How can I tell the difference in the 2. About 2 months ago I bought what I thought was an inland bearded dragon but after reading a book on dragons the description for a lawson's dragon fits my baby to a T. He has the bar bells going down his back and he has bands that go almost all the way around his entire tail. He is only about 11 inchs and he is an adult when I bought him they said he was 2 years old. But they also told me he was a bearded dragon. Anyone know a way to tell for sure it is important because their care is diffrent.
Sorry for the hijack, but can you guys help me out as well? I have the same question...well...I just thought I was getting a "Bearded Dragon" I got it from petco, I'm only concerned because I was hoping for it to grow BIG...and when I found out about Lawsons and Rakins dragon I got kinda sad I might have one of those instead...
Here's a pic, I don't know how old he was when I bought it but that is a few hours after I brought him home.
It looks like a Pogona Vitticeps ("normal" bearded dragon.) To my knowledge we can't even get the Rankins dragons (I work at a petco). Unfortunately some Petco's sell their dragons small. And don't worry, he will get bigger! They grow really fast when they're young. Just make sure he's NOT on any sort of sand, has an excellent UVB bulb (NOT the coils/compact's, but the Repti-Sun 10.0 UVB bulb), and the basking temps are ~100 degrees F. And only feed him small crickets for now (don't get the large), and also DON'T FORGET to dust them with the vitamin powder and calcium powder as well. I've seen too many people get bearded dragons from pet stores and they are given HORRIBLE advice.
It looks like a Pogona Vitticeps ("normal" bearded dragon.) To my knowledge we can't even get the Rankins dragons (I work at a petco). Unfortunately some Petco's sell their dragons small. And don't worry, he will get bigger! They grow really fast when they're young. Just make sure he's NOT on any sort of sand, has an excellent UVB bulb (NOT the coils/compact's, but the Repti-Sun 10.0 UVB bulb), and the basking temps are ~100 degrees F. And only feed him small crickets for now (don't get the large), and also DON'T FORGET to dust them with the vitamin powder and calcium powder as well. I've seen too many people get bearded dragons from pet stores and they are given HORRIBLE advice.
Ok, that makes me feel better. Why couldn't you work at the Petco here? Yeah, the guy there set me up some calci-sand and their cheap, UVB light....but as soon as I came home started reading this forum I changed everything up (he only went 2 days with sand and bad UVB light) , all the temps are correct, no more sand and a ReptiSun 10.0 tube and yeah I'm dusting the crickets every day.
Well, thanks a lot man, I'm taking real good care of this guy cuz I want him to grow big and strong!