Bearded Dragon??

Bark. Heat lamp. Water dish. Food dish. 10 gallon tank. Some branch, barky terrain items. Now you can get your Bearded Dragon.

Wife had one for her classroom that lived with us during holidays. Make sure to clean his poop everyday, twice if possible. Doesn’t smell good after baking under the heat lamp allllll day

They're cool lizards, but not the easiest. During their juvenile months they'll eat 30-70 crickets (or other feeder insects) a day. And it all comes out the other end.

Personally, I'd skip the "starter" cage and go straight to at least a 40 gallon "breeder" tank, or something equivalent. That's the smallest you should use for an adult.

Most people will recommend not using loose substrate. I'll let you decide on that. You absolutely HAVE to use a light with UVB. Depending on the type you get, the bulb will cost anywhere from $20-$60 and need to be replaced from once to twice a year - not because it goes out, but because they gradually produce less uvb. I personally would use a Mercury vapor bulb. They're more expensive, but provide the heat along with UVB, and they only need to be replaced once a year, usually. If you use one of the florescent uvb bulbs, you'll also need a heat lamp.

They also need calcium supplements. It's less than $10 and will last a long time. You just dust the insects with it. Bearded dragons will also eat plants/salads, but most don't like it until they're older.

They're great pets, if you're ok with everything above. There's nothing particularly hard about it, but it's not as simple as throwing a lizard in a small fish aquarium with a normal light.

Kids had one for 9 years. Great pet..never went to the vet, never barked and never had to let it outside.

We used the crushed walnut substrate with no problems. Changed it out a few times a year.

I built a custom cage that is actually for sale on Craigslist right now. Search for Reptile Cage Houston Craigslist. Worked great for the beardie.

We have one. He's really cool. He "watches" television with us at night either laying on my chest or my wife's.

However, he has stopped eating over the last 3-4 weeks. He won't touch crickets, meal worms, pellets, fruit, greens, nothing.

Did anyone else have this issue with their lizard? My wife is scared he is going to starve to death.

quote:

---

However, he has stopped eating over the last 3-4 weeks. He won't touch crickets, meal worms, pellets, fruit, greens, nothing.

---

Doesn't sound great. Have his temps changed? Is his enclosure getting too hot with the warmer weather?

We had one for about 7 years. I started with the small aquarium and she quickly out grew it. I don't remember how many gallons but eventually went to one about 3 feet long. She ended up growing to around 9 inches body length and maybe double that with the tail. They are very low maintenance pets. I would take her out and let her run around. They love crickets. I fed her daily, but I could leave for several days and dump 10 crickets in the tank. She'd eat them at her leisure. You need a heat lamp at all times, but other than that not much. I put a terrarium carpet in there and would wash it weekly when I cleaned the terrarium. Pretty cool pet. They can live to 20 years so it could be a long term commitment. And, the males can get considerably larger than the females.

quote:

---

They are very low maintenance pets

---

yeah sure, if you can't smell.

I hate that lizard we have. I was adamant that i wasn't dealing with this pet when my wife got it for my kids. Now my house smells like a dead animal all the time. She cleans it probably every 2-3 days, but that lizard is disgusting and gets his own shite on himself, so if you don't bathe the lizard regularly too, it still stinks when the aquarium is clean.

Mine quit eating because he had a growth in his mouth. You could see something was wrong when you looked in its mouth.

Might try a warm bath to get them to poop, maybe it has a blockage.

He did not survive. Vet started throwing out numbers for blood work, surgery and recovery.