Basic Bearded Dragon Care

By Kathryn Tosney

Infant dragons demand much more care than adults. They need lots of food to fuel their astronomical growth rate. They average 3 1/4 inches long (snout to tail tip) at hatching, and nearly double in length (and more than double in bulk) by the end of their second month.

Most deaths happen during the first month; older dragons are more robust and hardier. Juveniles grow rapidly, attaining adult length (14-24 inches, including tail) within a year. A dragon will often be around ten inches long at 5 months. At 6-9 months, they often stop or slow their eating for awhile (resting from their growth spurt?) and I suggest you check for parasites then to assure all is well.

Dragons are usually initially free of parasites, being captive bred, but they can ingest parasites from crickets or greens. Take a stool sample from your creature to a reptile vet (and the first time you see your vet, take your animal as well for a well-dragon check; vets cannot prescribe medications without having seen the patient). Make sure your vet is actually familiar with reptiles; many aren't. If yours isn't, ask for a referral. Or check Herp Vet Connection or the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Vets for a recommended vet near you.

Do a fecal check if the lizard stops eating, slows its growth significantly, appears stressed and hides, has runny stools or just doesn't look its usual active self for several days, unless it is molting. Adult dragons often appear lethargic (depressed?) when shedding, but juvenile appetites are sometimes not slowed even by skin loss. The skin comes off in large patches. Don't help them to pull it off--you can damage the new skin underneath. Letting them soak in shallow warm (98 deg. F) water or misting them helps shedding. Letting dragons bathe periodically is good for their health. It can stimulate defecation, which is useful if you suspect impaction, or even if you simply want them to produce, before sitting on your lap.

Dragons are omnivores, requiring both insect and vegetable food, in about one-to-one proportions (below). Between three and six weeks, feed your dragon small crickets 2-5 times a day, greens and veggies in the morning, and water them once or twice.

Youngsters also love to chase, capture and eat fruit flies, which probably give them more exercise than sustenance. (You can acquire a fruit fly colony and food from Carolina Biological Supply, 1-800-334-5551. Or you can simply leave out a ripe banana and attract your own.) As their size increases, baby dragons can take more and larger food items and more vegetable manner. Increase the variety in each category. After two months, care becomes less demanding and they can be fed insects once or twice a day, feeding them all they will eat at a time. Greens and veggies offered in the morning can be increased. Babies will eat more greens than veggies. Adults can be fed insects every other day, with daily greens and veggies. Some stop eating for periods, without ill effects.

For growing dragons, it is critical to avoid feeding insects that are too large. Crickets should be no longer than the distance between your dragon's eyes. Feed babies "2-week old" (1/4 inch) crickets; feed juveniles 1/2 inch crickets. Unfortunately, babies will swallow larger items, but such items can lead to terminal indigestion... literally terminal. They can die, often extending their hind limbs straight back as though paralyzed or in excruciating pain. Note that basking or sleeping dragons often extend their hind limbs; don't panic and confuse this posture with the indigestion-induced paralysis, in which the legs remain extended and are unable to move. If your beardie can move its legs normally, it is OK. Dragons may sleep in all sorts of weird postures; do not be alarmed. Most grow out of sleeping in the most extreme back-wrenching postures.

Bearded dragons live in arid, rocky, semi-desert regions and arid open woodlands where they get most of their water from what they eat. In captivity, adults do not require water dishes in their cages. However, babies (who I speculate may hatch as the rainy season arrives) require water, generally given twice a day as simulated "dew" from water sprayed directly in their faces or deposited on their noses with a medicine dropper. They lap the water from their faces, the wet glass or occasionally from each other. Some learn to drink from a syringe, or from a shallow bottle cap filled with water. (Change such water and wash the container daily; bacteria grows quickly in such fluid.) A few learn to drink from a hamster bottle. To train yours to do so, Rod Mitchell suggests putting an ice cube on top of the bottle; it slowly melts, drips off the nipple, and helps the beardie learn that it is a source of water.

Dragons tend to be robust and healthy, but they are living animals, and thus can develop illnesses. Many can be minimized by proper husbandry. For instance, metabolic bone disease is preventable by a proper diet, lighting and calcium supplementation, as detailed below. Dragons may pick up parasites such as coccidia or various worms, which are treatable with a vet visit. Two relatively new and serious diseases that are communicable among dragons are  yellow fungus and adenovirus.   There are  indicators that can help you to determine if your dragon is sick. Although dragons have much less difficulty laying eggs than some other lizard species, such as iguanas, sometimes the become egg-bound and need to be spayed.