Bearded dragons in the wild

[AHBD]

I thought these pics were interesting, showing the type of substrate + surrounding vegetation in
the territory of pogona vitticeps. Note that there actually is a lot of loose sand/clay/type on top of the hard packed earth in their territory, not very rocky in most instances. There are also captive beardie pics in this group as well which are pretty obvious.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pogona+vitticeps+in+the+wild&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS695US695&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip97ini6HYAhWB6CYKHX4aCLoQsAQILA

 

[Drache613]

Hello!

Great pictures, it's amazing how different they can all look, too.

Tracie

 

[Stres]

Some great pics, is there a reason we don't see eastern dragons in captivity ? I think they look amazing with the dark coloring and yellow mouths.

 

[label]

Someone on the Aussie beardie board has an Eastern but they aren't that common in captivity. Danny Brown's big book on keeping Australian dragons suggested that they don't do quite as well in captivity. Someone else suggested that you can see Easterns around the big population areas in the wild, so there's less drive to have one of your own. Sort of having a sulphur-crested cockatoo as a pet when a bit of seed will get you lots of them. Here, that is...

 

[MostBeast]

Beautiful angry babies in these pics Was this your response to "loose substrate is bad because in the wild they live on a hard-packed rocky substrate"? Because I loathe that response too. What's your beardie's enclosure look like?

 

[AHBD]

To answer your questions stres + Mostbeast....the Eastern beardies were never bred in large numbers, reportedly harder to breed and then they do not have the " friendly " personality of the p. vitticeps. The first beardies outside of Australia [ where they do not allow exportation of their animals ] were exported from Germany [ A herpetologist had excess stock from zoos ] and were imported to the U.S by a few breeders, it took off from there.


And Mostbeast, I wanted to post those pics so anyone could see what the real habitat in the wild is like rather than trying to imagine.

My dragons have had a variety of enclosures and also bask outside several times a week when the weather is good. Here are a few of my tanks.....the largest had sub adult sisters in there, started with sand and added topsoil and another large basking log. The 2X4's were on top of cinder blocks, beardies loved digging under + were very active in there. The newspaper + cardboard in the one spot is where they usually did their business.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29899/full

Another enclosure, I removed the sand in favor of newspaper which was easier to clean. The newspaper was folded and in layers, I could lift out a section of pages whenever it got dirty. Beardies love to dig in newspaper, too.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29983/full

Changed to newspaper :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30042/full

Outdoors in my partially open breezeway :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29925/full

Outdoor cage, beardies enjoy eating clover and hanging on the wire.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30017/full

 

[Stres]

Thanks for the answers regarding eastern beardies, interesting stuff.

 

[CooperDragon]

They hang out in the vineyards in SA too. They like to bask on the vines and skitter around pretty frequently.

 

[AHBD]

Cooper . is that a wild baby in the greenery there at the winery ?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Some great pics, is there a reason we don't see eastern dragons in captivity ? I think they look amazing with the dark coloring and yellow mouths.

Easterns are common pets here (I live in New South Wales) , though not as common as Centrals and Lawsons.
I believe it's down to the number of different morphs that have been developed by the likes of Rick Walker and a few others that possible with Centrals but not with Easterns (which are a very nice dragon in their own right , and tame up very nicely and become great very interactive pets too, I had one as a pet as child , dad discovered it when he saw a tail dangling from the wheel arch after a country drive and I adopted it, started feeding it and it was soon taking grasshoppers and praying mantises and stick insects and butterflies and moths from my hands and I don't recall it ever one trying to bite me or even threat displaying at me - though it for some reason despised my baby sister and even bit her).

I remember heading off bush walking / herping as a kid and frequently encountering eastern bearded dragons on stumps and fence posts who would stay there while you walked quietly up to them and I could very often simply pluck the dragon off the stump or post without so much as tail flick and they were very chill lizards, especially the adults. The babies and little juveniles were not so courageous, you'd be able to get with a inch or so and they leap off and scurry away in the leaf litter and grass.

My impression is that many keepers here prefer Eastern Water Dragons as pets over Eastern Bearded Dragons if given the choice.

 

[CooperDragon]

Cooper . is that a wild baby in the greenery there at the winery ?

Yep. They said he was just hanging out in their rosemary garden. The other one got scooped up in the harvester (but was OK). I have another of an adult just hanging out on one of their vines getting some sun, but I can't find it at the moment. This is in Mclaren Vale south of Adelaide toward the bottom of their natural range.