So welcome to our site. So first of all do you have a tank & a beardie or are you just getting info beforehand. So here are the basics:
For UVB ReptiSUN 10.0 or Arcadia 12% are the best tubes and I don't recommend compact or coil, they don't give off enough UVB and can cause health issues. Reptiglo does the same thing, so make sure it's Reptisun. If you can order online, you'll get a better deal than in a pet shop. Also see if you can find an under the counter fixture to fit the tube, it should be 2/3 the length of the tank you get and needs to be maximum 6-8 inches from your baby. In the tank is better (under the mesh top) as then your baby gets 100% UVB instead of 50% that comes thru the mesh top.
I'd recommend you start with a 20 gallon tall with a front opening to start, as if you're getting a baby, it will be about 5 mo before he/she will need a bigger tank, which should be, at the smallest, a 40 gallon breeder (or critter cage as they're sometimes called). So we can talk about what you want when you answer back.
Start with crickets or dubia roaches (you can get starter kits and baby roaches in the For Sale part of this site). Crickets and dubia all have to be fed, crickets die off easier and are more stinky than dubia. Plus they jump and are hard to dust. Dubia are fast but can't climb glass or plastic, so you can just put them in a glass dish for your baby to hunt. But there are alot of other bugs you can feed a baby, baby silkworms, phoenix worms, micro supers. Just never mealworms, please, they are not made for beardies, too much shell and hardly any meat. Soft worms are best.
You'll need a good calcium powder, any brand that is without phosphorus and with Vit D3. Then any brand of vit/min.
The calcium you'll need to dust 1 feeding of bugs daily, 5x/wk and the vit/min 1 feeding 2x/wk. This will continue until your breardie is 1 year old, then it reduces.
Your baby will need to be fed bugs 2 feedings a day, whatever he/she will eat in 15 min. Alot of people have a separate feeding tank if you're feeding crickets, that way there are no crickets left in the tank overnight. Here's a great nutrition list, as you can start them off early eating good greens and veggies, cut small:
www.beautifuldragons.com, under nutrition.
You'll need a basking bulb. I always used a regular household bulb, bright white, whatever wattage brought the temps to 105F on the basking spot. An Accurite temp with probe works well or you can get a temp gun, which is very accurate.
For furniture, a basking area, which is usually a log of some sort that is high enough to get near enough to the UVB but low enough so the basking area doesn't get too hot. As I said 105F for the basking spot. This is to aid digestion. Also I always had other stuff that they could climb and hang off of, as they like to jump & run around. I can show you some tanks when Rubio was little if you want to give you some ideas.
If you live in an area that is regular-high humidity, you don't need a water dish in their tanks, as they are low humidity animals and too much humidity in their tanks can bring on an upper respiratory infection. You can also mist your dragon with warm water, but always outside the tank.
Daily baths will be a good idea, just use a small container, any type really, with warm water up to their armpits and soak for 15-20 min, as they absorb water thru their skin and vent (area where they poop from). And keep your eye on them at all times, as they are little, don't weigh much and can jump easily out of the water.
For substrate, on the bottom of the tank, nothing loose, just solid, like paper towels, butcher paper, non-adhesive shelf liner, tile, newspaper (which is what I've used for 6 years. I have 5 adult male dragons & still use it, easy to clean up, but I also get free papers to my apartment building, as the paper has to sit at least 2-3 weeks to make sure the ink won't trf to the dragons, which it never does if paper is that old.) There are other types you can use, but always solid, and the reason is because beardies use their tongues to sense their environment, if you use sand or anything else that has loose particles, they will lick it up and it won't digest, so can cause blockages in the intestines called impaction and make them very sick. When they poop on it, the liquid that comes out with the poop can stay in the loose substrate and cause bacteria to grow, so solid is highly recommended.
You also have to have a vet handy. An exotic vet that knows reptiles is best. Beardies can get sick, even though they are hardy animals, it's always best to have someone handy. Plus that you put $ aside in case you need to get him/her to the vet, so you can afford this.
As for cost, depends on where you buy your things. As I said, online is cheaper by far than a petstore. I paid about $140 for 2 of the 40 gallon tanks of the 4 that I have, the others were free. Rubio, my biggest dragon, is in a 75 gallon, but again it was free, as I take in rescued dragons and some of them had tanks that came with them.
So I hope I've gotten the basics, but any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Deb
Also a few questions.......
