I'm planning on buying a beardie in about a week. I've read a lot of different sites about them. I'm mainly wondering about what I need to buy at first. what size cage, what kind of sand/carpet etc. Any help you can give about that or care or pretty much anything else would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Much!! M
I'm glad you're doing the research on dragons before getting them; buying off an impulse is terrible. http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/GeneralCare.html This is a caresheet from beautifuldragons.com . I hope this aids in your shopping. Good luck with your new dragon. If you can, please post pictures of him.
As far as supplies you will need immediately: -An aquarium...if you start with a hatchling you can use a 20gallon long, but this will only last a few months, dragons grow quickly and by the time they are 1yr old they will be ready for their adult size cage of 65-90gallons(standard aquarium size). -A substrate. Anything nonparticulate is generally good, some choices include paper towels, butcher paper, reptile carpet, linelium, non-adhesive shelf liner, and tile. After trying almost all of thses substrates, i personally find non-adhesive shelf liner easiest and safest to use. Its cheap, pleasing to the eye, and amazinly easy to clean. If you want more info on substrates, just let me know, i have a whole sheet typed up about them all. You can purchase non adhesive shelf liner from walmart of home depot. -Heatsource. A dome lamp (or 2) and regular household bulb will be needed to achieve a basking spot temp of 100-110degrees, and ambient temp in the high 80;s and a cool end temp of 75-80degrees. Its best to buy several bulbs and a couple lamps, because you never know when a bulb will blow or if you will need to add an extra lamp in the winter. Dome lamps can be found cheaply at home depot or walmart, as can lightbulbs. -UVB light. This light is critical for the health of your beardie, you must buy a good quality bulb, and replace it every 6months. The bulbs themselves (typically flourescent tubes) are relatively expensive (20-40$), but thankfully the fixture can be purchased cheaply at, you guessed it, home depot or walmart. For bulbs, avoid any ESU brand, and instead purchase a repti-sun or repti-glo, the 5.0, 8.0 and 10.0 are all excellent bulbs. Your dragon should be able to get within 6-10inches of it. - Thermometer. The type of thermometer you use is very important. Your standard pet store stick on thermometers are often very inacurate. A digital thermometer must be used. You can either use a temp gun (www.tempgun.com) which cost 20-50$ or an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer with a probe, which you can get at walmart for 6$. - Supplements. You will need to get two different supplements. One should be a pure calcium supp such as rep-cal or jurrasi cal, and your dragons insects should be dusted daily with it. The other should be a multivitamin suppement with D3, which should be used 2-3x weekly. - A timer. Although this is not mandatory, it is very usefull. Its very beneficial to your dragon to have a routine, with their lights turning on and off at certain times of the day/night. A cheap (6$) timer from home depot allows you to set the time your dragons lights turn on and off, so you dont have to worry about it. - Cage Decor. This can be as expensive and elaborate or as cheap and simple as you want. You dragon must have a few different spots to bask and hang out at, these spots should be at different levels and temperatures...at least one should be in the basking spot zone of 100-110degrees. You can use commerical reptile decorations, or use do-it-yourself decor such as bricks, slates, cinderblocks, baked/steralized drift wood or stone. Your dragon will also need a water and food dish. - One thing thats important to remember! The feeder insects. baby beardies eat...A LOT...they can consume 50-100 crickets a day, as a result of this its pretty important to keep crickets, or an alternative food source such as silkworms at your house. These insects should be fed a high quality diet so they are giving maximum nutrition to your dragon. The most important things are to do as much research as possible, and to have the enclosure set up and running long bwefore you get the dragon. You must make sure your feeder insects are ready and the cage is maintaining optimum temps. For research check out www.beautifuldragons.com, www.anapsid.org or www.beardiedragon.com Mim
There are tons of great articles in the caresheet section of this forum too- http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index...es-secid-1.html
