thedragonkeeper":63dp4a4m said:mudskipper":63dp4a4m said:A bearded dragon would be too much responsibility for a 10 year old unless he has help from you or his mom and dad. With help from an adult, I think it's very doable and will be great to teach him about responsibility and how to take care of another living thing. A bearded dragon will be more rewarding than a gold fish.
Someone has to order live crickets for him every week or two. You need to get them from a reputable company. Don't use crickets from Petco or Petsmart. They are very dirty. They treat their pet animals poorly. I can only imagine how they treat their feeders.
The bearded dragon needs a fresh salad every morning. This is not that hard, but baby bearded dragons need their veggies chopped up very finely. You probably don't want a 10-year old doing this. You can chop the veggies and keep them in a plastic container in the fridge for up to a week easily. So someone only has to chop the veggies once a week.
The lights can be on a timer so he won't have to worry about turning them on or off everyday. Somebody needs to mark on the calendar to change the UVB bulb once every 6 months.
Kids are great with computers these days. He could join the forums to ask for help, too!
Um, I, being a kid, strongly disagree with this. I got my beardies at age 10, and have always taken care of them, payed for their equipment, food, and everything (with HARD EARNED $$$). If your child is responsible, has fine motor skills, and is really into this kind of stuff, he/she can take care of 1 bearded dragon no problem. These tasks you mentioned, are a piece of cake if you teach 'em how to do it. And you don't necessarily need to have your ten year-old cut veggies, he can use the high-tech electric blender... Trust me, if he/she really cares, he/she will do everything! If you start out helping them a lot, you will find that you're doing more and more work every week. (This happened to my fish tank. :lol: )
Just putting my thoughts in, Peter
Being a kid, I strongly agree with this.
:lol:
I also had beardies at a young age, however they were my brothers, he got them when I was... 7?
He was like almost addicted to beardies and when he when on vacation this summer, he paid me $40 for 40 days of babysitting and still even thought I am only 11, I took care of them, fed them, handled them comfortably, etc. I do strongly agree to this comment. :lol: