Bearded Dragon Viv Size
- Thread starter herpman97
- Start date
Tony C
Wayward Frogger
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- Columbia, SC
A 40 Gallon Breeder is the minimum recommended size for a single Beardie. They are very expensive to feed, expect to go through 800-1000 crickets per dragon per week for the first 6-9 months of their life, after that they start eating more greens than bugs. They need a basking spot of about 110-115 degrees during the day, with ambient temps in the rest of the cage in the low to mid 80s, and a minimum night temp of about 65 degrees. They also need UV light, which must be replaced every six months for fluorescents, or yearly for mercury vapor bulbs. I would not rely on the pelleted diets to raise healthy dragons. I do use Nature Zone's Dragon bites in the green mix for mine, but live bugs and fresh greens are a necessity.
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- 15,300
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- Somerville, MA
The smallest size viv for a single adult beardie would be a 40 gallon: 36"x18"x18". I have heard (I have only 1 beardie) that keeping them together is not a great idea because of breeding and fighting. The most expensive lighting part is changing the florescent every 6 months. I provide the florescent and a basking bulb. Mine does fine with that and no extra heat. I feed mine about 2 dozen crickets three times a week and veggies the rest of the time. I highly recommend you go to beardeddragons.org and read their care sheet and/or get a book.
Aliza
Aliza
Angel
New Member
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- surrey bc canada
www.beardeddragonforums.com thats a good site that deals with just beardys and they can teach you and explain everything there. I have beardys still and have for years they are alot of work to get everything set up temps, food ect but once you get the diet needs down and stuff they are very easy to care for. I would try to stay away from the young juvys if this is your 1st look for a 1year old or so the babys are alot more work and alot more fragile than if they are slightly older , and stay away from petstore dragons most of them arent cared for properly and are sick and I have seen too many people get heartbroken when they find there little one dead a week down the road.
Its a great lizard to start out with and they hve a ton of personality best of luck =)
Its a great lizard to start out with and they hve a ton of personality best of luck =)
darkridder
Melissa the Scientist
- Messages
- 733
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- Toledo oh
Basically a beardie 18" and smaller needs a 40 breeder to itself, a beardie 19"+ will require a 75 gallon aquarium. My big gal is 22" and a 75 gallon still looks kinda small for her. And reptiles are not social by nature, you dont often see them hanging out with one another. Beardies get together for breeding then go their seperate ways. We being social creatures feel our pets need to have friends, this is totally untrue. Male/female is really stressful on the female, she can be bred at far to young of an age as males mature faster, not gain enough weight inbetween clutches, and have a clcium crash from not given proper time to take a break inbetween seasons as the male will attempt to breed al year round. Male/male simply wont work and they will fight. Female/female occassionally works, but often there is still some stress there as one will decide it is queen of the tank. If you feel your beardie needs a pet, go with 2 females and realize you will want to get a 100 gallon long tank so each female can have her own area.
Beardies are very expensive. For instance babies require 50+ crickets a day, not beardie food, but crickets, plus some greens. Yong beardies eat about 75% insects and 25% greens, adults eat 75% greens and 25% insects. And the cricket intake doesnt decrease until about 5 months in age, then 36 crickets a day is needed until around 8 months of age then it is 24 crickets a day. By 10 months in ate 12 crickets a day, then finally at 14 months of age 6-8 crickets a day is all they need. Normally you dont see a big increase in eating veggies until around month 5-6, which is when they slow down in crickets.
Other feeders can be used, other best alternitive is feeder roaches, which are easier to keep them crickets and less smelly. But most people refuse to keep these so crickets are the way to go. Once the beardie is 14" it can start taking super worms, but realize its maint protein intake should b crickets or roaches. Other foods you can offer are silkworms and hornworms, but again they shouldnt be main diets of growing beardies, but adult beardies can be fed a diet alone of supers AND silkies. Supers although not as high in chiton as mealworms (chiton is a very hard to digest protein, can lead to impactions, any insect with an exoskeleton contains chiton in it), it is not as well balanced as a cricket, therefore you need to balance the diet with either crickets, roaches or silkies.
And aside from food, setting up a single baby or juvie from scratch can cost about $150-$200 depending on your area. Then coupled with the constant need for insects, this is a very expensive pet. Fun pet, I love my gal dearly, and I have loved all of my beardies, but they are alot of daily work, and cost alot to maintain.
Beardies are very expensive. For instance babies require 50+ crickets a day, not beardie food, but crickets, plus some greens. Yong beardies eat about 75% insects and 25% greens, adults eat 75% greens and 25% insects. And the cricket intake doesnt decrease until about 5 months in age, then 36 crickets a day is needed until around 8 months of age then it is 24 crickets a day. By 10 months in ate 12 crickets a day, then finally at 14 months of age 6-8 crickets a day is all they need. Normally you dont see a big increase in eating veggies until around month 5-6, which is when they slow down in crickets.
Other feeders can be used, other best alternitive is feeder roaches, which are easier to keep them crickets and less smelly. But most people refuse to keep these so crickets are the way to go. Once the beardie is 14" it can start taking super worms, but realize its maint protein intake should b crickets or roaches. Other foods you can offer are silkworms and hornworms, but again they shouldnt be main diets of growing beardies, but adult beardies can be fed a diet alone of supers AND silkies. Supers although not as high in chiton as mealworms (chiton is a very hard to digest protein, can lead to impactions, any insect with an exoskeleton contains chiton in it), it is not as well balanced as a cricket, therefore you need to balance the diet with either crickets, roaches or silkies.
And aside from food, setting up a single baby or juvie from scratch can cost about $150-$200 depending on your area. Then coupled with the constant need for insects, this is a very expensive pet. Fun pet, I love my gal dearly, and I have loved all of my beardies, but they are alot of daily work, and cost alot to maintain.
- Messages
- 15,300
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- Somerville, MA
That's why I only have 1 beardie.
Aliza
Aliza
darkridder
Melissa the Scientist
- Messages
- 733
- Location
- Toledo oh
Well I used to breed and had 7 adults one times (no point in counting babies they have tons!). You live and learn, sometimes you learn the easy way sometimes you learn the hard way, which is why it is great to have places like forums to get advice from epople who have already been through it all.
Once beardies are adults their main diet is veggies. Mine only get crickets/supper worms a couple times a week.
We keep ours in a habitat that is 6 foot long 2 deep and 2 wide. Very large. But once they are grown and you have the proper set up (we paid 700 for ours 6 years ago, heat, lights and all) they only cost about 3 to 5 bucks a week to keep once grown.
We keep ours in a habitat that is 6 foot long 2 deep and 2 wide. Very large. But once they are grown and you have the proper set up (we paid 700 for ours 6 years ago, heat, lights and all) they only cost about 3 to 5 bucks a week to keep once grown.
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