is feeding lettuce it is mainly made of water and is of no nutritional value and in extreme cases has caused other difficulties replace the lettuce with rocket its the best nutritional wise and is nice and crispy when fresh like lettuce they wont know the difference.
search web for bearded dragon forums and you will find some very useful ones with care sheets and even food sheets showing the nutritional value of everything a beardy canand can not eat.