DRAGON CARE 101

An always evolving and expanding list to help you get started with your bearded dragon. Still needing to add photos and even proof it, but it’s a good start for you. Also check out our saved links and videos on our Instagram page here. Hope this helps and long live your dragons!

1. Housing

   1. Tank

   2. Lighting

   3. Substrate

   4. Decor

2. Food

   1. Plant matter

   2. bugs and where to buy

   3. food storage

3. Supplements

   1. Which ones to have on hand

   2. uses

• Housing

  1. THE TANK

• Ideal size 4x2ft and 18inches high (this can be smaller especially if you plan to bring them out a lot and help stretch their feet out

• Front opening (you will handle your dragon so much more with a front-opening tank)

• PVC material is fantastic at maintaining temps (glass setups are very difficult at maintaining temps)

PLACES TO BUY A TANK

• Dubia

• Zen Habitats

• Build yourself (update: you want a T5 Bulb for UVB and not a T8 Arcadia is also a great brand)

2. LIGHTING

• You really need a heat source to get a hot side of 90 degrees ambient temp and a cool side in the 80s. And then you need a basking area in the 110-degree range.

• UVB light is the other essential lighting source that is needed, helps with appetite, growth, bone development, and over all health. You want one that is about 1/2 - 2/3rds the size of the enclosure.

• Great to have a temp gun to help you make sure your basking area is the right temp. Typically is your dragon is always basking it’s too cool, and if they never bask it’s too hot or they are stressed/scared.

• You do NOT need ceramic heating or a heat matt EVER. At night the temps need to drop to help slow their metabolisms down, they are safe to even 55 degrees. Let their temps drop and then warm them back up with the heat bulbs the next morning.

  PLACES TO BUY LIGHTING

  HEAT BULBS

• We use these for our enclosure that are PVC and retain heat really well usually a 25 or 30W in the summer and maybe a 50W in the winter, just always check temps for a whole day before putting a dragon inside

• These are great for glass setups where you need more heat You can also get higher wattage bulbs and a dimmer switch to help fine-tune the temps as well

  UVB BULBS

• For inside mounted bulbs you want to look for the 12% UVB bulb. If you are going through a screen you wanna buy the 14% UVB bulb and always plan to switch them out every year. The UVB output stops working well after that. This is an example of what to buy, I am sure there are cheaper options elsewhere. Arcadia is also a fantastic brand and has the longest working bulbs that we have found.

  TEMPERATURE GAGES

• Temperature gages: Most reptile-specific things are garbage, these work great

• Temp Gun

3. SUBSTRATE

• I have used a lot of different kinds of substrates. My favorite and easiest to keep clean is those rubber mats you see on our Instagram. The main thing you're looking for is what is easiest for you to keep the substrate clean the most. The cleaner the substrate is kept the fewer issues you will encounter with your dragon. We can easily vacuum, and wipe down and it’s extremely hard for bugs to hide.

• If you want to do sand don’t use the course crushed-up shells or haslenut shells stuff. Use children’s play sand with nothing added and only do it for dragons that are 6+ months in age. This is great for them to keep them active, however, it is harder to keep them completely clean from poop particles and every time you bring them out the dragon is dusty. We actually have a separate bin with sand that when they are getting really active place them inside to play, and then give them a bath before putting them back inside their enclosure.

• Paper towels and newspaper are also fantastic, the main downside with this is dragons can hide underneath them if they are scared and won’t bask which if they are a new dragon and baby you want to make sure they are basking in order to get up to temp. Also, the bugs can get out of the dish and hide under the newspaper and paper towels and come out at night and bite the dragon. So make sure to clean out all uneaten bugs before lights out.

• We really can not endorse any other kind of substrate for dragons, there is too many negatives compared to the positives with the above-mentioned. We have used boat carpets which worked well like the newspaper, but you had to take them out and wash them in your washing machine, which, is gross. And bugs could also easily hide.

PLACES TO BUY SUBSTRATE

• Black mat

• Tutorial on how to use it

3. DECORE

• Simple is almost always better. Stick with a few items like a rock or claiming branch. Hammocks are fun but if they poop you need a way to easily remove it and wash it. You can get great rocks and slate for cheap at Home Depot. Also, fake wood items are great and easy to clean. We also love grape wood and it’s easy to clean. Stay away from green decorations for new dragons, after a month or so and they are established they chill way out. Example of tank setup. UPDATE we don’t like the boat carpet compared to the black mat as referenced above.

• You need ways that they can hide and help regulate their body temperature

PLACES TO BUY DECORE

• Home Depot garden area is fantastic for slate and stones

• Reptile expos is an amazing place to find great deals on grape wood otherwise pet shops and Amazon

• If you find wild wood outside make sure to scrub it clean and bake it in the oven. I have heard some bad stories of people losing their dragons to foreign wood.

2. FOOD

PLANT MATTER

• Plant matter is very important for dragons and is the main way they will stay hydrated. When they are babies they should be eating mostly bugs, about 80% and about 20% plant matter. I have seen dragons eat only bugs and do just fine, I have also seen dragons only eat a mixture of plant matter and do just fine. But those are exceptions not the general rule. Every dragon’s diet and needs are different which is why you will find SO MUCH conflicting info when it comes to this topic. I hope to lay out a good general set of rules and then you go with it to provide the best possible care for your dragon.

• Number one thing to keep in mind with your dragon is low and slow feeding. It’s much better for your dragon to grow slow and steady than overfeed and fast. It is not a sign of good health if your dragon hits the 300g weight at 1 year old. It's usually a sign of overfeeding. Dragons are opportunistic eaters which means they will often eat as much as they can because they don’t know when the next meal will be. This is why so many people have difficulty getting their dragons to eat greens is because they are overfeeding them bugs. If you look at dragons in the wild, their tummies are WAY smaller than in captivity. Just like with humans, overeating can result in a lot of life-threatening problems.

• I always look at their tummies, if it lean and thin I can give more bugs then I am on a daily basis, if it’s big plump and round I can ease off until they stabilize.

• FOR BABIES 2-5 months in age, we will wait till the light has been on 4+ hours (letting their bodies get nice and warm (they can’t eat if they are not warm enough), and then offer the greens then. We then offer things like shredded squash, bell peppers, sweet potatoes etc 2x a week. And then an hour after that putting the bugs on top of the greens. You want to make sure the dish is below their basking area so they can see down into the dish and easily jump into it and get the food.

• For subadults 6-12 Months we still will always offer greens daily but just slowly start to reduce the amount of bugs until they reach that 80/20% rule. It start with 80% bugs as babies and slowly becomes 80% plant matter 20% bugs as adults (18months +)

• For fully grown adults 18 months + we give greens daily and squash mixture 2x a week and then only offer bugs about 1x a week, unless they are pregnant then we will up the amount of protein they are getting. Again going by their tummies. Females will naturally be bigger in the tummies especially in the spring due to having eggs.

GREAT FOOD LIST

BUGS

• A variety of bugs is always best for dragons but great staples are dubia roaches and super worms. They have an amazing shelf life and are over all great feeders.

• Dubia roaches are probably the best overall feeder in all respects (besides being a roach).

• Super worms are the next best thing but are higher in fat content so we like to do a 70% roach to 30% super worm diet when possible

• Crickets are great for dragons when they are having a hard time eating because dragons LOVE to see their food move. However, they are the worst to leave in the cage. If it’s night and the dragon is asleep with left over crickets they can eat the dragon, yes, eat them and parts of them. They can also eat parts of the poop and then when eaten the dragon can get parasites. As supervised treats and for dragons having a hard time eating crickets are great!

• BSFL is a great bug nutritionally however most dragons don’t go for them because they just don’t move that much

• Silkworms are also great nutritionally they are just hard to keep in my opinion and hard to find sometimes.

• Horn worms are a great treat about 1x a month.

• Mealworms are a very cheap not super nutrition-dense meal that should only consist of about 10-20% of the bug diet. This is due to the hard shell and especially for babies if they are not getting greens can get impacted and die. If your dragon is eating greens daily mealworms can be a great food option in addition to that.

PLACES TO BUY BUGS

• AA FEEDERS

• Dubia Roach Broker

• Rainbowmeal worms

  Bug Storage

• I will only get into how to store dubia roaches and superworms as they are my favorite feeders for bearded dragons. They also keep the longest and don’t smell as bad (superworms are worse then duaba roaches).

• Get some Tupperware where they can move around freely and cut up some egg cartons. Place the bugs inside and either leave the lif a jar or completely off to help air flow. Keep in a room anywhere from 60-75 degrees and feed carrots and sweet potatoes occasionally, making sure to remove the old un eaten stuff. They can stay like that easily for 1-3 months. Roaches much longer then that.