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| Bearded DragonEnclosure Selection Health Feeding BreedingEnclosure Size Suitable Materials Substrates Décor Temperatures Hides Lighting Plants Maintenance Enclosure size A single adult bearded dragon can be kept in an enclosure with at least 8 square feet of floor space. A 4 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot enclosure is ideal. While younger dragons can be kept in smaller enclosures, you will eventually need to purchase the larger one so why buy the small one first? This just means you will need to buy two! You can increase the amount of room to roam in my adding levels and places to climb. Your beardie will love climbing on branches and rocks. Material Your enclosure can be of a variety of materials, personally I prefer wood. There is a tendency for temperatures to fluctuate quite quickly in glass tanks as there is such poor insulation. The problem arises not only from heat loss but also from heat gains, so it is preferable not to locate the enclosure in direct sunlight. The other problem with glass is that the dragon may try to get through it, and may end up with abrasions and sores on its snout from rubbing against the glass. Wood can cost a fair bit more but in my opinion is worth it. It looks nicer, and is better for the health of the animals. It should be of laminated chipboard, sealed at all edges to ensure water-tightness and a long life. Substrate Substrate is a topic of much debate. There are a great many possible substrates on the market, however most of them have been generally regarded as unsuitable for use with Bearded Dragons. Sand is a popular choice, as is paper towels, newspaper and tile, while corn cob, bark, and Calci-Sand are deemed too risky. The main risk is impaction, which occurs when your animal ingests the substrate while catching prey, or while licking about looking for calcium. In the wild, beardies and other lizards regulate their calcium intake by licking up and digesting small particles of bone lying on the rocks. In captivity, when they feel the need to take in more calcium they will wander around licking at the substrate looking for these pieces of bone, ingesting large amounts of sand eventually if they cannot get the calcium they require. I keep a light sprinkling of a calcium substance on the surface of the substrate to satisfy their need to do this. Juveniles should be housed on paper towels until they are at least 6 inches long, and should be monitored carefully to make sure they do not ingest too much of it. Pay particular attention when they hunt, as the young can be very clumsy hunters. When deciding on a substrate, bear in mind that they originate from rocky desert, which will include a small amount of sand, rocks, and trees. Décor You can create some quite beautiful vivariums for your beardie, using some clean and dry branches and rocks. With a bit of patience and trial and error a safe, natural environment can be produced. Wood and rocks can, of course, be bought at rather extravagant prices. Depending on where you live this may be your only option but if you are lucky enough to have access to a public forest where you are allowed to remove one or two suitable branches this can be more economic. Various rocks and stones should also be collected and cleaned as described below. If you cannot source natural materials locally then a local aquarium specialist or reptile supplier will have dried and cleaned sections of wood in many interesting shapes which can be cleaned as below and used to furnish the enclosure. Recently there has been a significant rise in the availability of fake rocks and structures that you can purchase and place directly into the vivarium. These can look very realistic and are worth considering, since they are very lightweight compared to their natural counterparts. To clean items for use in a vivarium, use a stiff brush to remove all loose material, and in the case of wood strip it of its bark. Mix up a 5% bleach solution and thoroughly scrub the surface, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Rinse well and allow to dry completely before use. When setting out, make sure branches cannot slip and that rocks and structures cannot topple over. Not all types of rock and wood will be suitable for your dragons. Avoid any sappy woods such as evergreens (conifers etc) and rocks which appear porous. Any rocks which are especially smooth and shiny may contain high amounts of metal minerals so should also be avoided. Temperatures Bearded Dragons are cold blooded, which means they take in the heat they require from the surroundings. They do this using a process known as thermoregulation, and they require a variety of temperatures within their enclosure to allow them to do this. By providing them with a warm end and a cool end, you can allow them to choose what temperature suits them best at any given time and promote good health and comfort. The temperatures should range from about 95-100F (35-37C) at the warm end where the beardie will bask to about 80F (26C) at the cool end. Night time temperatures should not be allowed to drop below 65F. Bearded dragons absorb heat from above, and are unable to detect heat from underneath. Therefore, all heat sources should be from above with the exception of a night time heat mat which will provide only a gentle background heat. With this being said, it is important that SOME heat is available from below to aid digestion, and a rock or branch should be placed under the heat source to allow the lizard to bask. It is worth noting that beardies only sense a general heat, that is they only know an average heat over their whole body. They are unable to detect small areas of localised heat and are susceptible to burns. For this reason I strongly recommend avoiding hot rocks. They are unreliable and in some cases can cause serious burns to your new pet. There is a high instance of faults developing within them, resulting in hot spots in excess of 100F. At night a heat mat should be used on a thermostat to ensure temperatures do not creep too low. There are a few manufacturers of thermostats, and the heat mat manufacturer may recommend the one that works best with their product. To gauge the size of mat needed, aim to cover at the most about 25% of the floor of the vivarium. For glass tanks, the mat should be placed externally with a small amount of ventilation space underneath. This can be achieved using a small piece of cardboard or wood under each corner. Providing air movement reduces the risk of the glass overheating and cracking. If you have a wooden vivarium however the mat will have to be placed on the inside, preferably under the substrate. Care must be taken not to allow the dragons to come directly into contact with the mat, and I personally fix the thermal sensor for the thermostat directly to the surface of the mat to prevent it becoming too hot. Hides Hides are important to allow the beardie somewhere where it will feel secure, and they often choose to sleep inside a hide. If you have sand as a substrate, they will also often choose to bury themselves slightly in it. Hides can be fashioned from anything, such as a broken plant pot, an old margarine tub with a hole cut in one end, or a small structure made from stones. There are also a number of artificial hides available which can look great. As long as there is room inside for a dragon and it is safe and clean the possibilities are endless! Why not make an elevated hide with something from them to climb for access? Lighting Lighting is very important to your new beardie. They require UVB wavelengths to ensure allow them to produce vitamin D3, which in turn allows them to break down calcium. Failure to provide a suitable UVB source will lead to metabolic bone disease which can be fatal if left untreated. A brightly lit vivarum will also encourage a lively and active beardie. It is also imperative that the dragon be able to get to within 8" of the UVB source. Megaray and other combined heat/UVB sources should be used with care. They are only suitable for very large enclosures where they can be positioned the proper distance from the dragons. Using these bulbs in a smaller enclosure where there is insufficient distance will result in blindness, and possibly other medical conditions. They should be properly researched before being used in any enclosure. If in any doubt always contact the manufacturer for advice. Any vivarium with live plants will need at least two full length full spectrum tubes to provide enough light to allow the plants to thrive. Plants You can incorporate live plants into your setup to improve aesthetics, and create a more natural look. You can either use wide and shallow pots with a sandy compost mix, or use a sand/soil substrate and plant them directly into this. The following species of plants are well suited to Bearded Dragon enclosures: Snake Plants (Sanseveria) Pony Tailed Palms (Beaucarnea Recurvata) Philodendron (Zamiaculcas Zamiifolia) Haworthias (Hathworthia) Climbing aloe (Aloe Ciliaris) Caudexed figs (Ficus Petiolaris) Optunia (Consolea Falcate) Vivaria with live plants require suitable lighting. In order for your plants to thrive you will need to install at least two fluorescent strip lights, fitted with full spectrum tubes and running the full length of the tank. Plants will need watered one or two times a week. Maintenance Vivaria need regular cleaning and maintenance to ensure a long and healthy life for your dragons. There are a number of things that should be done routinely, either daily, weekly or monthly. Daily Scoop out any faecal matter lying around the enclosure Change the water in the water dish, clean thoroughly every 2 days Weekly Clean food dishes and hides in a 5% bleach solution Monthly Sift sand substrate, change every 3 months Clean entire cage with a 5-10% bleach solution and rinse thoroughly
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