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Honey Badg
I have been wanting a bearded dragon for some time. While doing research, I discovered there are hypomelanistic bearded dragons, and I'll probably get one of those. However, instead of reading a bunch of websites, Id like to know from other owners or experts upfront, how I should prepare for a bearded dragon. How many times a day do they need fed? Is there any difference in care with a male or female? what size tank do I need and what temperature should the heat be on?
Answer
First of all, you need this website: http://www.beardeddragon.org
You will learn everything you need there.
Secondly, DO NOT LISTEN TO ADVICE FROM THE PET STORE!! They don't know squat about caring for exotics, so make sure you know everything you need before you go, and don't let them talk you out of something you know to be true. That's why you need the above website!
Here is a basic list:
20g tank minimum. You'll need at least a 40g breeder when he's grown, so you may want to go ahead and get the bigger one. You can block off part of it if he seems intimidated by the size.
Craigslist is a great place to find cheap tanks.
Solid substrate for the bottom - Repticarpet, paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner, or my favorite, tiles. Tiles are great. You only have to buy them once. They are super easy to clean and disinfect. They come in a lot of colors and styles so you can customize your look. They also help keep beardie's nails filed down. Sand, especially calcium sand, or any other particle substrate poses an impaction risk and should not be used for a dragon under one year old. And then washed childrens playsand is the only safe option.
You can go real cheap here, pennies for paper towels or less than $10 for tiles.
Thermometer - A temp gun or digital indoor/outdoor therm with a probe on a wire. The stick on type are useless, and it's important that you accurately monitor your temps. The probe goes directly on the basking spot, and this temp should be 100-110. The cool side should stay around 80.
Wal Mart sells the Acurite Digital Weather Station for $12. It is an indoor/outdoor therm with the probe and works perfect for this application.
Heat bulb and fixture - Lowes and Wal Mart both have metal dome work light fixtures. These work great. The bulb can be just a regular household bulb. You might need to try different wattages to see which one gives you the temps you need. Usually a 75W or 100W will do.
Bulb <$1, Fixure: $10
UVB bulb and fixture - AVOID THE COMPACT COIL. Linear fluorescents provide the best UVB (besides MVB bulbs, but you can learn about that on bd.org) and REPTISUN 10.0 (not ReptiGLO) is the best fluor bulb on the US market. You can get the fixture at Lowes or Wal Mart for a reasonable price. Make sure the fixture does not have a glass or plastic shield over the light. Glass and plastic both completely filter UVB. The bulbs are way cheaper if you order them online from somewhere like Pet Mountain.
Bulb: $30-$60 depending on which type you get. The fluor needs to be replaced ever 6 months and the MVB just once a year so the yearly costs are about the same.
Fixture: 24" fluor fixture at Wal Mart for $8, or the work light fixture for MVB for $10.
Then you'll want some cage furniture, a basking rock or log, a hide if you like (although a hide isn't really necessary), some fake greenery to make it pretty. You might want to consider something to enclose 3 sides of your tank. Some beardies freak out about all the visibility, but some don't seem to notice. I used fake bamboo blinds to do this and it looked great.
A baby needs to eat 2-3 times a day, as many crickets as he can eat in 10-15 minutes. This can equal 50 or even up to 100 crickets a day. A juvie/sub-adult can eat once a day, as many as he can eat, and an adult needs about 50 crickets a week, so you can feed him every other or every 3 days.
You'll need a plan for your live feeders. Again, way cheaper to buy in bulk online than a few at a time at the pet store (and healthier too, no doubt). A 20 qt or bigger plastic tub does nicely. Cut a hole in the lid and hot glue or duct tape some screen on top for ventilation. You can learn all you need about caring for your crix at bd.org, and you can also learn about other feeders.
A dragon of any age needs a salad of a dark, leafy green (like collards) and some other healthy veggie (like squash) available every day.
Here's a good website to tell you which veggies are good for your dragon:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.coâ¦
Okay, just as important, I will give you a list of things NOT to get, no matter what the pet store tells you!
*calcium sand
*crushed walnut shells
*any substrate that has particles
*stick on thermometers
*crickets bigger than the space between his eyes
*mealworms
*compact coil UVB bulbs
*heat pad
*blue or red night light
First of all, you need this website: http://www.beardeddragon.org
You will learn everything you need there.
Secondly, DO NOT LISTEN TO ADVICE FROM THE PET STORE!! They don't know squat about caring for exotics, so make sure you know everything you need before you go, and don't let them talk you out of something you know to be true. That's why you need the above website!
Here is a basic list:
20g tank minimum. You'll need at least a 40g breeder when he's grown, so you may want to go ahead and get the bigger one. You can block off part of it if he seems intimidated by the size.
Craigslist is a great place to find cheap tanks.
Solid substrate for the bottom - Repticarpet, paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner, or my favorite, tiles. Tiles are great. You only have to buy them once. They are super easy to clean and disinfect. They come in a lot of colors and styles so you can customize your look. They also help keep beardie's nails filed down. Sand, especially calcium sand, or any other particle substrate poses an impaction risk and should not be used for a dragon under one year old. And then washed childrens playsand is the only safe option.
You can go real cheap here, pennies for paper towels or less than $10 for tiles.
Thermometer - A temp gun or digital indoor/outdoor therm with a probe on a wire. The stick on type are useless, and it's important that you accurately monitor your temps. The probe goes directly on the basking spot, and this temp should be 100-110. The cool side should stay around 80.
Wal Mart sells the Acurite Digital Weather Station for $12. It is an indoor/outdoor therm with the probe and works perfect for this application.
Heat bulb and fixture - Lowes and Wal Mart both have metal dome work light fixtures. These work great. The bulb can be just a regular household bulb. You might need to try different wattages to see which one gives you the temps you need. Usually a 75W or 100W will do.
Bulb <$1, Fixure: $10
UVB bulb and fixture - AVOID THE COMPACT COIL. Linear fluorescents provide the best UVB (besides MVB bulbs, but you can learn about that on bd.org) and REPTISUN 10.0 (not ReptiGLO) is the best fluor bulb on the US market. You can get the fixture at Lowes or Wal Mart for a reasonable price. Make sure the fixture does not have a glass or plastic shield over the light. Glass and plastic both completely filter UVB. The bulbs are way cheaper if you order them online from somewhere like Pet Mountain.
Bulb: $30-$60 depending on which type you get. The fluor needs to be replaced ever 6 months and the MVB just once a year so the yearly costs are about the same.
Fixture: 24" fluor fixture at Wal Mart for $8, or the work light fixture for MVB for $10.
Then you'll want some cage furniture, a basking rock or log, a hide if you like (although a hide isn't really necessary), some fake greenery to make it pretty. You might want to consider something to enclose 3 sides of your tank. Some beardies freak out about all the visibility, but some don't seem to notice. I used fake bamboo blinds to do this and it looked great.
A baby needs to eat 2-3 times a day, as many crickets as he can eat in 10-15 minutes. This can equal 50 or even up to 100 crickets a day. A juvie/sub-adult can eat once a day, as many as he can eat, and an adult needs about 50 crickets a week, so you can feed him every other or every 3 days.
You'll need a plan for your live feeders. Again, way cheaper to buy in bulk online than a few at a time at the pet store (and healthier too, no doubt). A 20 qt or bigger plastic tub does nicely. Cut a hole in the lid and hot glue or duct tape some screen on top for ventilation. You can learn all you need about caring for your crix at bd.org, and you can also learn about other feeders.
A dragon of any age needs a salad of a dark, leafy green (like collards) and some other healthy veggie (like squash) available every day.
Here's a good website to tell you which veggies are good for your dragon:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.coâ¦
Okay, just as important, I will give you a list of things NOT to get, no matter what the pet store tells you!
*calcium sand
*crushed walnut shells
*any substrate that has particles
*stick on thermometers
*crickets bigger than the space between his eyes
*mealworms
*compact coil UVB bulbs
*heat pad
*blue or red night light
I'm getting a ball python snake very soon. Are there any helpful sites I should check out?
musicismyh
I'm so excited to get my first snake! However, I want to be completely prepared. The pet store is giving me all the essential things to look after the snake. I just need to know things about handling them, looking after them etc..
Thank you so much!
Answer
I'd recheck your information since pet stores tend to give wrong info sometimes :( But here is a summary I typed up for another beginner:
WHO TO BUY FROM - You should see if you can find a breeder. Most breeders will ship straight to your door, but you can also find one locally by putting an ad on Craigslist or posting on Reptile forums. Breeders can tell you more about the animal, shops usually don't know what they are doing.
THE CAGE - I see a lot of beginners using aquariums, which is a real hassle. Sure, they can look nice but they can be extremely hard to keep your humidity high enough (50-60%) in. I personally recommend using plastic tubs like Sterilite, Rubbermaid, etc for housing snakes. If you have multiple snakes a snake rack would be the best choice. Since this is your first though you can go to Wal-Mart and get one appropriate size tub :) This depends on the size snake, but here is a general rule of thumb:
Hatchling - 6 qt Sterilite (13.5Lx8.25Wx4.75H inches)
Juvenile - 15 qt Sterilite (17Lx11 1/8Wx6.5H inches)
Sub-adult to Adult- 28 qt Sterilite (23Lx16.25Wx6H inches) or 32 qt Sterilite (23 5/8Lx16 3/8Wx6.5H inches)
Adult to Large Adult - 41 qt Sterilite (34 7/8Lx16 5/8Wx6 1/8H inches)
I used Sterilites as examples, you can use other brands as they do usually offer similar sizing. Anyway though, tubs hold the heat and humidity well and usually make the snake feel more secure because they aren't as clear as aquariums. Tubs will need ventilation holes drilled or soldered around the sides, 5-10 holes per side will do. If you want a cage that is more appealing to the eye you should take a look at http://www.animalplastics.com they carry nice cages for good prices. I wouldn't get a cage like this till your animal is an adult though since you don't want it to be stressed in too big of a cage, or to spend a bunch of money on a temporary cage. Aquariums CAN work if you do a few modifications to keep the humidity up, but I always try to warn people it can be difficult to use an aquarium.
HEATING - Please, do not use a heat lamp. They are bad for humidity. So are heat lamps. They completely suck the humidity up. They can also make your animal feel insecure because they feel exposed. Heat lamps are also hard to regulate the temperature with. You should use a UTH (under tank heater) that will fit under 1/3 of the snake's cage.
HUMIDITY - The humidity level will need to be around 50-60% to let your snake shed correctly.
SUBSTRATE - I use paper towel for babies and newspaper for everyone else. Cheap and easy to clean, also no risk of ingestion for the snakes. If you want something more appealing, aspen chips and cypress bedding/mulch are safe but feed the snake on a plate or something in the cage to keep it from ingesting some of the bedding. Do not use Cedar or Pine shavings. Do not use dirt or sand.
WATER - provide fresh drinking water daily.
FEEDING - If you are feeding live, never leave a live rodent in with your snake unattended. Rodents can seriously harm and even kill a snake, so every moment counts. If your snake doesn't eat, don't leave it in over night. Try again later. As for frozen/thawed, just thaw your rodent out and warm it up (with hot water) and offer it to the snake. The rule of thumb for prey size is 1-1.5 times the size of the thickest part of the snake. Hatchlings are usually started on rat pups or mouse hoppers, soon moving up to adult mice. A yearling should be able to handle weaned/small rats while an adult can be fed small-medium-large rats. Babies should be fed every 5-7 days, adults can be slowed down to once every 7-14 days depending on meal size and the individual snake. Feeding inside the cage is easier and better for Ball Pythons as they are shy animals and may not eat in another container. Feeding in the cage does not make them aggressive.
Here is a caresheet I wrote on Balls - http://wallflowerherps.weebly.com/ball-python-caresheet.html
Here is a forum dedicated to Ball Pythons - http://www.ball-pythons.net
Good luck!
I'd recheck your information since pet stores tend to give wrong info sometimes :( But here is a summary I typed up for another beginner:
WHO TO BUY FROM - You should see if you can find a breeder. Most breeders will ship straight to your door, but you can also find one locally by putting an ad on Craigslist or posting on Reptile forums. Breeders can tell you more about the animal, shops usually don't know what they are doing.
THE CAGE - I see a lot of beginners using aquariums, which is a real hassle. Sure, they can look nice but they can be extremely hard to keep your humidity high enough (50-60%) in. I personally recommend using plastic tubs like Sterilite, Rubbermaid, etc for housing snakes. If you have multiple snakes a snake rack would be the best choice. Since this is your first though you can go to Wal-Mart and get one appropriate size tub :) This depends on the size snake, but here is a general rule of thumb:
Hatchling - 6 qt Sterilite (13.5Lx8.25Wx4.75H inches)
Juvenile - 15 qt Sterilite (17Lx11 1/8Wx6.5H inches)
Sub-adult to Adult- 28 qt Sterilite (23Lx16.25Wx6H inches) or 32 qt Sterilite (23 5/8Lx16 3/8Wx6.5H inches)
Adult to Large Adult - 41 qt Sterilite (34 7/8Lx16 5/8Wx6 1/8H inches)
I used Sterilites as examples, you can use other brands as they do usually offer similar sizing. Anyway though, tubs hold the heat and humidity well and usually make the snake feel more secure because they aren't as clear as aquariums. Tubs will need ventilation holes drilled or soldered around the sides, 5-10 holes per side will do. If you want a cage that is more appealing to the eye you should take a look at http://www.animalplastics.com they carry nice cages for good prices. I wouldn't get a cage like this till your animal is an adult though since you don't want it to be stressed in too big of a cage, or to spend a bunch of money on a temporary cage. Aquariums CAN work if you do a few modifications to keep the humidity up, but I always try to warn people it can be difficult to use an aquarium.
HEATING - Please, do not use a heat lamp. They are bad for humidity. So are heat lamps. They completely suck the humidity up. They can also make your animal feel insecure because they feel exposed. Heat lamps are also hard to regulate the temperature with. You should use a UTH (under tank heater) that will fit under 1/3 of the snake's cage.
HUMIDITY - The humidity level will need to be around 50-60% to let your snake shed correctly.
SUBSTRATE - I use paper towel for babies and newspaper for everyone else. Cheap and easy to clean, also no risk of ingestion for the snakes. If you want something more appealing, aspen chips and cypress bedding/mulch are safe but feed the snake on a plate or something in the cage to keep it from ingesting some of the bedding. Do not use Cedar or Pine shavings. Do not use dirt or sand.
WATER - provide fresh drinking water daily.
FEEDING - If you are feeding live, never leave a live rodent in with your snake unattended. Rodents can seriously harm and even kill a snake, so every moment counts. If your snake doesn't eat, don't leave it in over night. Try again later. As for frozen/thawed, just thaw your rodent out and warm it up (with hot water) and offer it to the snake. The rule of thumb for prey size is 1-1.5 times the size of the thickest part of the snake. Hatchlings are usually started on rat pups or mouse hoppers, soon moving up to adult mice. A yearling should be able to handle weaned/small rats while an adult can be fed small-medium-large rats. Babies should be fed every 5-7 days, adults can be slowed down to once every 7-14 days depending on meal size and the individual snake. Feeding inside the cage is easier and better for Ball Pythons as they are shy animals and may not eat in another container. Feeding in the cage does not make them aggressive.
Here is a caresheet I wrote on Balls - http://wallflowerherps.weebly.com/ball-python-caresheet.html
Here is a forum dedicated to Ball Pythons - http://www.ball-pythons.net
Good luck!
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Title Post: How should I prepare for a dragon?
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