hello, I wanna get a bearded dragon and i have some questions about them.
1) how hard/easy are they to take care of? (Time wise, feeding wise, just making sure they are comfortable)
2) how big/small of a tank can i have and what should go in it? (Decor, necesities, lighting)
3) is there any type of flooring i can buy that can just be washed down not replaced?
4) i have 2 heating rocks that a friend gave me, would they be useful for a bearded dragon?
thanks a bunch
Helloo.
1) Well they're actually not too hard to take care of. As long as you have a feeding schedule for them and you know when to feed them, and when to turn their lights on and off, then it's not that bad. They don't really require too much time from your day. Just 5 to 10 minutes every time you feed them, because you need to feed them as many crickets as they'll eat in a time span of 5 to 10 minutes. And you need to mist them everyday or every other day. And you can take them out for as long as you want, you don't even need to take them out but i'd suggest that you do, because it helps him get used to you.
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2) Get the biggest size tank you can get, the bigger the better for bearded dragons. The minimum for an adult bearded dragon is a 55 gal tank. If you get a big tank for a baby beardie, then you might have to section off a part of the tank with a tank divider, but that's only if you see that he's having trouble catching crickets or if you notice that he's just overwhelmed by the size of the tank. I'd suggest getting the biggest one now so you don ' t have to upgrade as it grows.
For decorations, you can get fake plants. Real plants can work but you have to make sure that they're not toxic to your beardie and the bad thing about real plants is that they need to be watered and they make the tank humid when they go through photosynthesis. Get some rocks or branches for them to bask on. If you wanna put some rocks or branches from outside just wrap them up in aluminum foil and put them in the oven for a couple hours to get rid of parasites. Also food dishes to put the veggies in, and worms also. Water dishes are most of the time useless because they don't really drink from water dishes. They need heat lamps, most likely 90 watt bulbs, and you have to make sure that the lamp can withstand the wattage because if it can't it will burn and cause a fire. There's not a specific wattage, you just need a bulb that will make their temperature 90 to 100 degrees in the hot side (they need a hot side and a cool side). They also need a UVB bulb, which will provide them with the ultra violet rays the sun would naturally provide them, the best brand would be ReptiSun 10.0. An alternative to them would be a Mercury Vapor Lamp which gives off both UV rays and heat, but they're a bit costy.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
3) For flooring you could put down some slate tile, which is easy to clean due to its smoothness, and helps file their nails.
4) No, heat rocks have been known to burns tummies, so it's not a good idea. And bearded dragons get heat from the temperature surrounding their environment, not temperature from their bellies like leopard geckos and other reptiles.
5) They're not too expensive to keep. Just about 6 bucks a week for crickets and I'm not too sure about lighting bill.
