Great first time reptile (Bearded Dragons)

Member Name: valevenus1

Product:	Bearded Dragons
Date:	11/09/08 (110 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: friendly, easy to care for

Disadvantages: none

Bearded dragons make great first reptile pets for the inexperienced owner. We had our beardie, Barney, for 3 years until we had to make space for our baby new arrival so we gave him to our friend much to our sadness.

We had him from a newborn and as we were inexperienced owners ourselves we did a lot of research on them to make sure we could give him the best possible care.

The beardie needs at least a 4 foot vivarium, most of them are made from wood with a glass front - we made our own. A heat lamp and UV tube, thermometer to regulate the temp. These items are to enable the dragon to digest its food through heat (they originate from Australia so have no problem with heat and being able to digest food) and to absorb the rays from the sun which keep the beardie healthy.
A selection of wood and fake plants should be used to enable the beardie to bask in the light/heat and to also be able to shelter in the shade of the vivaruim if too hot. Our vivarium rarely got above 100 degrees in summer due to temp regulater.

Woodchip is apparently the best base for the vivarium as it doesnt get too hot and the dragon cant get any in its mouth when trying to catch live food.

Water should be available at all times and changed at least once daily and fresh fruit and veg should be changed daily this should be things like tomatoes, cucumber, orange, lettuce. Barney's favourite was watercress and rocket leaves.

Live foods such as meal worms, locusts and crickets should be fed every other day.

Bearded dragons are lovely natured and very rarely bite, they will normally warn you before they bite though so they are ideal. They seem to love being handled and will quite happily sit on your shoulder for a period of time.

They really are great pets.

Summary: Lovely natured, easy to handle and care for