Annapolis Bearded Dragon

Housing

    The enclosure for your bearded dragon depends on his/her age.  For hatchlings(birth - 3 months) require a 10-20 gallon enclosure.  Juvenile's(3 months-6 months) will require at least a 20 gallon tank, but preferably at 25-30 gallon. Sub-Adults(6 months - 12 months) require the same as Adult dragons(12 months +) of 40-50 gallon minimum, with a preference of a 75 gallon or larger.  Most of today's breeders including myself recommend that one adult dragon have 6-8 square feet to floor space, and a 4'x2'x2' cage works perfectly for most.  

    The cage that best fits you and your bearded dragon depends on the your home's space and the age/size of your dragon. I would recommend buying a 20/25 gallon tank from the beginning and then upgrading to a 40 gallon or 75 gallon once an adult.

 Below is an example of a 40 gallon breeder with a Mega Ray Self Blasted(SB) 100 Watt Mecury Vapor bulb with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb for added visible light.(You can click on the picture for a larger view!)

  Below is an example of my average Melamine cage, it measures 4'x2'x2. It utilizes a 40 or 50 watt basking bulb and a compact ReptiGlo 10.0 coil bulb. I've ever had an issue with these bulbs, but my cages are aways very bright! I have either a bonsai tree or half log in the cage for decoration and basking. At the moment I prefer construction grade brown paper from home depot. Very durable and only cost $6 per roll of 150 ft x 35".

Food

 Age also determines the nutritional requirements of a bearded dragon, babies need to eat 3-5 times a day, while an adult can be feed every other day.  Babies require a diet of 80% protein/fat and 20% greens. Adults are almost the opposite, with 75% greens and 25% protein/fat. Every new beard dragon owner would benefit from owning the book "The bearded dragon manual" it has all of the information you need. I also suggest joining www.beardeddragon.org , this forum will have 100 times the information of any book and the information is up to date from over several thousand bearded dragon owners and breeders, I my self am a member of this forum, my user name is "beardedwizard" feel free to say hello!

 Bearded Dragons aquire their protein from insects such as the cricket, super worm, wax worm, horn worm, phoenix worm, and meal worm.  Crickets are the most common for new owners, they are readily available at your local pet store. The best way to determine what "size" food is appropriate for your, is to make sure the feeder insect is smaller than the length between the bearded dragons eyes, or width of head.  YOU CAN NOT FEED WILD INSECTS TO YOUR DRAGON!  These wild insect will have bacteria and possibly viruses, and not to mention they may have come in contact with pesticides. It is much easier and cheaper to order you feeder insects online, I prefer www.premiumcrickets.com  , and www.reptilefood.com  have a wide selection, and fast shipping. And most petstores like Petsmart and Petco stock these items at least twice a week.

I also recommend www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html for the best nutritional advice!

 Feeder Pictures

 Below are some older pictures of our feeder bins, we don't deal with adult crickets anymore, but we still have a ton of 3/8" crickets along with mini meal worms, and super worms as our main staples. If you have any questions on how to keep a certain feeder please ask as we have done everything except roaches...

Lighting

 Requirements for all bearded dragons are essentially the same, only a few minor differences.  

 First is UVB, this is a vital wavelength produced by the sun, it's the same wavelength that gives humans that wonderful brown tan or nasty sun burn.  Bearded Dragons require this to metabolize calcium into D3, and essential vitamin used for bone growth, strength, and brain/muscle function.  So needless to say, with out the proper UVB bearded dragons will parish.  Luckily you can buy light bulbs at any petstore that will give your beloved pet the UVB they require.  For compact light bulbs and Fluorescent light bulbs I recommend ReptiGlo 10.0 (Compact) and ReptiSun 10.0 for fluorescent tube. Petsmart and Petco carry both these bulbs, but if you are in the market for a compact bulb please buy it at Petsmart as it's cheaper than online and if you want a fluorescent tube bulb then buying online will save you the most money even when shipping is added.  I also recommend the Mega-Ray Mercury Vapor Bulb,from Bob MacCargar at www.reptileuv.com these bulbs are the best on the market, they are the closest to producing the same levels of UVB as the sun.  They are a little more expensive than the ReptiGlo/ReptiSun bulbs, but they last twice as long.**One thing to remember if you are using a "closed" top style cage like a PVC, Acrylic, or Melamine enclosure you will not want to use a Mercury vapor bulb unless you have a ton of ventilation and your ceiling is at least 26" height. Otherwise you will have issues with heat and too much UVB exposure even with their lower 60 watt EB.**

Heat

 Heat is another vital part of the bearded  dragons existence.  They need a cool side and a hot/basking side of their cage to thermoregulate.  The cool side needs to be anywhere from 75-85 degrees and the basking site must be 100-110 degrees for both Adults and hatchlings. Hatchling can have it up to 115, but i don't recommend it since babies dehydrate very easily! Bearded Dragons use high temperatures to facilitate digestion, since they are cold blooded, they can not regulate their own body heat.  This is why you have two ends of their enclosure, this allows your dragon to thermoregulate (cool, or heat themselves) I have noticed from my experiences with bearded dragons and from talking to other breeders, dragons seem to respond better to higher temperatures.  I've found that my dragons respond well to basking temperatures of 105-112 on average, other people are having great success with slightly higher temperatures.  By having slightly higher basking temps breeders have noticed a great activity level of the dragon throughout the day, and they digest their food faster. Please stick to the recommended range for basking temperatures, if you are interested in trying a new basking temp please contact me first and we can discuss this subject further.I only trust my thermometer needs to "Temp Gun" as they are extremely accurate and never fail!

**Photo Disclaimer, picture is the property of www.tempgun.com **

Substrate

 Substrate is another topic, I recommend paper towels, newspaper, construction paper, wheat bran or reptile carpet for hatchlings , juveniles, sub-adults and washed children's play sand or construction paper/newspaper for adults.(I've since switched from sand to construction paper for all of my adults as it's more sanitary) Young beardies tend to lick surfaces out of curiosity, this means sand, feces, and other things are subject to a "taste". Sand (especially Calci-Sand) in a young beardies digestive tract can cause impaction due to clumping. Impaction is when a foreign object causes a blockage in the digestive tract and doesn't allow for proper digestion and can lead to death if not addressed.

Humidity

 Humidity must be keep low-mid range, preferably 40%-60%, but not above 70% for a sustained period of time, otherwise respiratory problems may occur. Having their air to dry (below 35%) can cause just the opposite to happen, trouble shedding, and drying out of the mucous membranes. Please realize that bearded dragons need humidity and water to sustain life, without either one and they will parish! Maintaining a humidity of 60% for babies is ideal but not easy, and from my experiences adults far very well with 40%-50% humidity. Now just like your temperatures, you want to check your humidity on a regular basis to make sure nothing has changed, especially during/after weather fronts or change of seasons. You can purchase a cheap or expensive hydrometer from your pet store, online or a all-i-one until from Walmart's garden department; these digital units will have temperature and humidity capabilities for less than $20.(Acu-Rite to be specific)