Hi! We just got our first bearded dragon, a 7 week old baby. After TONS of research this is what we ended up with for our tank set up (20 gal until he's bigger, then a 55 gal long). Any suggestions would be wonderful! We just want little Nalak to have a home that makes him happiest! Thank you, Nalak and Amelia
Think about getting a tank that is at least 18-20" wide. A breeder tank is a minimum size for a beardie.
Here is a list of common things people ask about here...
-Lighting: Reptisun 10.0 or Acadia 12% linear tube lights are the safest choice. Or a good Mercury vapor bulb. Coil and compact UVB bulbs are known to cause health problems for bearded dragons. Same goes with other brands of linear tubes.
-No night lights, use a ceramic heater instead. If you can afford it, a light timer and a thermostat take alot of worry out of lighting. If temps don't drop below 70 in your house, no night heat is needed.
-Lots of room to roam around. 40 gal breeder tank minimum for an adult. Beardies grow super FAST! 1-2" per month in some cases!
-Feed 2-3 times a day. At 2-3 months old they should be eating 10-30 crickets per feeding. 30-90 a day! (THIS IS FOR YOUNG DRAGONS, Older dragons eat less protein and more veg.) feeders should be appropriately sized. Nothing bigger than the space between their eyes.
-Dust crickets with calcium (5 feedings per week) and/or multivitamin (2 feedings per week). Phoenix worms are worth a try. High in calcium (no dusting)! Dubia roaches too! Also look in to hornworms and silkworms. Great for adult beardies.
-Good greens: collard, mustard, dandelion. Squash is great too! Offer greens daily, even if they don't eat them, they need to learn. I have to mix in some arugula or cilantro to get ours to get the greens.
-75-80 degrees on the cool side of the viv. A larger enclosure will provide your beardie a much better temperature gradient, from cool side to hot side. They can pick where they are comfortable that way.
-Basking surface temp of 102-105 should be good.
-Bath water up to about her shoulders, and warm, about 90-100 degrees. Beardies seem to like to poo in water, and should be pooping once a day.
Oh my god. Silly me, the image didn't link. :roll: This is his twenty gallon right now (The meal worms were just until our phoenix worms came in). We have a reptisun 10.0 and a heat lamp on a dimmer. His basking spot stays around 100, although he has recently been sitting in his water bowl so we dimmed it a bit and he's happier. I guess I'm mostly looking for any creative/fun ideas I could do to spruce up the tank and make it more fun for him!
Thanks!
Amelia and Nalak