cage sizes

[tontinos]

what cage size should I get?? I keep hearing a 40gall is fine then i hear its too small and to get a 75gall and then i hear thats a waste of space. I don't know what to get when i get my beardie!

 

[NegativeCreep]

A 40 gallon breeder is ok for an adult. I personally think it's too small, but they will do. I have mine in a 40, but she's still small. We currently have our savannah in a 75 gallon breeder, but eventually we will have to upgrade his cage, and then we will move Blazey into the larger tank.

I think as a baby, 75 gallon is kind of a waste of space, but I think it would be a bigger waste of money to buy a 40 then a 75 later; unless of course you can justify it with another pet Our boa will move into the 40 gallon, later, unless we get something else before then!

 

[Catalyst]

I have my adult female in a 75g tank (48"x18") and I wouldn't go smaller. While she does often hang out on her basking spot, there are other days where she is all over her tank. My husband and I work full time, and when we are home we have other larger pets who roam the house (making it unsafe for Randal to run around solo), so Randal doesn't get a whole lot of exercise time outside of her tank which makes it particularly important that she have as much living/running space in her tank as possible. Once I have the time/money I plan on building her at least a 4'x2'x2' enclosure.

Another consideration is that most recommend at least 6-8 square feet of floor space with 18 inches width for an adult dragon and a 40g breeder gives the recommended width but only 4 1/2 feet of floor space.

If someone is home and the dragon has a time daily to roam outside of the tank, then it would probably be fine to go with the smaller alternative - otherwise the larger the tank, the more space your dragon has to exercise and the more variety you can provide for him as far as temperatures, tank furniture, etc.