How to live between cities with a beardie/travel tips?

I am going away to university in the fall in a city that is a 3 hour drive from my family home. Last year my parents watched my beardie (3 year old female) for me because my place didn't allow pets but they refuse to take care of her for another year so I have found a place that allows pets and I plan to take her with me.

The problem is that I don't have a car or a license so the only way I can visit my family for summers, weekends, vacations and holidays is by train or using ride share services.

My friends/roommates at uni are also from out of town so I cannot ask them to watch her while I visit family as they will be visiting family at the same time and boarding is very expensive on a student budget.

I would have to bring her home with me every time I want to visit. I am tempted to get a second tank set up for my parents house because her tank is too heavy for me to carry but I am still at a loss for how to transport her in a way where I can keep her warm and calm. She also has a tendency to just poop whenever she's a little stressed and if she did that on a ride share or on the train (provided the train even lets me take her) that would really gross for other passengers.

Does anyone have any advice? What's a good transport set ups for someone with a serious limit on how much stuff they can carry with them when they travel? Are there any medicines I can get from the vet that would induce sleep/calm in her for long travel times? If regular travel would be too much for her, does anyone have any ideas about more affordable means of boarding?

Any help is appreciated.

Hiya,

This post was literally built for me to answer! First of all, I want to put a disclaimer here saying that results may vary. You're in Quebec, I'm in Michigan... It's a very similar area, I've been told, but I don't really know how your laws and transit systems work.

That said, I took my beardie on the train with my about monthly for over a year my junior year of college. I would highly recommend getting a second setup at your parents, as transporting the tank and everything is completely impractical.

When it comes to the actual transport, what you want to do kind of depends on your schedule. I fed salad in the morning (around 9ish) and removed it when I got home (3-5 PM). I would leave the heat and UVB on for at least 2 hours after I removed the salad to ensure good digestion before turning them off early, usually at 8 PM. Guac's lights normally turned off at 10 at the time, so I was only depriving him of 2 of his normal active hours. I gave him an hour to cool and calm down, then put him in flip-top, sturdy Sterilite container with air holes drilled into the bottom, top, and sides. By this time, he would normally be ready to sleep, since he has cooled to ambient temperature and I usually let him run around my room fer and hour or so anyways. Put a couple pieces of fleece in the container as well - one on top and one below, like a little bearded dragon sandwich - and your beardie will probably cuddle up and go to bed. He's be in his transport container around 9 PM, and I'd be on the train around 9:30PM.

For the ride home at the end of the weekend, I took the morning train, so instead of turning his lights off, I never turned them on. I'd pack him up, get home around 10 AM, unpack him and put him in his tank with his lights on with a fresh salad. Again, only depriving him of ~2 hours of his normal active time.

Where I live, you can buy a train pass for your animal for $25. I did that a couple of times, but honestly I mostly smuggled him in a large canvas bag. His container looked very much like something you'd keep a cake or brownies in, and since I always sat it on my lap, it never really got questioned. People just assumed that I was bringing a food item for a party or something...

Granted, the fact that my boy's name is Guacamole, I could answer completely honestly if asked and still give them that impression.

I'll shoot some pictures of how I transport him later today to show you. What's important is that you want a small, but not a restrictive place for your reptile. The more room they have the more speed they can gain sliding around before bashing into the side of the container if you turn or brake suddenly. Of course, if the container is too small, they might have issues breathing and you have a greater risk of crushing them.

I recommend reading the guidelines for shipping reptiles safely, as it's the same basic principle.

Do note that this is definitely stressful on the animal, and as soon as I was able to find someone who could watch Guac when I was out of town, that's what I swapped to. While Guac didn't seem to suffer any ill effects, I'd still be cautious about it, particularly if your BD starts exhibiting any sign of illness.

Also depending on how long you'll be out of town, you might consider just leaving your beardie at home. If you buy the right vegetables, some salads can stay fresh for a couple days, and if you have your lights on a timer, why not? Play around with it and see. As a guideline for if you've found a usable salad mix, just look at it and think, "Would I feel safe eating that on day 2?" if the answer is HONESTLY "yes", your BD will probably be fine with it. Live plants are also an option, if you're willing to grow putted greens and herbs that your beardie can eat and them leave them in their tank while you're gone (I am currently working on what I call "Guacemole's Garden" myself!). Just make sure to use a safe substrate for the plants.

I would NEVER leave a baby beardie unattended though, and I wouldn't recommend travelling with one either.

Hope that helps,
-Ellen

A 3 hour drive shouldn't be a big deal. Is the train ride about the same length? Some dragons enjoy/tolerate travel better than others so that may require some testing. I like using a travel carrier (this is the one I have) https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EW2WKZU/

It's a good idea to put some towels or fleece down on the bottom and carry some extras in case of accidents. Carry a roll of pet poop bags and possibly some wipes with you. That will allow you to change out the towels if needed and contain them in a pet poop bag or just throw them out if they're scrap towels. Lighting and food shouldn't be an issue on such a short trip. They tend to do well at regular car temps too. You can get some hand warmers to put under the towel if you plan to stop for a long time but I haven't found them to be necessary (even driving through Minnesota winters).

Depending on how long you are traveling for and how your dragon responds to travel, it may be better to leave her in her main enclosure. An adult can usually be left for several days with a salad and it's not a big deal. If you are going to be gone longer than a few days, then having someone check in to refresh food and clean up is a good idea if possible. Otherwise I'd give the travel carrier a try and see how she responds.