#BeardieCareAroundTheWorld - Poland, Europe
As one person of facebook beardie group asked for info about what are the differences in care around the world I wrote that small post. Maybe someone here will find it interesting too! Below is some basic info from my country. I guess no one here knows polish, so I'll just write everything.
First thing that may be interesting for you is that for a whole country we're having only one reptile forum, so if anyone needs to rehome their beardies they know where to go. There is only one reptile rescue in a whole country and tbh they are mostly having snakes, tortoises and some iguanas. Beardies are one of the most "typical" newbie pets here too, but yet, problem with unwanted dragons is practically non-existent.
Husbandry:
As for dimensions it's the same as in US/UK, but here it must be wood/glass tank, and fish tanks are NO for most owners. They think that in fish tanks it's impossible to maintain a good humidity and ventilation... but there is also a lot of people that argue this, as we all know that with a proper setup even fish tank can have ideal conditions.
Lighting&Temps are the same too, but here a spiral UV bulbs are totally okay to use (and that's what most of us use, as tubes are a looot more costly and harder to find).
Substrate... sand is a no, coco peat are a no, but most of us are using coco bark (some big breeders prefer newspapers/tiles). Impactions are super rare, and if they occur it's mostly from peat, bad temps, bad diet.
In general we also prefer a natural type set-ups, so no beds, hammocks etc.
Diet:
These are probably the biggest differences. We don't have basics greens like collards, prickly pears etc. avaiable at all. The only thing from basic greens that US/UK are using are dandelions and alfalfa.
Here the basic, everyday green diet are: dandelions, clovers, basil, melissa, alfalfa, Tradescantia... and some other "meadow" plants like plantain, white&purple dead-nettle, shepherd's purse and some others.
As for fruits and veggies, thay are the same as in US/UK so I won't list them. The same for vitamins and calcium.
But! As for worms diet, we are having roaches, crickets and mealworms easily avaiable so they are the basic worms we use. Some of the breeders don't like crickets couse they are mostly water and not very nutritient... Most of the big breeders are using mealworms as a basic for young beardies. We just put them in a bowl and beardies are having them all the time in their enclosure (like with greens) and can eat when they want. The curious thing is that I never saw/heard of a beardie that would eat all the mealworms at once and have health problems from that. Idk why but they are just eating 2-4 at a time and leaving rest until they are hungry again. I know that mealworms are fat food, but to be honest I never heard of an obese beardie or other health problems from that on our polish forum. When dragons are older they are having mostly roaches as they don't need as much worms food as small ones. Of course some breeders and keepers prefer to use just roaches couse they are afraid of impactions etc. But it's mostly just a personal preference, no one will be bashed if using mealworms.
Handling&keeping:
We love our dragons too so we spend a lot of time bonding etc., just like owners from other countries. But, what I find rather disturbing personally is that a lot of good breeders that are having really healthy dragons are recommending to co-hab them. It's common practice here to keep babies together, adult females together or even harems. And it wouldn't be so bad if they would mention that it's also normal for them to lose toes or tails couse of the "casual" bites here and there. But you would mostly hear that it's okay and they will be fine... I really can't understand why it's that way since like I said it's not like these breeders are the type of "only money is important", they really care for their animals and you can see that their overall health is excellent. This way our male was without two toes and a part of his tail when we bought him. And this way our female lost part of her toe too, couse I decied that since it's okay to keep them together all the time they won't "die" while in bath for a few minutes... So yeah, that's the point I can't really comprehend.
These are the basics, if you are having any questions feel free to ask them! Just remember that even if things are different here we love and care for our pets just as much as you! And they are as healthy and live as long too!
And please remember also that these are my personal research and not the way all people here are thinking. I'm sure some of them hate co-hab as much, or prefer to use beds and hammocks, or are hating mealworms and spiral bulbs. These info I posted are what you can find in care-sheets, articles and in general "you should do things like this" info that you'll hear from other keepers/breeders.
As one person of facebook beardie group asked for info about what are the differences in care around the world I wrote that small post. Maybe someone here will find it interesting too! Below is some basic info from my country. I guess no one here knows polish, so I'll just write everything.
First thing that may be interesting for you is that for a whole country we're having only one reptile forum, so if anyone needs to rehome their beardies they know where to go. There is only one reptile rescue in a whole country and tbh they are mostly having snakes, tortoises and some iguanas. Beardies are one of the most "typical" newbie pets here too, but yet, problem with unwanted dragons is practically non-existent.
Husbandry:
As for dimensions it's the same as in US/UK, but here it must be wood/glass tank, and fish tanks are NO for most owners. They think that in fish tanks it's impossible to maintain a good humidity and ventilation... but there is also a lot of people that argue this, as we all know that with a proper setup even fish tank can have ideal conditions.
Lighting&Temps are the same too, but here a spiral UV bulbs are totally okay to use (and that's what most of us use, as tubes are a looot more costly and harder to find).
Substrate... sand is a no, coco peat are a no, but most of us are using coco bark (some big breeders prefer newspapers/tiles). Impactions are super rare, and if they occur it's mostly from peat, bad temps, bad diet.
In general we also prefer a natural type set-ups, so no beds, hammocks etc.
Diet:
These are probably the biggest differences. We don't have basics greens like collards, prickly pears etc. avaiable at all. The only thing from basic greens that US/UK are using are dandelions and alfalfa.
Here the basic, everyday green diet are: dandelions, clovers, basil, melissa, alfalfa, Tradescantia... and some other "meadow" plants like plantain, white&purple dead-nettle, shepherd's purse and some others.
As for fruits and veggies, thay are the same as in US/UK so I won't list them. The same for vitamins and calcium.
But! As for worms diet, we are having roaches, crickets and mealworms easily avaiable so they are the basic worms we use. Some of the breeders don't like crickets couse they are mostly water and not very nutritient... Most of the big breeders are using mealworms as a basic for young beardies. We just put them in a bowl and beardies are having them all the time in their enclosure (like with greens) and can eat when they want. The curious thing is that I never saw/heard of a beardie that would eat all the mealworms at once and have health problems from that. Idk why but they are just eating 2-4 at a time and leaving rest until they are hungry again. I know that mealworms are fat food, but to be honest I never heard of an obese beardie or other health problems from that on our polish forum. When dragons are older they are having mostly roaches as they don't need as much worms food as small ones. Of course some breeders and keepers prefer to use just roaches couse they are afraid of impactions etc. But it's mostly just a personal preference, no one will be bashed if using mealworms.
Handling&keeping:
We love our dragons too so we spend a lot of time bonding etc., just like owners from other countries. But, what I find rather disturbing personally is that a lot of good breeders that are having really healthy dragons are recommending to co-hab them. It's common practice here to keep babies together, adult females together or even harems. And it wouldn't be so bad if they would mention that it's also normal for them to lose toes or tails couse of the "casual" bites here and there. But you would mostly hear that it's okay and they will be fine... I really can't understand why it's that way since like I said it's not like these breeders are the type of "only money is important", they really care for their animals and you can see that their overall health is excellent. This way our male was without two toes and a part of his tail when we bought him. And this way our female lost part of her toe too, couse I decied that since it's okay to keep them together all the time they won't "die" while in bath for a few minutes... So yeah, that's the point I can't really comprehend.
These are the basics, if you are having any questions feel free to ask them! Just remember that even if things are different here we love and care for our pets just as much as you! And they are as healthy and live as long too!
And please remember also that these are my personal research and not the way all people here are thinking. I'm sure some of them hate co-hab as much, or prefer to use beds and hammocks, or are hating mealworms and spiral bulbs. These info I posted are what you can find in care-sheets, articles and in general "you should do things like this" info that you'll hear from other keepers/breeders.
I just wanted to mention that I agree that mealworms are O.K in some amounts for beardies. I shy away from recommending them for babies, they can cause impaction but under ideal conditions most beardies can handle them. I had a colony of mealworms for 5 years in the past but now order superworms, crickets + horworms online for my adult beardies. When I raised babies I fed them tiny crickets , then mealworms just once -twice a week as they got older. I also use clovers , my beardies enjoy the leaves, not so much the flower, and dandelion and mulberry leaves all from my yard. As for the coil/compact bulbs, some owners use them with no problem. A long time breeder in the U.S uses them to raise their babies so they obviously are not as bad as many people believe. Even I got in to the habit of just telling people they " need " a long tube Reptisun uvb but it's not always the case. 
