What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon 20

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

So you’ve decided to become a bearded dragon owner and are working on setting up your habitat and bringing your new pet home. Congratulations! Because they have a lifespan of 10-15 years, bearded dragons make great, long-term pets. Since they are reptiles, bearded dragons do have very specific needs and requirements and you will want to ensure you have those needs in place before adding them to your home. 

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

How do I house my bearded dragon?

Below is what you’ll need to purchase for a home for your bearded dragon. 

Terrarium or Aquarium

What’s the difference between the two? A terrarium is for non-aquatic animals whereas an aquarium is for aquatic animals. A terrarium has small holes located in the corner edges of the glass to allow air to pass through. A terrarium is needed for your bearded dragon.

If you’re getting a baby or juvenile beardie, you’ll want to start with a 40-gallon terrarium at a minimum. You’ll also want a lid that fits that terrarium because beardies like to climb. 

As your bearded dragon grows into adulthood, you’ll want to increase the size of the terrarium to a 4x2x2, which is equivalent to a 120-gallon tank.  

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon to keep their cage clean?

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

How do you keep the cage clean for a bearded dragon?

Looking for a simple way to keep the dirt and odor down? Below is what I recommend adding to your bearded dragon’s home. 

Cage Lining

The more you research, the more you’ll see the term “substrate.” A substrate is a material you use to line the bottom of your terrarium. Examples of safe substrates are Bioactive; 50/50 Mix of Organic topsoil/potting soil and play sand; Non-adhesive Shelf Liner; Non-adhesive Ceramic tile; Non-adhesive Laminate tile; Newspaper. 

You want to stay away from wood shavings of any kind, litter, crushed corn cobs, and any of those gimmick substrates such as reptile carpet and reptisoil, just to name a few.   

Branches

Bearded dragons like to climb in their natural habitats so, ideally, your home habitat should include one or two as well. You want to avoid trees that are toxic for your beardie such as conifers – pine trees, cedar, juniper, cypress, spruce, redwood, etc. 

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

Rocks

Bearded dragons love to bask and pancake. Flat, smooth rocks are a great addition and are needed to allow them to do so. Rocks should be flat with a smooth bottom. The rocks also act as a natural nail filer as their toenails should be trimmed often. 

Pancaking is when a bearded dragon lies flat on the rock.  

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon to light up their area?

How to light the area for your bearded dragon

For the comfort of your bearded dragon, you’ll want to add in light and heat. 

Lighting/Heat Source

Basking lights are essential for bearded dragons as it helps stimulate their appetite, absorb calcium, heat their body and help with vital functions. Most pet stores have reptile basking bulbs and the wattage will vary based on where you live and the temperature in your home.

You can also use an Incandescent Flood Light or Halogen Flood Light, which can be found at most hardware stores. Basking bulbs would be placed inside of a dome fixture. Bearded dragons are native to Australia, which is a dry climate.

Therefore, their home requires high temperatures. Hatchlings and Juveniles (0-9 months) need their basking spot to be 110-115 degrees F. Adults (12+ months) need their basking spot to be 100-110 degrees F. Both juvenile and adults need ambient warm side temperatures of 90-100 degrees F and an ambient cool side temperature of 80-90 degrees F. 

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

UVB Lighting

White lighting is not the only lighting your bearded dragon will need. Because they will be kept in captivity, they will also need UVB lighting if their habitat is kept in a place where they will not have access to true sunlight that is not filtered through glass since window glass does not allow UV rays to penetrate. Incandescent and fluorescent lighting will not help their body to create this much-needed vitamin. 

To help their bodies make Vitamin D, their habitat should have UVB lighting added. This black UVB lighting is not the same that you have in your bedroom. Those do not conduct what your bearded dragon needs. Instead, you will want to use a UVB light that is specifically made for reptiles. 

Another way to help your bearded dragon to get the sunlight they need is to place them outside for a little while in a smooth wire cage with a screen top. The temperature should be above 70°F before you do this. Place the cage in a shady area and give your beardie a place to hide in the cage should they want to. I’d suggest close supervision if you do this though.

How to add shade to the habitat of your bearded dragon

Even though heat is important, they do need a bit of coverage for their bodies! 

Fresh Foliage

While bearded dragons do like sunlight and warmth, they also need plenty of shade and humidity. Fresh foliage added to their habitat can provide that. When choosing plants to put in your bearded dragons’ habitat, you’ll want to be sure they are non-toxic and that no pesticides, fertilizers, or wetting agents have been used on the potting soil or the plant itself. 

Dracaena, Ficus Benjamina, and Hibiscus are great starter options for the plants in your home. If you do plan on adding them, keep them in your home for a couple of weeks and spray the leaves and stems with purified water daily. This will help to remove any toxins.

Foliage not only provides shade and humidity, but it also provides security to your bearded dragon which is very much needed for their comfort. 

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon to fuel their diet? 

 

What to feed a bearded dragon

Make certain that you’re feeding them a diet that is full of nutrients. 

A Proper Diet

Bearded dragons are omnivores who eat both plants and meat. This means that part of your bearded dragon’s diet needs to be fresh greens and the other part should be live insects. Good options for insects are crickets, mealworms, earthworms, super worms, and Dubai cockroaches. Plants such as shredded butternut squash, collard greens, and kale are great options for plant foods. 

Be mindful not to feed them too many beets or spinach as they contain oxalates which can bind the calcium in their body and harm them. Iceberg lettuce should never be fed. 

When feeding, be sure their food is cut into pieces smaller than their mouth so they do no harm. 

What Items Do You Need For Your Bearded Dragon

You do need to provide your beardie with water but do not be alarmed if they appear to not be drinking it. They get the majority of their water needs from humidity and their diet. I also find that if they need water, a bath is super helpful! 

One last must-have item to take care of your bearded dragon is something I created to ensure quality and that every base is covered….the Bearded Dragon Daily Care Journal! This journal is a wonderful place to record everything about your precious beardie in ONE spot! This is great to have handy especially if someone else needs to ever care for your baby! It is also great to show your vet, in case you move, or if you’re like me- you just like to keep track of all the things to do with your animal babies too. Currently, the Bearded Dragon Daily Care Journal is available at a discounted price for a brief time. So snag it cheap while you can! You can get it by clicking BUY BEARDED DRAGON DAILY CARE JOURNAL or click the image below! 

You’re now ready to take care of your bearded dragon in the best possible way! 

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