Hello everyone. I am new to the bearded dragon community and I keep stumbling onto this website so I decided to join. I live in Colorado and I currently have one male dragon about a year and a half old.
I will give you a little backstory of how me and Bowser got started. About a week and a half ago I was in my back yard when a lizard ran out in front of me. At the time I knew nothing about bearded dragons except what I saw in zoos. Well he was a little guy, about 5 inches long and it looked just like a bearded dragon so I started doing some research while I had him in a empty trash can. After an entire day of research with no breaks I started to really like bearded dragons and I was going to keep this one I had. Well, I called a reptile store so they could help me determine the age and species and everything and after sending them pictures, they told me that it was actually a horned lizard and that they are native to the area. Well needless to say I was very disappointed. :lol: Well that same day my sweetheart of a girlfriend bought me a bearded dragon from a guy that could no longer keep his because he was moving. It came with everything. Cage, water dish, log, reptile carpet, a light, and a small heat pad. I had asked him if it was a 40 gallon tank and he said it was, which it still seemed small to me. He got it all, including the dragon, as a starter kit from petsmart. Well the next day I went to petsmart to get some crickets and more worms. As I was looking at the cages, I noticed that the one very similar to mine was a 20 gallon. Red Flags started going off. At the present time I do not have the money to buy another larger tank. So over the past week and a half I have really been doing nothing but research on dragons. My parents, trying to help me out, found a complete setup and the guy told them it was a 40 gallon tank. They surprised me with it at my house. Well, needless to say, it was the exact same size as my tank. So I thought maybe I was mistaken about it being a 20 gallon because two owners now have told me that they were 40gal. So I took the dimensions which measured 30 x 12 x 12, 20 gallon long. So now I have a 16 inch lizard with 2 20 gallon long tanks, and all the furniture for them is small, for juveniles. I now have a lot of reservations about these large corporation pet stores as they are selling these and claiming they are 40 gallon. This whole thing has been nothing but an adventure............
:lol:
I went to a reptile store here locally and started pricing 40 gallon breeders, 55 gallon and larger tanks. I don't really care for the 55gal because they are so narrow. I have since decided to build me own enclosure, found some interesting posts here with some people who have built some really nice ones (i.e. dragonov) and now im just trying to scrounge up the funds. I am going to build him a 5x2x2' enclosure.
Because his tank is so small I keep him out of it as much as possible. It gets pretty hot outside here right now so we go outside and he runs around my backyard and loves it. I can tell he doesn't like his "shoebox" for a cage so he hangs out with me most of the day. I have noticed that when he is in his cage he doesn't really bask for long or at all, he does sometimes but prefers the cool side mostly or the floor of the warm side. His temps are around 100 and the warm side and 80 on the cool. (granted these are estimates because all I have presently is a strip thermometer on the warm side and a plastic piece of junk that came with one of these starter kits on the cool side.) At night me and my girlfriend usually turn off all the lights and watch some TV and he falls asleep on me every time and will stay there for hours, until I put him in his tank for the night.
I think the hardest part of all of this is trying to figure out what is right for him. I am a perfectionist and tend to overthink a lot of things. I have done so much research and I am always stuck because everyone seems to contradict each other. For example some vets/experts will say feed him as much as he can eat, that they wont eat till there stomach explodes so feed him till he doesn't want anymore. Other people say feed him only a certain amount because in the wild they eat as much as the can because it may be days before they eat again, that their brain is hardwired to over indulge in case of that period of food not being found. Same with the lighting and cage sizes, etc. Some say use a MVB because its the closest thing to the sun there is and it makes a happier, healthier beardie. Others say that the MVB causes eye problems and the risk of over exposure is too high. Some say don't use a red light nighttime bulb because it disrupts their sleep patterns. Ive noticed mine has no problem sleeping through the TV or the red light. A lot of people prefer a 55 gallon. They say that is a great size and others say its bad because its so narrow, which I agree. Which is why I decided on building him a 5x2x2'. But like I said it is hard for me to determine what is actually perfect in terms of lighting and diet and stuff because all these professionals all have different views.
Currently he is in a 20 gal long, white heat lamp and red heat lamp on the hot side, a reptisun 10.0 coil UVB fixture on the cool side (another point of contradiction, to use coils or not to use coils) Water dish big enough he can lay in, and a fake log that's about 6 inches tall. Reptile carpet, the kind that is curly so his claws get stuck in it. I know his current setup is no where near where it should be and that's why he runs around outside of it a lot. I usually only have him in there at night, to eat, or to get him to bask. Building his new enclosure is one of my top priorities right now, just waiting on the funds for materials.
I understand that a lot of this is just going to be me learning from experience. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated as I look forward to learning as much as I can. I plan on always having a beardie or two and look forward to the experience. If anyone knows of any good books about them I can buy that would be useful too. For those of you that took the time to read my book above I do appreciate it. I just wanted to try and paint a complete picture. so you know where I stand. Thanks again!
-Tyler
I will give you a little backstory of how me and Bowser got started. About a week and a half ago I was in my back yard when a lizard ran out in front of me. At the time I knew nothing about bearded dragons except what I saw in zoos. Well he was a little guy, about 5 inches long and it looked just like a bearded dragon so I started doing some research while I had him in a empty trash can. After an entire day of research with no breaks I started to really like bearded dragons and I was going to keep this one I had. Well, I called a reptile store so they could help me determine the age and species and everything and after sending them pictures, they told me that it was actually a horned lizard and that they are native to the area. Well needless to say I was very disappointed. :lol: Well that same day my sweetheart of a girlfriend bought me a bearded dragon from a guy that could no longer keep his because he was moving. It came with everything. Cage, water dish, log, reptile carpet, a light, and a small heat pad. I had asked him if it was a 40 gallon tank and he said it was, which it still seemed small to me. He got it all, including the dragon, as a starter kit from petsmart. Well the next day I went to petsmart to get some crickets and more worms. As I was looking at the cages, I noticed that the one very similar to mine was a 20 gallon. Red Flags started going off. At the present time I do not have the money to buy another larger tank. So over the past week and a half I have really been doing nothing but research on dragons. My parents, trying to help me out, found a complete setup and the guy told them it was a 40 gallon tank. They surprised me with it at my house. Well, needless to say, it was the exact same size as my tank. So I thought maybe I was mistaken about it being a 20 gallon because two owners now have told me that they were 40gal. So I took the dimensions which measured 30 x 12 x 12, 20 gallon long. So now I have a 16 inch lizard with 2 20 gallon long tanks, and all the furniture for them is small, for juveniles. I now have a lot of reservations about these large corporation pet stores as they are selling these and claiming they are 40 gallon. This whole thing has been nothing but an adventure............
:lol: I went to a reptile store here locally and started pricing 40 gallon breeders, 55 gallon and larger tanks. I don't really care for the 55gal because they are so narrow. I have since decided to build me own enclosure, found some interesting posts here with some people who have built some really nice ones (i.e. dragonov) and now im just trying to scrounge up the funds. I am going to build him a 5x2x2' enclosure.
Because his tank is so small I keep him out of it as much as possible. It gets pretty hot outside here right now so we go outside and he runs around my backyard and loves it. I can tell he doesn't like his "shoebox" for a cage so he hangs out with me most of the day. I have noticed that when he is in his cage he doesn't really bask for long or at all, he does sometimes but prefers the cool side mostly or the floor of the warm side. His temps are around 100 and the warm side and 80 on the cool. (granted these are estimates because all I have presently is a strip thermometer on the warm side and a plastic piece of junk that came with one of these starter kits on the cool side.) At night me and my girlfriend usually turn off all the lights and watch some TV and he falls asleep on me every time and will stay there for hours, until I put him in his tank for the night.
I think the hardest part of all of this is trying to figure out what is right for him. I am a perfectionist and tend to overthink a lot of things. I have done so much research and I am always stuck because everyone seems to contradict each other. For example some vets/experts will say feed him as much as he can eat, that they wont eat till there stomach explodes so feed him till he doesn't want anymore. Other people say feed him only a certain amount because in the wild they eat as much as the can because it may be days before they eat again, that their brain is hardwired to over indulge in case of that period of food not being found. Same with the lighting and cage sizes, etc. Some say use a MVB because its the closest thing to the sun there is and it makes a happier, healthier beardie. Others say that the MVB causes eye problems and the risk of over exposure is too high. Some say don't use a red light nighttime bulb because it disrupts their sleep patterns. Ive noticed mine has no problem sleeping through the TV or the red light. A lot of people prefer a 55 gallon. They say that is a great size and others say its bad because its so narrow, which I agree. Which is why I decided on building him a 5x2x2'. But like I said it is hard for me to determine what is actually perfect in terms of lighting and diet and stuff because all these professionals all have different views.
Currently he is in a 20 gal long, white heat lamp and red heat lamp on the hot side, a reptisun 10.0 coil UVB fixture on the cool side (another point of contradiction, to use coils or not to use coils) Water dish big enough he can lay in, and a fake log that's about 6 inches tall. Reptile carpet, the kind that is curly so his claws get stuck in it. I know his current setup is no where near where it should be and that's why he runs around outside of it a lot. I usually only have him in there at night, to eat, or to get him to bask. Building his new enclosure is one of my top priorities right now, just waiting on the funds for materials.
I understand that a lot of this is just going to be me learning from experience. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated as I look forward to learning as much as I can. I plan on always having a beardie or two and look forward to the experience. If anyone knows of any good books about them I can buy that would be useful too. For those of you that took the time to read my book above I do appreciate it. I just wanted to try and paint a complete picture. so you know where I stand. Thanks again!
-Tyler
I'll do my best to cover everything your dragon needs, (these are of course my preferences)
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