My girlfriend, Caranoles, is considering getting a beardie. What type of enclosure would a beardie take, as far as structure, decoration, size, etc.?
Well, it depends on the size of the beardy... Have a look at a this post and it'll give you some idea of enclosure size. As for decoration, lighting, heating, etc. The bigger the tank, the bigger bulbs you'll need to make sure you've got enough heat & light everywhere. But basically, if you throw down some reptile carpet, and some logs, rocks, caves, etc. to bask on under the heat lamp (and possibly sleep under at night), that should be good for a basic setup. Don't use calci-sand for any age dragon. If you go with sand, just get the washed playsand from Home Depot, but don't put a dragon under about 12 months of age or under 16" or so in length on sand. All ours are on reptile carpet, and the adults just get a sand pit - basically a low-height rubbermaid tub with no lid filled with sand Beardies will need UVB lighting too. You can either go with separate flourescent UVB strips and heat bulbs for that, or in a large enclosure you can go for one of the Active UVHeat bulbs. That's what we use, the Active UVHeat. Since our dragons have been under them, they've been very healthy, eating like horses, and always displaying great colours! (they're like anoles, they'll change their colour depending upon their mood, and to help them thermoregulate). If you have any more questions, feel free to ask
