Wild dragon dilemma...

Raylene

New member
Hi guys...
OK so I was given a vivarium for Christmas and was in the process of setting it up and getting a reptile license. I planned to get a Western bearded dragon and had started calling breeders ( could only find a few pet shops in Perth that had any ).
Last week my friend found me a beautiful female beardie. Her natural habitat is like 2km from our house so i've tried to simulate that environment, ie. same sand and rocks that she would be used to. And we have an abundance of crickets which she has been eating.
So she's eating and pooping OK, I didn't expect her to be so tame but she allows me to handle her. Oh she's eaten some Rep-Cal pellets too.
I have ordered UVB lights and heating which probably wont arrive until next week.So for the time being she has been basking outside in a smaller tank and we have put a desk lamp over her house. Do you think this will suffice for now? I live in the north west so average temp. for us is 38-45 degrees, the temperature of the room my dragon is in is 24 degrees. Does anyone have any pointers, I sort of feel I should take her back to the wild. If anyone can give some advice on wild beardies would be much appreciated! And if anyone knows a good place to buy crickets in WA, they need to be transported to me aswell. I live in a remote part of Oz and there is nowhere to buy reptile stuff here so if there's any good websites I should know about?
Thanks in advance!
Oh and she's very much an Aussie girl she was licking Vegemite off my fingers yesterday. Hope that's not bad for her?
 

thegreybush

Juvie Member
Well I suppose we'll cover the basics. Rocks good, sand bad. Captive bred and born beardies live longer because of the things we provide and protect them from, sand being one of them (chance impactions). I don't preach that one too hard. As far as the desk lamp goes you'd probably do better with a higher wattage bulb and putting a towel over the screen on top to help keep in some heat. 24 degrees is somewhere around 75 F. Little on the cool side. If she can climb something to get closer to it to bask then she'll be fine until you get your supplies. There's plenty of info around these forums on the ideal setup as determined by us yanks. Good on the UVB tube, too. I think you're well on your way to a good time. Good thing I don't live in Western Australia, I'd have a house full of wild beardies...

You should show us a picture of the aussie beauty. You know how we love Aussie girls lol! 8)
 

Raylene

New member
Original Poster
Cheers for that, I was unsure about the sand mainly because of stuff i've read about impactions on the forum? It's the same red sand ( very fine, Pilbara red dirt ) from where she was in the wild so I don't understand, I have got access to builders sand ( the mustard yellow stuff for rendering ) I did read somewhere on here that this stuff is OK? Got some calcium 'dust' on order, I wasn't planning on being mother to a dragon so soon so can't wait for all my kit to arrive. We're just winging it at the moment! This forum is a great help didn't know beardies were such a craze in the USA. I've found more information from American sites than Australian which is odd! WA has very strict laws on reptile keeping, it has been frustrating as we contacted numerous breeders and pet shops but many don't like to transport the animals. Which is fair enough, other breeders wanted us to go on a waiting list, so even though there are many in the wild where I live it isn't legal to take them. My friend has his licence though! We often see them at the estuary near town.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Please post a picture of your western dragon, I think they are so cute. :D
Yes, bearded dragons have been quite the pet here in the US for awhile now, since they were originally imported in the later 1970's, approximately. It has grown a lot.

How is she doing now?

Tracie
 

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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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