Care Sheet

Inland Bearded Dragon
 
General Information
 
Inland bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) originated from Australia. There are many different types of bearded dragons that are closely related to the Inland Bearded Dragon, such as the Coastal/Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata) , and the Rankins/Lawsons Dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni). The Inland Beardie is probably the most common bearded dragon available, and probably the most popular. The Rankins/Lawsons Dragon is similar to the Inland bearded dragon, but is smaller, has no beard, and a little different pattern. The Coastal/Eastern Bearded Dragon is a little smaller, and much darker in color. There are many phases of the bearded dragon, such as normal (grayish tan), red, orange, gold, yellow, sandfire, sunburst, and much more. Mixes are very common. Inland beardies grow to be about 16-24 inches in length. German Giant phases get a little larger, maybe up to 28 inches.
       

WC Pogona vitticeps                  WC Pogona barbata                     CB Pogona henrylawsoni

Diet
 
Bearded dragons can eat a variety of things. As a staple, I would recommend silkworms, roaches, or crickets (or all three, variety is key!). We offer all three insects to our dragons. The silkworms are considered a little more nutritious than crickets, and they can be ordered online from California Silkworms (on links page), and roaches can be purchased there too.. There are several places to order crickets from, including The Superworm Farm (on links page), the company we use. Other insects that can be provided are: superworms, mealworms, waxworms, hornworms, roaches, and other insects of the sort. We provide all these insects for our dragons to add a little variety into their diet. Mealworms and superworms should be used sparingly because of their high chitin level in their exoskeletons, making them very difficult to digest. Superworms are the most nutritious out of the two, but can be high in fat. Roaches are excellent for feeding, and have low chitin levels. Waxworms should also be used sparingly, only as treats, because they contain high amounts of fat. Hornworms are great, and the dragons seem to love them! They are awesome for getting some stubborn dragons to eat. They can be purchased at Mulberry Farms as well. DO NOT FEED YOUR DRAGONS FIREFLIES/ LIGHTNING BUGS!!! THEY ARE DEADLY TO YOUR DRAGON! Along with these live prey items, it is a MUST to provide a well balanced salad as well. There is a large variety of fruits and vegetables that you can provide, including watercress, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, yellow squash, snow peas, raspberries, apples, bananas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, and in small quantities you can use Romaine lettuce, and Boston lettuce. Try to avoid spinach and kale, because they contain oxalates which bind the calcium your dragon intakes, although the salads can be supplemented with these two greens. You can also go gather dandelion greens and flowers out of your yard if you are sure there were no pesticides sprayed there, and wash them thoroughly and then you can give those to your dragons as well. Some other flowers and leaves that can be given to your dragon are Hibiscus leaves and flowers...they seem to like the color! Supplement their food with Calcium and D3 supplements every day, and vitamins and minerals every week. For calcium and D3, I would recommend ReptiCal. Vitamins should be HerptiVite, and Minerall is a good calcium and mineral supplement. Hatchlings should be fed twice or more a day, as many bugs as they can eat in 5 minutes. Sub adults can be fed once a day and adults can be fed once every other day, but a salad every day.

Ralph gaurding his salad.                                                Hissing cockroaches are a tasty treat.

Housing/Cage Accessories
 
Bearded dragons require large cages to be happy and healthy. A hatchling dragon would need at minimum a 10 gallon aquarium, and that would only be temporary housing only for the 1st few months. Remember: the larger cage the better. An adult bearded dragon should have a minimum tank size of a 55 gallon. Again, the bigger the cage the better it is for your dragon. You can build your own cage sometimes, because glass tanks that are sold at the pet store can be a pretty penny. A good cage size would be a 2 ft wide by 4 ft long by 2 ft high, and can be made of wood, Plexiglas, screen, melamine, glass, and/or any other thing you can think of, just be creative. For cage accessories, you can buy things from the pet store and decorate it that way, and you can bring sticks and driftwood from outside. If you do this, you should shave the bark off the stick (if there is any) and then soak the stick in bleach-water overnight. This gets rid of any fungus, mites, or bacteria that were on the stick. You can also pick a variety of edible non-toxic plants that look good inside the cage. If you buy it from a nursery, wash the plant and then replant it inside a new pot with new soil, with no pesticides or fertilizer. Dragons like to climb, so try to make an assortment of things for them to explore and climb on in the cage. On the cool side of the cage, give them a hide out place, where they can go to escape the heat.

One of our handbuilt cages.                                              We build stands to utilize space.

Substrate
 
There are many different choices of substrate that you can choice from. The two substrates I personally favor are wheat bran and washed playsand. There are pros and cons of each, but there will never be a perfect substrate, that’s one of the biggest discussions with the bearded dragon industry. Playsand is nice and heavy to way down the cage accessories, whereas bran is a little light and cant really way down the accessories, making them move around a lot more. The problem is, when playsand is ingested, it may cause impaction, but if your safe and don’t feed your dragon in the cage it will minimize the problem. We do not house our babies or juveniles on sand, ONLY adults. Bran gets really dusty, and sometimes molds when wet. My dragons really like the bran, because they can burrow in it and when they jump off the accessories, they have a soft landing. Bran is also totally digestible, so if they ingest any while hunting food, it is okay. A few things that you should AVOID as substrates are Repti-sand, Calci-sand, crushed walnuts Eco-Earth, Lizard Litter, Repti-Bark, and substrates like these. These have a high chance of impaction, and can also cut up your dragons insides. We personally have had experiences of dragons dying from impaction when we first got our dragons and were neophytes on their care. Other great choices for adults, and definitely babies, are non-adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, newspaper, and cage carpet. In our opinion, the ultimate substrate is shelf liner and paper towels. Both are easy to clean, with no risk of impaction, and they look great. Dragons love them too! We use both for some of our dragons, and all of our babies!

Heating/Lighting
 
Bearded dragons need higher temperatures than most other lizards. Their basking temperature should be around 105 degrees F for adults and sub adults and around 110-115 degrees F for hatchlings. The middle of the cage should be around 85 degrees F and the cool site should be around 75 degrees. For heat, you will need to have a basking spot lamp, 60 watts is usually pretty good. If you need to up the temperatures, just up the wattage. You can also use a heating pad if you want to heat up the bottom of the cage. NEVER...I repeat...NEVER use a heat rock!!!! They can cause thermal burns on the dragons stomach, for dragons can’t feel heat from their stomach. Make sure that you let your dragons have at least 2 hours after feeding to bask before the lights go out so they can digest their food. Along with a basking lamp, you will need a UVB fluorescent light. They need UVB to help absorb calcium in their diet.  A good choice for these bulbs is the Reptisun 5.0. Make sure you change these bulbs every 6 months for maximum UVB exposure. Another option for UVB is the Mercury Vapor Bulbs. There is not a fully developed one out there so far as I know, they still have many flaws, but they do output a lot more UVB waves. You can bring your dragon outside to absorb natural UVB light, but make sure you keep a close eye on him, and never bring him outside in a glass tank, for they can die very fast from overheating in glass tanks. If your house goes below 60 degrees F at night, I would recommend getting a red night bulb, otherwise don’t worry about it.  Mercury Vapor Bulbs are also a choice, and they are great! They are still being worked on by the light manufacturers and should be ideal soon. They can act as both a basking and a UVB source, and give off more UVB than fluorescent bulbs as well. We have used Zoo-Med Powersun MVB.  For other basking bulbs, you can use household bulbs, just make sure they make the basking temperatures correct.

                                                           The UVB brand we choose to use.

Sexing
 
Sexing very young bearded dragons in somewhat difficult, but determining sex in juveniles over the age of three months is relatively easy. By holding the dragon in the palm of your hand with its tail facing you, carefully fold the tail up over the back and examine the area just above the ventral opening.   In males, hemipenal bulges can be seen on each side of the tail. The hemipenes will also cause and indentation in the center of the tail between the two hemipenes.  On females, the hemipenal bulges are absent, thus causing the area above the vent to protrude slightly.

 
Male  (two hemipenal bulges on sides)         Female (one hemipenal bulge in middle)

Water
 
They don’t really need a water dish in the cage, because bearded dragons tend not to drink standing water. There are exceptions, however, so you can go ahead and try. If you want to get a flowing waterfall from the pet store, but those tend to be expensive. What you can do is about twice a day mist them with a spray bottle. You can drip water on their heads and usually they will lap it up. Baths also work, as they love to swim and drink from the water. Some dragons enjoy being run under a faucet!

They love to swim                           Dripping water from the faucet         Some enjoy showers.   
around in the tub.                             can urge them to drink .

Handling

One of the attributes which makes bearded dragons such an appealing pet lizard is that with minimal training, they will sit calmly for moderate periods in your hand or on your shoulder. Most adults will tolerate and even seem to enjoy being gently petted on the back or under the chin. Care must be taken with hatchlings though. They are fragile and frequently skittish. Care must be taken to avoid dropping them, as they back-up while you hold them.  Handling should be minimal for the first two months, with gradual increases in holding (just supporting them in your hand) for the next two months. By six months they are hardy, and by one year are mature adults. If purchasing a bearded dragon for a child, an adult should always supervise handling of juvenile dragons (less than 6 months). If the child is young or tends to be very rough, an adult may always need to be around when the dragon is handled, primarily for the safety of the dragon.
 

                              They love to just lay down on you and relax.

Behaviors
 

Beard display: Defensive behavior

Arm waving: Submissive behavior, often done by young dragons. Mature females normally perform this behavior towards males during breeding season.

Head Bobbing: Dominant behavior in males. (Rapid up and down head movement)

Bowing: Submissive behavior normally performed by females. (Appear like slow push ups). Mature females also do this towards males during breeding season.

Gaping: A form of thermo-regulation when basking under a heat source. Performed as a means to cool down.

Here is an example of a submissive behavior: waving