Just getting a bearded dragon got any tips?

[Plveala]

I am just getting a bearded dragon I am so excited do you people have any tips?

 

[LewisBD]

I am just getting a bearded dragon I am so excited do you people have any tips?

Hi, congrats on getting your new beardie. Depending on how old he/she is, you're going to start going bankrupt on bugs unless you buy them in bulk or you start a colony. I have a dubia colony for Lewis, it's going great. If you live in FL or somewhere were dubia's are illegal, try other bugs like crickets, discoid roaches, turkistan roaches, lobster roaches, Phoenix worms, silkworms, etc. Do you have an enclosure already set up for it? If you don't, hold off on getting the actual bearded dragon until you have a cage set up, (minimum size 4x2x2 for an adult dragon, I recommend a smaller one for a young dragon, they can get stressed in a big cage). Make sure you have a basking light of the correct wattage to the cage size, have the temps around 95-105 degrees F. DO NOT USE A HEATING ROCK!! They can burn your beardie, as they have poor senses under their belly and feet. Don't use sand as substrate, you don't want impaction to happen. Use a solid lining like tile or repticarpet, paper towels or newspaper. Make sure you have a linear UVB light under the mesh cover, as the mesh can filter out 25% of the UVB. Don't get more than one dragon and plop them in the same cage and expect them to be best friends, because unless you're a breeder which is definitely unlikely, they're going to have fights and you're going to have some toes missing. Don't have a night light they don't do anything but harm your beardies eyes, feeding period 10-15 min or when they're not interested anymore. If you haven't gotten your enclosure yet, don't get one of thoe starter tank kits for beardies at your local petstore, most of the things they give you are all garbage and you'll have to buy everything all over again. If your beardie shows signs of illnesses like MBD (metabolic bone disease) or parasites (in their feces) send them to the vet right away, don't wait and think they'll get better because you'll end up with a sick beardie that'll be hard to treat if you do. Lastly, have fun and get a ton of memories with your new scaley friend .