About to get a BD

[omicron]

Hello all, I am about to jump into the world of Bearded Dragons. I've always loved lizards and BDs have always seem to have great personalities. I'm currently building an enclosure for the one I pick out. Is there any great advice I could use to get started?

 

[mrtytyk]

Well have you checked out all the caresheets at this site yet? It's best to know as much as possible before getting one so you dont have to end up blowing all your money trying to save you dragons life at the vet. We are all here to help you & your dragon so feel free to ask us any questions you have

 

[ScottyD]

Here is the best advice ever....Love them to death as we all do.

 

[Solo's Mom]

#1 Rule when getting a beardie - DO NOT trust Petstores

They are more offten then not full of crap, and made up advice to try and sell their products. Also reading through the care sheets on the site would be a good idea. And ask LOTS of questions

 

[Sekhautet]

Here are some good care sheets and a vet link for finding herp vets and also a good salad suggestion link:

http://www.kakadudragons.com/caresheet/caresheet.php


http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html


http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/GeneralCare.html


http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

 

[omicron]

Thanks for the advice and the links. I've read over the care sheets but I will be sure to read over them closer before I go to choose my dragon.

 

[maritime_kali]

I was on here for a couple weeks and because of the wealth of caresheets, advice and caring people I was totally ready to get my beardie. Just get ready to pamper the baby!! :lol:

 

[nycdragon]

Back in February, I finally gave in to my daughters and bought them two Bearded Dragons form from Petco at Union Square in NYC. I knew I'd end up doing 90% of the care-taking, but since I've owned various reptiles since my childhood - I was prepared to deal with it.

When I heard that the BDs might last ten years or longer - that was a little more of a commitment than I expected, but I figured hey, if they do live that long, the girls might each want to take one with them when they ship off to College.

The salesperson at Petco was barely educated on Dragons - and I'm not sure he knew what he was doing when he sexed them (one boy and one girl). To be honest - I didn't know if I had 2 males, 2 females or one of each. When I later found out that they are likely siblings, I figured I didn't have to worry much. Okay - I know, you experienced owners are already horrified by how casual I was about this new relationship. Well, read on, it gets worse.

The lizards were young and I had them in a 20 gallon tank with a florescent light and a heat light. I made a mistake by listening to the salesperson and put sand in the tank initially, but there's a kid in our building who is a reptile geek (he attends the reptile events held at the White Plains Convention Center every 3 months, is a member of every website like this one, and owns a few snakes and lizards) - and he helped me with instructions about how to set up their tank right. Not sure he knows all that he thinks he does, but he certainly knows more than me and his heart is in the right place.

The BDs were doing great, attacking crickets like little robots with heat sensing tongues. They were growing, shedding and growing some more. They were also pretty happy about being handled and pretty happy being with each other. I felt like I knew what I was doing. Serves me right.

Fast forward to a weekend in mid - May. Our summer bungalow community's opening weekend. My youngest and I are leaving right after school on Friday to get the summer shack set up. I can't leave the Beardies alone for 3 days - right?

So I pick up a cheap plastic cameleon tank from good ole Petco, load the beardies in for the one hour ride up to Westchester and get on the phone with the woman I arranged to buy a tank from (Craigslist $30) so I'd have a nice weekend residence for the Beardies. It was huge - a former fish tank in a Chinese Restaurant, so the beardies (unlike my family) would actually have a much bigger place to summer in.

The tank turned out to be quite a problem to haul, and my youngest daughter spent most of the ride crammed into the van along with all our stuff and this huge fish tank and stand. She kept the dragons on her lap, and although they clearly didn't like the ride - they seemed fine when we finally made it, though a tad carsick maybe.

I began to set up the tank. I had a place picked out on my deck for it - so the dragons could get a look at the great outdoors and for the first time - bask in the actual sun. The tank is under our awning - so there is always shade in a good part of the tank and for the early spring, I'd bring them in at night and put them in a heated room to sleep. As I was setting up the tank, the cable guy shows up to hook me up for the summer.

The beardies were still in their plastic tank, waiting for me to get the summer tank up and running. I finished the tank while also supervising the cable dude. Meanwhile my youngest is off at her friend’s bungalow and my wife and older daughter are due any minute at the train station. I only have a minute to get the beardies into their new home.

I go to the plastic tank, which is sitting on the picnic table on my deck. Funny, I only see one beardie. I think, "the other must be hiding in the fake bush." Wait a sec - is this little feed door ajar?

You guessed it. One of the beardies escaped. I tear apart the deck, all the while stalling my wife who is getting pretty miffed sitting at the train station waiting for her ride.

I dash below the deck and search frantically for the escapee. I’m thinking “oh my gosh, how will he survive? He must be so scared!” Then I take a breath. I look around, survey the lush green plants, the lake water lapping at the shore below my deck, hear crickets chirping like a symphony. It hits me - “Scared? This Beardie is in The Garden Of Eden. I'll never see her again.”

My daughters were pretty upset that I’d lost “Sugar” (How could they tell which one was which?!) I had to keep assuring them that I would never give up hope and that yeah of course, Sugar can survive on her own – even though my sense was that some crow had probably eaten her by then.

We spent the remainder of the weekend searching for our lost lizard, and the next weekend and the one after that. As the reality slowly sunk in that Sugar was gone, my attention turned to the one who stuck around. He had chosen us over that lush Utopia outside his tank. Certainly he deserved my consideration.

Was he a little less aggressive in pursuit of those crickets? Not so happy to be picked up anymore? Does he seem depressed? Friends warned me about projecting my human emotions onto a reptile with a brain the size of a pea - but I couldn't help it. He seemed bored.

Buying another one from a pet shop seemed out of the question – since they were so tiny compared to my 5 month old. So two weeks ago I began checking out Craigslist for anyone living in NYC who decided to get out of Dragon ownership after they bought one.

I found many folks with dragons up for adoption – but their $150 “re-homing” fee sounded more like a business to me – so I answered each of their continuous emails highlighting the “wonderful personalities” of their precious critters with a polite “no thanks”.

Finally last week, while buying crickets at the Petco on 3rd Avenue, I noticed a few Dragons that were larger than usual in a tank. I tried to recall how big mine was, as I handled each of the ones the salesperson gave me. Holding the largest, I said, “Yeah – I think this one is about the size of the one I have at home. Can I bring it back if they don’t get along?” He promised that I could.

Of course, when I got it home, it was about half the size of mine, and they didn’t exactly embrace each other initially, but they weren’t tearing each other apart either.

I kept an eye on them for that first evening and kept them apart for the first night’s sleep. The new one engaged in this terrific process of slowly moving its forelimbs in a balletic wave – which gave us an easy name for him: Tai Chi.

The other has had a dozen names, based on the almost daily whim of my daughters – Lizardo, Spike, Manookie, Tubor… Tubor? That’s like a potato, isn’t it?

Anyway, by week’s end, Tai Chi and Tubor Manookie were getting along grandly, lounging on each other’s backs and acting as if they were old friends. Friday it was time to pack them up for the ride to the lake – making sure this time that the latch door stayed locked!

They spent Friday and Saturday in the big tank, running around snagging crickets. The big lizard had taken to veggies finally – gobbling down cilantro and mango, while little Tai Chi is still stuck on crickets.

My favorite time is sunset, when the two lizards paste themselves into the corner pain of glass to watch as the last glow of sun vanishes over the horizon – They seem bummed for life - like hippies at Jim Morrison’s gravesite.

On Sunday my wife and kids left early for a Broadway Show, while I stayed behind to pack up for another week in the real world. I watched the lizards occasionally – wondering if they had a choice would they ever agree to go back to their “City Home”.

Either way, I was happy that my lizards seemed happy together, and that the runaway was no longer a source of sadness for me… or from what I can tell, for Menookie.

At about 1:30 in the afternoon, a friend of mine was helping me lug a big piece of furniture up the steps – which was hell. It was 95 degrees on Sunday and sweat was pouring down my face. We stopped at the base of the stairs to catch our breath and mop our brows, when I happened to glance over the railing at the lawn beside our bungalow.

The grass needed cutting, as evidenced by the toad that was struggling to get through the high blades. his tail slithering along behind him. Tail? Wait a minute, that’s not a toad.

So, by now you’ve probably figured it out. Lizard number one had had enough of life on the run. I sensed that by the rather lame effort she made to avoid my clasping hands and the unconvincing hiss she emitted when I picked her up and said hello.

A minute later she was in the tank that was supposed to be her summer home, cringing behind a branch. A few minutes later I was on the phone with my wife and kids as they drove toward the Mary Poppins matinee. I made them put me on speaker phone; “Hey have a great time today, and by the way, you’ll never guess what I found…” The squeals of delight told me how happy I had made them… even my wife, who isn’t much of a fan of critters.

The two captive lizards were already checking out their wild companion. They all enjoyed their crickets that afternoon and thank goodness, no fighting in two days. Okay – so there’s my story. It seems like a happy ending – but I’ll leave it to the experts among you to snap me back to reality.

So now that I have 3 dragons in one tank and I don’t even know what sex they are (Today, Reptile Geek said that Sugar and Manookie are boys and that Tai Chi is a girl – but he has no credibility because last time he sexed Sugar as a girl (thus the name Sugar).

He says that soon enough, Sugar and Manookie are going to fight over Tai Chi, but I cleverly dissuaded him by explaining that since Sugar and Manookie were bought together from the same tank, they were likely brothers. “Oh, right,” he said, “I didn’t think of that.” Chalk one up for the guy who knows nothing.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who actually does know a lot about Dragons. It’s bliss now, but am I likely to have stormy times ahead if I try to keep these three together?

I also noticed that Sugar is having a little trouble with her hind legs since being out on her own. I’m dusting her crickets with vitamins – will that do the trick you think?

I’d appreciate advice from anyone in the know. I promise not to call you a reptile geek.

 

[nycdragon]

Back in February, I finally gave in to my daughters and bought them two Bearded Dragons from Petco at Union Square in NYC. I knew I'd end up doing 90% of the care-taking, but since I've owned various reptiles since my childhood - I was prepared to deal with it.

When I heard that the BDs might last ten years or longer - that was a little more of a commitment than I expected, but I figured hey, if they do live that long, the girls might each want to take one with them when they ship off to College.

The salesperson at Petco was barely educated on Dragons - and I'm not sure he knew what he was doing when he sexed them (one boy and one girl). To be honest - I didn't know if I had 2 males, 2 females or one of each. When I later found out that they are likely siblings, I figured I didn't have to worry much. Okay - I know, you experienced owners are already horrified by how casual I was about this new relationship. Well, read on, it gets worse.

The lizards were young and I had them in a 20 gallon tank with a florescent light and a heat light. I made a mistake by listening to the salesperson and put sand in the tank initially, but there's a kid in our building who is a reptile geek (he attends the reptile events held at the White Plains Convention Center every 3 months, is a member of every website like this one, and owns a few snakes and lizards) - and he helped me with instructions about how to set up their tank right. Not sure he knows all that he thinks he does, but he certainly knows more than me and his heart is in the right place.

The BDs were doing great, attacking crickets like little robots with heat sensing tongues. They were growing, shedding and growing some more. They were also pretty happy about being handled and pretty happy being with each other. I felt like I knew what I was doing. Serves me right.

Fast forward to a weekend in mid - May. Our summer bungalow community's opening weekend. My youngest and I are leaving right after school on Friday to get the summer shack set up. I can't leave the Beardies alone for 3 days - right?

So I pick up a cheap plastic cameleon tank from good ole Petco, load the beardies in for the one hour ride up to Westchester and get on the phone with the woman I arranged to buy a tank from (Craigslist $30) so I'd have a nice weekend residence for the Beardies. It was huge - a former fish tank in a Chinese Restaurant, so the beardies (unlike my family) would actually have a much bigger place to summer in.

The tank turned out to be quite a problem to haul, and my youngest daughter spent most of the ride crammed into the van along with all our stuff and this huge fish tank and stand. She kept the dragons on her lap, and although they clearly didn't like the ride - they seemed fine when we finally made it, though a tad carsick maybe.

I began to set up the tank. I had a place picked out on my deck for it - so the dragons could get a look at the great outdoors and for the first time - bask in the actual sun. The tank is under our awning - so there is always shade in a good part of the tank and for the early spring, I'd bring them in at night and put them in a heated room to sleep. As I was setting up the tank, the cable guy shows up to hook me up for the summer.

The beardies were still in their plastic tank, waiting for me to get the summer tank up and running. I finished the tank while also supervising the cable dude. Meanwhile my youngest is off at her friend’s bungalow and my wife and older daughter are due any minute at the train station. I only have a minute to get the beardies into their new home.

I go to the plastic tank, which is sitting on the picnic table on my deck. Funny, I only see one beardie. I think, "the other must be hiding in the fake bush." Wait a sec - is this little feed door ajar?

You guessed it. One of the beardies escaped. I tear apart the deck, all the while stalling my wife who is getting pretty miffed sitting at the train station waiting for her ride.

I dash below the deck and search frantically for the escapee. I’m thinking “oh my gosh, how will he survive? He must be so scared!” Then I take a breath. I look around, survey the lush green plants, the lake water lapping at the shore below my deck, hear crickets chirping like a symphony. It hits me - “Scared? This Beardie is in The Garden Of Eden. I'll never see her again.”

My daughters were pretty upset that I’d lost “Sugar” (How could they tell which one was which?!) I had to keep assuring them that I would never give up hope and that yeah of course, Sugar can survive on her own – even though my sense was that some crow had probably eaten her by then.

We spent the remainder of the weekend searching for our lost lizard, and the next weekend and the one after that. As the reality slowly sunk in that Sugar was gone, my attention turned to the one who stuck around. He had chosen us over that lush Utopia outside his tank. Certainly he deserved my consideration.

Was he a little less aggressive in pursuit of those crickets? Not so happy to be picked up anymore? Does he seem depressed? Friends warned me about projecting my human emotions onto a reptile with a brain the size of a pea - but I couldn't help it. He seemed bored.

Buying another one from a pet shop seemed out of the question – since they were so tiny compared to my 5 month old. So two weeks ago I began checking out Craigslist for anyone living in NYC who decided to get out of Dragon ownership after they bought one.

I found many folks with dragons up for adoption – but their $150 “re-homing” fee sounded more like a business to me – so I answered each of their continuous emails highlighting the “wonderful personalities” of their precious critters with a polite “no thanks”.

Finally last week, while buying crickets at the Petco on 3rd Avenue, I noticed a few Dragons that were larger than usual in a tank. I tried to recall how big mine was, as I handled each of the ones the salesperson gave me. Holding the largest, I said, “Yeah – I think this one is about the size of the one I have at home. Can I bring it back if they don’t get along?” He promised that I could.

Of course, when I got it home, it was about half the size of mine, and they didn’t exactly embrace each other initially, but they weren’t tearing each other apart either.

I kept an eye on them for that first evening and kept them apart for the first night’s sleep. The new one engaged in this terrific process of slowly moving its forelimbs in a balletic wave – which gave us an easy name for him: Tai Chi.

The other has had a dozen names, based on the almost daily whim of my daughters – Lizardo, Spike, Manookie, Tubor… Tubor? That’s like a potato, isn’t it?

Anyway, by week’s end, Tai Chi and Tubor Manookie were getting along grandly, lounging on each other’s backs and acting as if they were old friends. Friday it was time to pack them up for the ride to the lake – making sure this time that the latch door stayed locked!

They spent Friday and Saturday in the big tank, running around snagging crickets. The big lizard had taken to veggies finally – gobbling down cilantro and mango, while little Tai Chi is still stuck on crickets.

My favorite time is sunset, when the two lizards paste themselves into the corner pain of glass to watch as the last glow of sun vanishes over the horizon – They seem bummed for life - like hippies at Jim Morrison’s gravesite.

On Sunday my wife and kids left early for a Broadway Show, while I stayed behind to pack up for another week in the real world. I watched the lizards occasionally – wondering if they had a choice would they ever agree to go back to their “City Home”.

Either way, I was happy that my lizards seemed happy together, and that the runaway was no longer a source of sadness for me… or from what I can tell, for Menookie.

At about 1:30 in the afternoon, a friend of mine was helping me lug a big piece of furniture up the steps – which was hell. It was 95 degrees on Sunday and sweat was pouring down my face. We stopped at the base of the stairs to catch our breath and mop our brows, when I happened to glance over the railing at the lawn beside our bungalow.

The grass needed cutting, as evidenced by the toad that was struggling to get through the high blades. his tail slithering along behind him. Tail? Wait a minute, that’s not a toad.

So, by now you’ve probably figured it out. Lizard number one had had enough of life on the run. I sensed that by the rather lame effort she made to avoid my clasping hands and the unconvincing hiss she emitted when I picked her up and said hello.

A minute later she was in the tank that was supposed to be her summer home, cringing behind a branch. A few minutes later I was on the phone with my wife and kids as they drove toward the Mary Poppins matinee. I made them put me on speaker phone; “Hey have a great time today, and by the way, you’ll never guess what I found…” The squeals of delight told me how happy I had made them… even my wife, who isn’t much of a fan of critters.

The two captive lizards were already checking out their wild companion. They all enjoyed their crickets that afternoon and thank goodness, no fighting in two days. Okay – so there’s my story. It seems like a happy ending – but I’ll leave it to the experts among you to snap me back to reality.

So now that I have 3 dragons in one tank and I don’t even know what sex they are (Today, Reptile Geek said that Sugar and Manookie are boys and that Tai Chi is a girl – but he has no credibility because last time he sexed Sugar as a girl (thus the name Sugar).

He says that soon enough, Sugar and Manookie are going to fight over Tai Chi, but I cleverly dissuaded him by explaining that since Sugar and Manookie were bought together from the same tank, they were likely brothers. “Oh, right,” he said, “I didn’t think of that.” Chalk one up for the guy who knows nothing.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who actually does know a lot about Dragons. It’s bliss now, but am I likely to have stormy times ahead if I try to keep these three together?

I also noticed that Sugar is having a little trouble with her hind legs since being out on her own. I’m dusting her crickets with vitamins – will that do the trick you think?

I’d appreciate advice from anyone in the know. I promise not to call you a reptile geek.