How'd you get into beardies?

[IAmAMirage]

Hello everyone! I have a question for you all, if I may!
I was wondering how you all got into beardies. It seems like everyone here has such a passion for them. (The are a few of you that I'm really curious about. @xp29 @ChileanTaco @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD @Rocky2022) I never really knew about bearded dragons until I got the chance to rescue Mirage. Someone we knew had to get rid of their beardie as they had just had their first child. I had wanted a reptile for a long while. Specifically a ball python. After doing my research and deciding to take on the commitment, I'm realizing just how much I love beardies. So, I wanted to ask how you all got into beardies

 

[ChileanTaco]

I always loved reptiles a lot - beginning from the lizards in the garden, to (regular) visits at the national park ranger station to (rare) visits at the zoo. Loved all of them, including snakes.
As a teenager, I was sometimes fostering an injured lizard when I found them in the garden. My pets were parakeets and cockatiels.
The first (and so far, only) reptile as a pet then at an age of 38.
Why not earlier? I went to college, together with my by-then boyfriend (now husband). We had only little money, we rented together a tiny 1-room apartment that was meant for one person. We didn't have pets at that time, obviously. Done with college, started a PhD and it was likely to move to a different country afterwards just by the subject of PhD I had chosen - again, obviously, no pet as I knew it's hard to bring them to another country (e.g. Germany -> US) and I just didn't want to rehome a pet or put it in quarantine. Then: Job in the US. Having a pet wouldn't have been too expensive, but I was traveling a lot for work, plus in my job it's normal to do a 2 - 3 year position at one university, then the same at another place. We then, however, decided for land hermit crabs which needed a new home. I love all kind of pets, especially those with scales or more than 4 legs We sadly had to rehome them after two years, as: not allowed on planes (moving the next time). It was difficult to rehome them - hermit crabs in shells big as an apple each, pretty cool for people who love observing animals, but just not "cute". Often people who first said "oh, cute, you have hermit crabs, I come by" weren't interested anymore when they saw them. And, I'm picky with rehoming - not to "can I feed only pellets? veggies is kinda complicated" people.
Finally, ending up here in Chile, it's a more long-term situation. Financially stable situation, and my job is a permanent position. I again looked into pets - first, what is available at all here. I was thinking about maybe getting again hermit crabs, or a tarantula (like them too - as I said, all kind of pets), or a giant millipede, or a reptile. I know they all have different needs, but I would happily prepare the right habitat for them and take care of them. Hermit crabs, tarantulas and millipedes are not available here, but some species of reptiles, mostly bearded dragons, tortoises, ball pythons and green iguanas, sometimes also leopard geckos. My husband absolutely disgusts snakes. A green iguana, honestly, I think it's just too big for our apartment - they are gorgeous, but it just won't work out. If I could allow him to be in an outdoor enclosure, maybe, but not possible. So, a bearded dragon Took me a while to find the necessary equipment here, the enclosure is a made-to-order glass tank, made the lid myself. Over time, my husband who was first quite reluctant, was a bit scared, didn't dare to touch the dragon and had a serious problem with the feeder insects grew into it. He's now hand-feeding Taco with dubias Fear regarding "outdoor bugs" also nearly gone. Snakes are still a no-no.

 

[NickAVD]

Ok, I'll tell you my story.
Our family has never had any animals or birds. The reason for all this is an allergy to wool and pieces of animal skin.
This all continued until my daughter found a way out. You probably already guessed why we got Foxy.
As soon as we realized that we could possibly adopt a bearded dragon, we began to study the peculiarities of their maintenance. We also found an institute for the study of reptiles and visited it to make sure that we would not have allergic reactions. After that, I studied and gradually began to arrange a home for Foxy. Substrate, lighting, heating. I started a colony with cockroaches so that they had time to reproduce before the dragon appeared. And when we had everything ready, we got Foxy from one of the local breeders. That's how he appeared in our house. Immediately after this joyful event, I found this site. Here they helped me fix some shortcomings in the terrarium, and I am very grateful to everyone who is here and helps to solve almost any problem.
There are wonderful people gathered here, and I, as far as possible, also try to help in what I am good at.

 

[IAmAMirage]

I always loved reptiles a lot - beginning from the lizards in the garden, to (regular) visits at the national park ranger station to (rare) visits at the zoo. Loved all of them, including snakes.
As a teenager, I was sometimes fostering an injured lizard when I found them in the garden. My pets were parakeets and cockatiels.
The first (and so far, only) reptile as a pet then at an age of 38.
Why not earlier? I went to college, together with my by-then boyfriend (now husband). We had only little money, we rented together a tiny 1-room apartment that was meant for one person. We didn't have pets at that time, obviously. Done with college, started a PhD and it was likely to move to a different country afterwards just by the subject of PhD I had chosen - again, obviously, no pet as I knew it's hard to bring them to another country (e.g. Germany -> US) and I just didn't want to rehome a pet or put it in quarantine. Then: Job in the US. Having a pet wouldn't have been too expensive, but I was traveling a lot for work, plus in my job it's normal to do a 2 - 3 year position at one university, then the same at another place. We then, however, decided for land hermit crabs which needed a new home. I love all kind of pets, especially those with scales or more than 4 legs We sadly had to rehome them after two years, as: not allowed on planes (moving the next time). It was difficult to rehome them - hermit crabs in shells big as an apple each, pretty cool for people who love observing animals, but just not "cute". Often people who first said "oh, cute, you have hermit crabs, I come by" weren't interested anymore when they saw them. And, I'm picky with rehoming - not to "can I feed only pellets? veggies is kinda complicated" people.
Finally, ending up here in Chile, it's a more long-term situation. Financially stable situation, and my job is a permanent position. I again looked into pets - first, what is available at all here. I was thinking about maybe getting again hermit crabs, or a tarantula (like them too - as I said, all kind of pets), or a giant millipede, or a reptile. I know they all have different needs, but I would happily prepare the right habitat for them and take care of them. Hermit crabs, tarantulas and millipedes are not available here, but some species of reptiles, mostly bearded dragons, tortoises, ball pythons and green iguanas, sometimes also leopard geckos. My husband absolutely disgusts snakes. A green iguana, honestly, I think it's just too big for our apartment - they are gorgeous, but it just won't work out. If I could allow him to be in an outdoor enclosure, maybe, but not possible. So, a bearded dragon Took me a while to find the necessary equipment here, the enclosure is a made-to-order glass tank, made the lid myself. Over time, my husband who was first quite reluctant, was a bit scared, didn't dare to touch the dragon and had a serious problem with the feeder insects grew into it. He's now hand-feeding Taco with dubias Fear regarding "outdoor bugs" also nearly gone. Snakes are still a no-no.

Thats awesome! Kudos to you for persevering!

 

[xp29]

Hello everyone! I have a question for you all, if I may!
I was wondering how you all got into beardies. It seems like everyone here has such a passion for them. (The are a few of you that I'm really curious about. @xp29 @ChileanTaco @BPSabelhaus @NickAVD @Rocky2022) I never really knew about bearded dragons until I got the chance to rescue Mirage. Someone we knew had to get rid of their beardie as they had just had their first child. I had wanted a reptile for a long while. Specifically a ball python. After doing my research and deciding to take on the commitment, I'm realizing just how much I love beardies. So, I wanted to ask how you all got into beardies

I originally wanted a chameleon but they had a thing that said for advanced keepers. I came home and started researching them and found out how hard they are to keep and how short their life span is and changed my mind. While I was there I also saw the beardies. So I started researching them, it was the first time I ever saw one, I had no idea of what they were all about. (side note, this forum was the very first place I happened to see, I've been coming here every since.) It only took a few minutes to realize how much everyone loves them. With that much positivity there had to be something special about them. I actually spent a couple years reading and studying but was still on the fence. Supporting another life is a big responsibility. We were back in the pet store and I was standing there weighing the pros and cons, Christina walked up and kicked me. She told me to just go on and do it you *****, you know you want one. We brought Puff home that same day

 

[IAmAMirage]

Ok, I'll tell you my story.
Our family has never had any animals or birds. The reason for all this is an allergy to wool and pieces of animal skin.
This all continued until my daughter found a way out. You probably already guessed why we got Foxy.
As soon as we realized that we could possibly adopt a bearded dragon, we began to study the peculiarities of their maintenance. We also found an institute for the study of reptiles and visited it to make sure that we would not have allergic reactions. After that, I studied and gradually began to arrange a home for Foxy. Substrate, lighting, heating. I started a colony with cockroaches so that they had time to reproduce before the dragon appeared. And when we had everything ready, we got Foxy from one of the local breeders. That's how he appeared in our house. Immediately after this joyful event, I found this site. Here they helped me fix some shortcomings in the terrarium, and I am very grateful to everyone who is here and helps to solve almost any problem.
There are wonderful people gathered here, and I, as far as possible, also try to help in what I am good at.

That is truly wonderful! Give your daughter a high-five for me! She found a way!
Hence my favorite saying: Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[IAmAMirage]

I originally wanted a chameleon but they had a thing that said for advanced keepers. I came home and started researching them and found out how hard they are to keep and how short their life span is and changed my mind. While I was there I also saw the beardies. So I started researching them, it was the first time I ever saw one, I had no idea of what they were all about. (side note, this forum was the very first place I happened to see, I've been coming here every since.) It only took a few minutes to realize how much everyone loves them. With that much positivity there had to be something special about them. I actually spent a couple years reading and studying but was still on the fence. Supporting another life is a big responsibility. We were back in the pet store and I was standing there weighing the pros and cons, Christina walked up and kicked me. She told me to just go on and do it you *****, you know you want one. We brought Puff home that same day

HAHA! Tell Christina I said "Slay" (in case you don't know what that means...well just look it up lol) I truly love her for that! Sometimes we need the people in our life to give us a push- or in your case, a kick

 

[xp29]

HAHA! Tell Christina I said "Slay" (in case you don't know what that means...well just look it up lol) I truly love her for that! Sometimes we need the people in our life to give us a push- or in your case, a kick

Yup ..... she loves kicking me lmao

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Our first Beardie Mr Wigglesworth was my wife's sister hospitals pet. The hospital had a roof leak that caused a lot of damage and got shut down for awhile. Wiggles was cared for while there, but after my wife took over she realized he was a bit of an expense to have employees taking care of him on the clock, bulbs, food etc... So they started talking about rehoming him. We had known him a long time and when nobody else stepped up (people that worked with him every day were given first chance) we took him in.

After he passed we got Alex, admittedly a bit too soon lol. He passed on a Thursday IIRC and we were planning on taking him to the reptile expo that weekend. Wife and kiddo still went with the intent to check out local breeders etc.... Midway through work I get a single picture that says "Alex" I assumed they were sending me pics of dragons there and Alex was the name on the tank of a cute one. I expected more pics but figured they were busy. I get home and she's sitting on a stick being all cute
Kiddo fell in love and named her Alex because Alex is a girl and has orange hair (Minecraft fan) She's locally bred from white hot dragons. They offer boarding (for a reasonable fee) for dragons which is nice.

 

[NickAVD]

That is truly wonderful! Give your daughter a high-five for me! She found a way!
Hence my favorite saying: Where there's a will, there's a way.

Ok, I'll definitely tell her.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Here they helped me fix some shortcomings in the terrarium, and I am very grateful to everyone who is here and helps to solve almost any problem.

I found the website luckily in the very early planning phase (even before ordering the glass tank), and reading on this website prevented me from buying useless and dangerous equipment, especially lamps.

(The idea with the extra large enclosure, climbing background and desert sand came from a German website (as they are very much into naturalistic enclosures and by law require quite big enclosures), but their instructions regarding lamps were so Germany-specific that I super likely had ended up with the coil UV lamps "as an alternative" if I hadn't found this forum here.)

 

[NickAVD]

I found the website luckily in the very early planning phase (even before ordering the glass tank), and reading on this website prevented me from buying useless and dangerous equipment, especially lamps.

(The idea with the extra large enclosure, climbing background and desert sand came from a German website (as they are very much into naturalistic enclosures and by law require quite big enclosures), but their instructions regarding lamps were so Germany-specific that I super likely had ended up with the coil UV lamps "as an alternative" if I hadn't found this forum here.)

I didn't find this site right away, but I read local forums and almost everything was done correctly. I just had to buy a shelter. For some reason, the local forum categorically did not recommend using them, explaining this by the disadvantage of UV if the dragon will use it unlimitedly.

 

[ChileanTaco]

For some reason, the local forum categorically did not recommend using them, explaining this by the disadvantage of UV if the dragon will use it unlimitedly.

What exactly did they not recommend? Certain lamps, or a shelter (like a cave, hut)?

(The German websites I read were very much into climbing, caves, hiding spaces. Found cool things immediately inspiring me to "oh, wanna make this, would be cool, wanna make this!" They, from my experience, however can be even a bit too much into that. I even remember, once after showing photos having been criticized by somebody from Germany for having left some part of the enclosure's back free (window) and half of the left side also free (allowing the dragon to watch us more) - they had even wanted that I close up everything except for the front with even more hiding spaces. I won't change this, however, as I think Taco is clearly doing great and I don't want to take his window view away... for another hiding space, he has already four and he's using them.)

 

[NickAVD]

What exactly did they not recommend? Certain lamps, or a shelter (like a cave, hut)?

(The German websites I read were very much into climbing, caves, hiding spaces. Found cool things immediately inspiring me to "oh, wanna make this, would be cool, wanna make this!" They, from my experience, however can be even a bit too much into that. I even remember, once after showing photos having been criticized by somebody from Germany for having left some part of the enclosure's back free (window) and half of the left side also free (allowing the dragon to watch us more) - they had even wanted that I close up everything except for the front with even more hiding spaces. I won't change this, however, as I think Taco is clearly doing great and I don't want to take his window view away... for another hiding space, he has already four and he's using them.)

They said there: "You can't organize any hides in the terrarium, because the dragon will constantly use it and will not get the UV it needs. In the wild, bearded dragons do not live in burrows and do not use them! Do not put branches in the terrarium. Where have you seen an dragon climb trees?"
I had to deal with such misconceptions. I know very well how agamas live in Australia and it always amused me.

 

[xp29]

They said there: "You can't organize any hides in the terrarium, because the dragon will constantly use it and will not get the UV it needs. In the wild, bearded dragons do not live in burrows and do not use them! Do not put branches in the terrarium. Where have you seen an dragon climb trees?"
I had to deal with such misconceptions. I know very well how agamas live in Australia and it always amused me.

It's dumbbells like that spreading misinformation that causes a lot of the neglect we see.