Just adopted a juvenile bearded dragon. About 4-5 inches total length not including the inch of tail that's missing. He's listed as a "fancy" which supposedly means he will get more orange and that we get to charge more for them. Currently in a 22x18x12 enclosure with UV lighting and a spotlight keeping a basking area at 105-107 degrees. He ate within minutes of being in the enclosure and seems to be doing ok so far. Been doing lots of reading, talked to several locals who are knowledgable and a few owners. Lots of info, quite a bit contradictory. So anyone who has info on them and wants to provide tips, please do so. And don't think that somethig doesn't need to be pointed out because it's too obvious. Might be to you but a bit of forgotten or missed basic info can be very dangerous.
New beardie owner
- Thread starter dragonfish
- Start date
I was told that these(alfalfa pellets) were great for them. Non harmful if ingested. If that is incorrect I'll change it immediately.
Not that theyre awful as some people use worse.... like tile, newspaper, pine shavings etc.... Think about where bearded dragons come from and formalize the enclosure accordingly. Even though they are captive bred animals, I think its our responsibility as keepers to replicate their natural environment. Even if it is in a box (enclosure) you will still witness more natural behaviors this way.
This is what i meant by varied info. Some say carpet or paper towels only at this size as sand will get impacted. Others say they breed and raise on sand only and have never had an issue. Some say calcium sand, others play sand. One site even said don't feed citrus fruits such as grapes.
I ve always had beardies in fine sifted levelling sand. The only time I dont is between the first 2-3 days out of the egg. They stay in paper towel ....while they get accustomed to life out of the egg.