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Hey, I have a few Questions...(New to Beardeds)

L

Landmark Reptiles

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Hello Everyone,

I am Grant, (I own 5 leos so reptiles are nothing new to me) and I am considering getting a bearded dragon sometime next year. I was wondering if anyone could give me some general tips and advice for owning a beardie. Here are my questions: 1) What is the best age to get a bearded at? I was planning on getting a sub-adult(12 or so inches). Also, what is the best way to socialize a beardie? I hear that they are by nature tame, but just how tame can they become? I am doing alot of research before I will decide on getting one, so I may ask more questions in the future. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Grant
 
Hi Grant.

1. There is no best age to get a beardie at, as long as they are over 6 inches they should be fine. However, if you want to get it used to you, i would get it as a juvie.

2. Best way to tame a beardie is through frequent handlings and hand feeding them their favorite treats outside of their enclosure. This is my experience when it comes to taming them.

3. As to how tame they can get, it depends on both the temprement of the beardie, and what i said in number 1. They can be extremely placid or crazy. Some of mine run onto my hand when i put it in their cage, some could care less, and one does a threat display(only so often though) :hehe: .

Hope this helps, I'm sure you'll get more info.
 
One quick thing to add, Beadies are alot more work than Leos. At least that's been my experience. It is not to difficult, but they have greater needs than Leos do. Jsut make sure you read up really well on them, and you should be fine. They are great pets, and are a lot more interested in you than Leo can tend to be. Good luck on your Dragon search.
 
Thanks alot!

I have read carsheets stating that they need UTH's and some caresheets say no, the dont need them because they cant sense belly heat well, so I'm not quite sure what to go on. UTH or no UTH that is the question! LOL ( pardon my Shakespeare) :hehe:
 
Also,

I have gone to petco pricing out supplies for a setup, and I estimaed around $250.00. I want to save some money,(the tank alone is $100) so does anyone have custom cage plans that I might be able to borrow to build a tank? Thanks!
Grant
 
Grant, I'd vote NO on the undertank heater. I can't think of a reason or scenario why you'd need one for a dragon.

What all have you included in the price of the set-up? More importantly, what size cage are you looking at... if you get a baby, you probably wouldn't want anything larger than a 20 gallon aquarium. If the tank is too big, it can be hard for the dragon to find his/her food.
 
Hey Paul,

Well, I have the lights(1 UVA/UVB), the fixtures to go along with them, cage decor(rocks, & hides, but I could get free rocks) paper towel for substrate, a nail trimmer, beardie dust(calcium supplement and the 40 gallon cage itself($100.00!) I am also looking into building my own cage, but would need help or links to places that could help. Please tell me if I may have left anything out for the setup list. Thanks,
Grant
 
Thermometer. You'll want to make sure that the temperature of the basking spot is appropriate. It can be hard to keep a thermometer right where the dragon would be basking, so you might want to consider a temperature gun.

Are you planning on using a basking light for heat then?
 
Yep, I don't know how I lived without a temp gun for as long as I did, and you can pick up a pretty good one for under $30.00. Mine was more expensive, because I had to get the one with the special little laser-light thing (bright shiny toys make me happy, hehehe). But they are a great tool for making sure your temps in all areas are where you want them to be.
 
Thanks,

yeah, I forgot to add that I have a temp gun and its pretty reliable. I also have a few thermometers from breeding my leos that I can use. Thanks again for all of your help! :)
 
I would recommend builing your own cage. It is alot cheaper. I bought one off http://www.customcages.com/ for $280 4x2x2 and then copied the plans and actually built one better for $80. As long as your local Home Depot carries the Melamine (spelling?) board then you can do it. Check out http://www.dachiu.com/care/breedingroom.html that is Dachiu's breeding room and they are one of the best if not the best breeders. You will also notice that you can stack these cages if you wanted to build more. I went this route and actually have 3 stacked now. With 2 of them with 1 male a peice and 1 with 3 baby femals. Dont worry about it being to big, you can section it off and make the cage bigger as the dragon grows rather then continueing to buy another cage every 2 months.Keep in mind that you dont have to use them just for beardies, you could use one for this or that. If you are interested let me know @ [email protected] and I will give you all the measurements of mine and walk you through it.
 
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