How To Care For Your Bearded Dragon | RSPCA - RSPCA
Biology
Bearded dragons are named for the spiky folds of skin around the neck which inflate and turn black when they feel excited or threatened. They’re diurnal – meaning they’re active during the day – and get their body heat from the sun, so need access to safe, high temperatures when kept in captivity.
Environment
This robust-looking lizard can grow to around 45cm including their long tail, so they need enough space to roam around. A 120cm long x 60cm high x 60 cm wide vivarium is the minimum size you'll need for one adult dragon.
Good ventilation is essential to reduce the risk of respiratory infections and it should be made from solid material that is easy to clean and holds heat well. The vivarium must be secure to prevent escape and free from hazards that might cause injuries.
Temperature and lighting
Reptiles are ectothermic meaning they use their environment to warm up and cool down. To keep your beardy healthy you need to create a thermogradient in the vivarium: a hotter (38–42°C) bright end, heated with a 60–100 watt light bulb, to a cooler (22–26°C) shaded end. Place a natural stone in the hot end – the ‘basking zone’ – to provide access to the heat, though your beardie’s back should not get closer than 25–30cm from the lamp. The bulb needs to be fitted with a wire mesh guard, to make sure it can't burn the beardie. Make sure you use a thermostat to regulate the temperature, but use an infrared thermometer to record the temperatures at both ends daily as well.
Position the vivarium away from other heat sources (like a radiator or bright window) that could affect the temperature. The temperature should not drop below 20–22°C at night, so you may need to use a ceramic heater (non light-emitting) to maintain the air temperature.
Humidity
Beardies need low humidity to prevent skin or breathing problems. Buy a hygrometer to measure the humidity at the cool end, which should normally be around 30–40 percent. If it’s too high, your vivarium will need more ventilation.
Light
Reptiles use natural daylight to set their day and night patterns. The UVA part of sunlight is essential for their colour vision, and UVB allows the lizard to make essential vitamin D3 in its skin, which is used to store and use essential calcium. UVB does not pass through glass windows so you should place a reptile UVB lamp inside the vivarium.
Create a ‘photogradient’, from light to shade, by positioning your light source close to the basking zone. Fix a high-output 10–12 percent UVB fluorescent tube, up to one half of the vivarium length, into the vivarium roof as far into the hot end as possible. The cool end will then be more shaded, like in the wild. Use a reflector of the correct length to direct the light onto your beardie. Check the UVB output regularly using a UV Index meter, to ensure the UVB gradient ranges from 3.0–5.0 in the basking zone to zero in the shade.
Some morphs of beardies, like albinos, will need lower UVB levels, with a gradient from 0 in the shade to a maximum of 3.0 in their basking zone.
UV lamps must always be guarded to prevent burns, or injuries if the bulb shatters. The UV output will drop over time, so check the light levels regularly, and replace the lamp when the manufacturer recommends. Turn off all lights at night – you can use a simple plug-in timer to set 12 hours on during the day and 12 hours off at night.
Cleaning
It’s important to keep your vivarium clean. Otherwise, it can pose a health risk to your pet and to you: reptiles can carry salmonella, so wash your hands before and after cleaning or handling to reduce the risk of infection.
Animal waste should be spot cleaned as soon as it appears. Clean the vivarium once a month with a reptile-safe disinfectant, then rinse off well.
Diet
Water
Animal waste should be spot cleaned as soon as it appears. Clean the vivarium once a month with a reptile-safe disinfectant, then rinse off well.
Feeding
Bearded dragons are ‘omnivorous’, meaning they eat both live invertebrates (called ‘livefood’) and plants and vegetables (called ‘greens’).
Safe greens include watercress, rocket, chicory, cress and grated butternut squash, as well as wild plants – dandelion, clover and plantain leaves. Research other safe plants and vegetables to provide as much variety of those as possible. Avoid feeding spinach as this prevents calcium absorption, and too much cabbage or kale as these can affect hormone production. Remove uneaten items every day and replace with fresh.
Feed a variety of live invertebrates such as crickets (for example brown house crickets), locusts and ‘calciworms’, no bigger than the size of the dragon’s mouth. Feeder insects should be kept in a large, well-ventilated container. They should be fed safe vegetables and hydrated well for their own welfare and so that the nutrients are passed onto your beardie. Feeder insects should also be ‘gut-loaded’ with vitamins and minerals by offering them an appropriate formulated gut-loading diet 24–48 hours prior to feeding them to your beardie. Remove uneaten livefood from the vivarium as some insects can bite your dragon.
Young dragons need more livefood than adults, so give them about 65 percent livefood, 35 percent greens, increasing the amount of greens as they grow. Baby dragons should be fed twice daily, with the greens chopped up small. Juveniles and adults should be fed once daily. Older bearded dragons (larger than 30cm) need about 40 percent livefood and 60 percent greens. Feed in the morning so that the dragon can digest its food during the day. It’s a good idea to weigh your dragon regularly.
Livefood should be dusted lightly with vitamin and mineral supplement powders before feeding. Vitamins and minerals can be over-provided so always follow the manufacturer’s instructions. For example, with sufficient UV light, you won’t need to provide high dietary D3 levels.
Behaviour
Enrichment
It’s important to provide opportunities for natural behaviour in captivity, called ‘enrichment’. Provide stones and branches for climbing, and a hide at both ends of the vivarium so the bearded dragon can feel secure. In the cool end, a box such as a plastic tub with an entrance cut in the top and filled with a sand/soil mixture provides opportunities for digging.
Substrate
Substrate is the name for the floor covering in your vivarium. It’s important as it provides something for the lizard to grip onto, and can encourage natural behaviours such as digging and stops mess from spreading (though you must still clean up waste as soon as you can).
There are many options of substrates for bearded dragons. With healthy adult dragons, sand substrate or a sand/soil mixture can be used. Always use reptile-safe sand such as clean children’s play sand rather than builders’ sand which has sharp edges. You could also use stone tiles with rough surfaces or pieces of natural slate, with a product like reptile carpet underneath to make cleaning easier. However, these non-loose substrates prevent the dragon performing natural digging behaviours, so if you use slate tiles as the main substrate also provide a digging box, as above.
A product called ‘calci-sand’ is dangerous because with an incorrect environment – such as temperatures too low for good digestive function – it can clog your dragon’s digestive tract and cause a blockage. This condition is called ‘impaction’. Loose substrates with large pieces such as bark and wood chips, crushed walnut or corn cob granules are also unsafe as they can easily cause impaction if eaten.
For permanent housing, we recommend that owners provide a naturalistic environment and also consider a bioactive system. Keepers can research how to do this using expert books on the topic, or specialist keeper member groups online.
Company
Bearded dragons are a territorial species and males lead a solitary life in the wild. Each bearded dragon occupies a range and will chase off visiting males. Females maintain a ‘pecking order’ and if kept in groups in captivity they may fight. Sometimes dragons bite off others’ toes and tails and smaller animals may even be killed, so it’s best to house bearded dragons separately.
Handling
Handling your bearded dragon often makes it easier to check for health issues. Never surprise or grab your lizard as this can cause stress and lead to a struggle. Gently scoop them up with both hands so all four legs are supported. If your dragon backs away from you when you try to pick them up or threatens to bite, it is better to leave them alone and wait for another time.
The lizard shouldn’t be taken from the vivarium for so long that its core temperature drops. Around 10 to 15 minutes at a time is a safe period for this, depending on the air temperature. Keep other pets separate, regardless of how trustworthy they have been before. If contained safely, such as in a secure pen, the bearded dragon can be taken outdoors on bright summer days for some natural UV and enrichment. In this case, ensure that your beardie also has access to shade and supervise them constantly.
Bringing your lizard home
Set up the vivarium and run it for a minimum of a week before introducing your bearded dragon. This will allow time for you to adjust the heating, lighting and humidity before the animal arrives. On the first day, carefully allow the dragon to climb into the vivarium. Leave your beardie with some food and water but with no further interaction until the following day. This will reduce stress and allow the dragon to explore in its own time. It’s best not to start handling unnecessarily for the first week; instead, let your dragon take time to become used to their surroundings.
Health and welfare
Clear, bright eyes are one of the signs of a healthy bearded dragon. A well-fed bearded dragon will have a thick base to its tail and the hips will not be protruding. Healthy dragons become brighter in colour after basking.
Shedding
Bearded dragons shed their skin in large pieces. There is no rule as to how often this will happen but young bearded dragons will shed skin more frequently. When ready to shed, the dragon may look dull as the old skin becomes dry, then the skin should come off easily over a day or so. Don’t pull off old skin if it seems stuck as it can tear the new skin underneath. If patches still remain after a shed, try bathing the dragon in shallow, tepid water for about five minutes to soften it.
Poor shedding on the feet can cut off the blood supply and lead to the loss of toes. However, if your dragon is well hydrated this should not be an issue. Most shedding issues can be corrected by adjusting hydration and humidity. As long as it doesn’t create high humidity throughout the vivarium, lightly spray the digging box to provide an area of humidity. Always ask the advice of a specialist reptile vet if you have any problems.
Brumation
During cooler seasons, it's normal for bearded dragons to slow down, sleep more and eat less. It's a bit like hibernation, but for lizards, it's called brumation. They shouldn't lose weight or stop eating entirely, so keep a close eye on them and get in touch with your vet if they're losing weight.
Diseases and concerns
Look for signs of abnormal droppings, including constipation or diarrhoea coupled with weight loss, which can be due to internal parasites. If you have any concerns, have your vet run a parasite test on a fresh sample of droppings.
Look for signs of abnormal droppings, including constipation or diarrhoea coupled with weight loss, which can be due to internal parasites. If you have any concerns, have your vet run a parasite test on a fresh sample of droppings.
It’s quite common for female dragons to develop eggs even if they’ve never been with a male. This isn’t a problem if she’s offered a digging box in which to lay her eggs but without this she may become ‘egg bound’ – a serious condition. Remove any eggs you find and freeze them before disposal if there’s a possibility they’re fertile. In some cases a female may start laying eggs very frequently. This can place a dangerous load upon her calcium and energy reserves, so she’ll need careful supplement use.
It’s quite common for female dragons to develop eggs even if they’ve never been with a male. This isn’t a problem if she’s offered a digging box in which to lay her eggs but without this she may become ‘egg bound’ – a serious condition. Remove any eggs you find and freeze them before disposal if there’s a possibility they’re fertile. In some cases a female may start laying eggs very frequently. This can place a dangerous load upon her calcium and energy reserves, so she’ll need careful supplement use.
It is essential that you take the time to research further before adopting or buying a reptile. If you do get a bearded dragon, monitor its health and behaviour daily and see your reptile vet if you have any of the above concerns.
Transport
If you need to transport your bearded dragon, for example to the vet, it’s important to do so safely. Choose a suitable sized carrier; young lizards such as hatchlings can be transported in ventilated plastic containers with soft, absorbent paper. Adults can be transported in a well ventilated plastic tub to prevent injury. This should be kept warm; the addition of a heat pack may be necessary but make sure it doesn’t overheat the carrier. Keep transit time to a minimum to reduce stress.
