Entertainment for dragons

[SlimShady]

So recently i saved enough money to buy a bearded dragon, and they are pretty cool but i feel like my dragon doesn't have enough entertainment, for awhile he would scratch at the side of his cage and sometimes i would take him out and sometimes i was too busy to take him out and he would stay scratching at the walls until bedtime. but i cant always take him out to play so how do you keep dragons entertained in their cage all day alone??

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a tough one. In the tank you can add branches to climb on, more space to roam around (provide as large of an enclosure as possible), maybe a photo background would be nice. In terms of entertainment though I think the best thing is to have them out whenever you can. They like time sitting in the window sill or roaming around a room exploring. If the weather is nice it's fun to take them outside for a bit. They are curious so the more you can give them to explore and new territory to roam the happier they seem to be.

 

[Taterbug]

In most cases a larger enclosure will provide you with more enrichment opportunities for your pet while keeping them in their optimal conditions. If you can’t move up to a larger enclosure you can work around it too. As cooper suggests roaming time, trips outside if they like it and the Royal window seat are all great ideas. Make sure you check your parameters and make sure he isn’t trying to get out beucase he is uncomfortable.

Not really such specific ideas but some reading material.
http://rainbowsnakes.tumblr.com/post/119229812584/environmental-enrichment-for-reptiles-what-why

 

[kingofnobbys]

Our reptilian tribe seen to enjoy watching their pet humans and the TV , and when on the floor for free range time will seek out my wife or me (if one of us are not in the room to see what this person is doing) , and the also spend a lot of time looking through the front window and watching the birds and wild lizards (on the front patio).

They have favourate TV shows and know when they are over.

 

[KarrieRee]

Your beardie wants out -- I would take mine out and put her on the couch or chair in the sun in front of my LR window------------ she would look outside for hours and sun bathe -- when we got her no one ever took her out and she was doing the samething ---------- she was in a 20 gallon tank which was too small for her------------ we bought a bigger tank for her a 50 gallon and she was much happier but we still brought her out almost every day--- she loved the company -- hope this helps if you have any more questions please ask

 

[ncc74656]

i personally beardie proofed the condo so my beardie is free range all the time. she has a 120 gallon tank in the bedroom with her uvb light, basking spots, small 5 gallon jacuzzi, and climbing branches. i also have the entire tnak lined in carpet so she can climb anywhere she wants. the bed is right next to the tank so she often climbs out onto that and over to the window where i have her heat rock setup for her to chill and watch the woods outside. she has a bowl of food and worms that i keep in the kitchen on the floor that she will walk over to to eat through out the day, i keep a bath towel draped over the bathroom sink that she will climb up and sit in water that i leave running, she enjoys the steady flow of warm water and will sit in there for hours at a time. she has learned to lay down over the drain and let it fill up then she stands up, waits for it to drain down and lays back down again. in the living room i have cat trees and hammocks setup for her to climb and run around on, she enjoys jumping between the couches and then she has a lizard door leading out onto the patio which has a 250 gallon screened in framework that she sits and climbs around in during the summer. she gets most of her uvb from the sun as she sits outside for most of the day.

she also prefers to sleep in the bed rather than her tank, she will curl up under me and lay mostly upside down with her belly against me and her back against the bed sheets, she also likes to curl up under my neck and let her nose poke out. in the mornings she walks over everything to get to the window and watch the sun come up. she is like an alarm clock that way.

while i am home i will also leave the shower running and a towel draped over it, she will climb up onto the bath ledge and dive into the water, swim around and float under the shower spray for a while before climbing back out and dive back in again. she scared the crap out of me the first time i saw her going around in the bath as she would let herself sink down or be covered by the rising water. she sits under water for a minute at a time before popping her head up and swimming around again.

 

[DMF]

I like how you beardie proofed your home. It seems fun to have your beardie roaming around all the time. Have you almost stepped on her before?

 

[ncc74656]

never come close, she is large enough to see and i am used to watching where I'm walking (done lots of trail hiking so its kidna second nature). ive taken her to work before and she has almost been stepped on there when she jumped out of her tank, she can seriously jump a solid 2 feet vertical and climb out of things

 

[DMF]

What are some of the things you do to beardie proof your home?

 

[ncc74656]

make sure any and all openings are sealed off, i put tint on my floor to ceiling mirrors so she wouldn't charge herself, made sure nothing could fall off where she would be climbing, making sure the couches are sealed so she cant get stuck inside of them

 

[phobosdthorga]

Our reptilian tribe seen to enjoy watching their pet humans and the TV , and when on the floor for free range time will seek out my wife or me (if one of us are not in the room to see what this person is doing) , and the also spend a lot of time looking through the front window and watching the birds and wild lizards (on the front patio).

They have favourate TV shows and know when they are over.

My Iggus enjoys watching trash with me on YouTube and in particular, he REALLY loves the cartoons like Family Guy and American Dad for some reason. It must be the simpler shading techniques that they use and simpler coloring, which attracts his attention. I also notice that they use very little Red or anything near that spectrum in their animation, those two cartoons. I do know that Beardies see quite poorly around and in that spectrum.

i personally beardie proofed the condo so my beardie is free range all the time. she has a 120 gallon tank in the bedroom with her uvb light, basking spots, small 5 gallon jacuzzi, and climbing branches. i also have the entire tnak lined in carpet so she can climb anywhere she wants. the bed is right next to the tank so she often climbs out onto that and over to the window where i have her heat rock setup for her to chill and watch the woods outside. she has a bowl of food and worms that i keep in the kitchen on the floor that she will walk over to to eat through out the day, i keep a bath towel draped over the bathroom sink that she will climb up and sit in water that i leave running, she enjoys the steady flow of warm water and will sit in there for hours at a time. she has learned to lay down over the drain and let it fill up then she stands up, waits for it to drain down and lays back down again. in the living room i have cat trees and hammocks setup for her to climb and run around on, she enjoys jumping between the couches and then she has a lizard door leading out onto the patio which has a 250 gallon screened in framework that she sits and climbs around in during the summer. she gets most of her uvb from the sun as she sits outside for most of the day.

she also prefers to sleep in the bed rather than her tank, she will curl up under me and lay mostly upside down with her belly against me and her back against the bed sheets, she also likes to curl up under my neck and let her nose poke out. in the mornings she walks over everything to get to the window and watch the sun come up. she is like an alarm clock that way.

while i am home i will also leave the shower running and a towel draped over it, she will climb up onto the bath ledge and dive into the water, swim around and float under the shower spray for a while before climbing back out and dive back in again. she scared the crap out of me the first time i saw her going around in the bath as she would let herself sink down or be covered by the rising water. she sits under water for a minute at a time before popping her head up and swimming around again.

That would be a dream of mine to Beardie proof whatever house I'm currently living in (I move around a lot it seems as of late *sighs*), but I'm always living with other people which while desirable for my social needs, it does mean that there are higher chances of Iggy being stepped on as he goes about unnoticed. It's interesting to hear about what you do with the bathroom sink! I had an interesting, albeit somewhat anxiety inducing time with my Beardie yesterday where we were in the bathroom and the running water made him puff up and start hissing at everyone, and it was really worrying to see. But he was like this for a good 30 mins afterwards as he breathed quite hard, obviously in deep stress. As soon as I put him in his bath though, he calmed immediately and began relaxing. He loves his little baths

never come close, she is large enough to see and i am used to watching where I'm walking (done lots of trail hiking so its kidna second nature). ive taken her to work before and she has almost been stepped on there when she jumped out of her tank, she can seriously jump a solid 2 feet vertical and climb out of things

It really is very surprising to see how far some Beardies can jump, given their stubby limbs and large central body relative to everything else. Iggy can leap a good two feet with ease from either the couch if we're watching TV together towards other couches, or from my shoulder to the keyboard. I've already gone through one keyboard so far, as he broke the previous by jumping on it too many times!

 

[ncc74656]

my sindragosa broke my laptop keyboard, she clawed up various keys trying to get comfortable on it... she seems to have some concept of how it works as she will lick the screen in the bottom corner which opens up my tablet mode, it turns the screen dark and she does this when she is about to lay down and try to sleep on the warm laptop

 

[SlimShady]

geez thanks for all the replies! That bearded dragon proof condo sounds really neat i might try it when i settle in another house... Im thinking of adding some tunnels and such for him to climb around...
Thanks!

 

[ncc74656]

yup, i found that sindragosa will make her own way around, letting me know where she wants thing. for example she would often to go to the same location on the wall and scratch at it so i put a screen going up the wall and now she climbs on that and sits up by the ceiling for a good portion of the day. she has also made use of the couches for her jungle gyms. i leave the sliding closet doors slightly open so she can get in there and sleep when she wants a dark hidiehole. she started to often crawl back there behind some things and i would see her sitting there with her eyes half way open so i started to close the door for her, now i just leave enough room for her to make it in and out and she sleeps in there.