Author Topic: Bearded dragons as pets  (Read 6817 times)

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Offline Bird

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Bearded dragons as pets
« on: December 16, 2021, 04:36:38 PM »
Anyone got a Bearded Dragon/Dragons as a pet? What are they like?
They sound like interesting animals as pets.

https://www.unusualpetvets.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/bearded-dragon-care-sheet.pdf
https://www.reptiledirect.com/are-bearded-dragons-good-pets/
https://www.amazingamazon.com.au/pages/bearded-dragon-care
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVcXu9rQVYk


Son is thinking of getting into them. Doesn't sound too bad $ wise to setup in a tank... but that'll probably change when you get to the shop....
Maintenance sounds fairly routine, as does diet etc..

Thoughts?
« Last Edit: December 16, 2021, 04:40:33 PM by Bird »
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Offline Pete79

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2021, 08:30:11 PM »
We’ve had beardies for the last 7 years or so.
They’re cool little pets. Not too demanding overall, but do still need some attention.

Get the temps right on their basking spot and a good UV light through the whole tank.
They need a mixed diet with calcium powder sprinkled on bits of salad and fruits everyday, some flowers occasionally.
But the fun bit is giving them live feeds.

The kids and misses love them as pets, the lizards would chill out on the couch with the kids while watching TV.
They have their own little sun baking spots on the lounge room window sill and would just hope between the couch and the window as they please.
The misses eventually convinced me to build an outside run for them, which they love, well one of them loved it. The other one would just climb up a stick and do his best chameleon impersonation the whole day. ;)

Our first ones we got from a rescue place and they were in really bad shape when we got them.
Malnourished, burns all over them from being stuck in a little tank with the heat lamp on the whole time and suffering badly from calcium decency.
One was missing half her tail and the stub that was left eventually rotted and needed to be fully amputated.
It was a real learning process nursing them back to health, but we must have done something right. They were pretty old when we got them and they survived almost another 7 years.
The one with no tail died early in the year and the last one only died a few months ago.

The misses and kids didn’t like the empty tank in the lounge room, so we just picked up our new little lady last week.
She’s settled in really well and already smashing the crickets.

This is Daisy;



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Offline edz

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2021, 09:48:16 PM »
We dont need bearded Dragons as pets, We have about four differing size Water Dragons that call our back yard home, Smallest bloke is about 4" long ..
Got litoraly hundreds of them at my work too ..
Those guys and about 8 or 9 Young Magpies warbling and carrying on each day plus a few Kookaburra's every now and then join in for our daily entertainment ..
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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2021, 08:54:21 AM »
We’ve had beardies for the last 7 years or so.
They’re cool little pets. Not too demanding overall, but do still need some attention.

Get the temps right on their basking spot and a good UV light through the whole tank.
They need a mixed diet with calcium powder sprinkled on bits of salad and fruits everyday, some flowers occasionally.
But the fun bit is giving them live feeds.

The kids and misses love them as pets, the lizards would chill out on the couch with the kids while watching TV.
They have their own little sun baking spots on the lounge room window sill and would just hope between the couch and the window as they please.
The misses eventually convinced me to build an outside run for them, which they love, well one of them loved it. The other one would just climb up a stick and do his best chameleon impersonation the whole day. ;)

Our first ones we got from a rescue place and they were in really bad shape when we got them.
Malnourished, burns all over them from being stuck in a little tank with the heat lamp on the whole time and suffering badly from calcium decency.
One was missing half her tail and the stub that was left eventually rotted and needed to be fully amputated.
It was a real learning process nursing them back to health, but we must have done something right. They were pretty old when we got them and they survived almost another 7 years.
The one with no tail died early in the year and the last one only died a few months ago.

The misses and kids didn’t like the empty tank in the lounge room, so we just picked up our new little lady last week.
She’s settled in really well and already smashing the crickets.

This is Daisy;




Sweet...
So you only have 1 now - reading up they are territorial so pairs are not really good - did you have much issue with it when you had 2?
How big is the habitat you have for em?
Diet + Temp settings seem very critical when reading up on em

lots of questions.. lots of reading so far :)
https://www.everythingreptiles.com/bearded-dragon/
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Offline Pete79

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2021, 10:41:35 AM »
Our tank is 4 foot long, but it’s a snake tank so has plenty of height and depth.
We started with a slightly smaller lizard tank, but didn’t really like it.
The ones they sell for lizards are generally not as tall, but having that extra height in the snake tank let us play around with different logs and branches. Their basking rock needs to be a bit higher, but no big deal.
They seam to like having lots of different levels and being able to regulate their own temperature at different times of the day.

We had 3 dragons to begin with, but one was very sick and didn’t last long at all.
The other 2 were fine most of the time, but it was a boy and a girl, so things got a bit heated in breading season.
In the end I divided the tank in half with steel mesh. That was fine most of the year, but when things heated up I had to put cardboard on the mesh so he couldn’t see her and he would calm down a bit.
That’s really why I built the outside run as well. We alternated one outside and one inside with the whole tank to themselves.
We also bought an old aviary and put it out in the covered patio area, then they could have outside time when the weather was average.

We never really had any major issues with the pair, but you do need to keep an eye on them, things can get ugly if your not careful.

The only reason we had multiple dragons was because they were rescued together.
They don’t really need companionship, as long as you give them some attention they’re fine on their own.

We won’t be getting a second one this time.

Our current setup. The 2 heat lights are from when we had the tank divided, one of these is not really necessary now with only one lizard.


Offline Pete79

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2021, 10:57:25 AM »
We dont need bearded Dragons as pets, We have about four differing size Water Dragons that call our back yard home, Smallest bloke is about 4" long ..
Got litoraly hundreds of them at my work too ..
Those guys and about 8 or 9 Young Magpies warbling and carrying on each day plus a few Kookaburra's every now and then join in for our daily entertainment ..
Same.

This is Dave, I literally just took this photo right now.
He and his siblings hatched under our lychee tree. We saw 3 tiny little hatchlings clinging to the bottom branch of the tree and then noticed a 4th one hatch and push out of the ground. I picked him up and put him on the branch with the rest of his family.
All of the other moved off into the bush, but Dave stayed around the house. He lives in these rocks beside the back steps and suns himself right outside my office door most afternoons.



This is our resident whip snake.
She lives in the veggie garden and has been hanging around for a few years now.
I took this picture earlier this morning.



And this is some members of our family of carpet snakes.
They’ve had at least 4 or 5 sets of babies that we know about.

Mum and Dad are both over 3m long (one skin measured 3.4m), the young ones range in size up to about 1.5m.

This little one was on the veranda the other night.



Had to wake this guy up and move him along so I could do the whipper snipping.




Yep, living in the bush is awesome. :)

Offline 2Strokeit

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2021, 11:21:16 AM »
We use to call them 'johnny roundheads' as kids.
Our resident carpet annoys the kelpie because it refuses to be herded like the birds and insects.
The wife thought it had died taking a drink out of the tank the other day but it moved on after a day and takes up residence in the shed when the storms makes the ground soggy.

Offline Fizzie

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2021, 01:22:54 PM »



Completely OT to lizards, but love the photo, Pete

Your work or commercial ???
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Offline Pete79

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2021, 01:27:02 PM »
Just an online job.

We bought it to go over the 5 foot fish tank that used to be on that wall. Looked awesome with a heap of cichlids cruising around under the sunset. ;)

Offline whitedg

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2021, 01:41:50 PM »
We got ours back in 2017. We got the tank from gumtree and the stand from a pet store. The tank came with the controller for the heat and light.

We got our guy from Camo's Reptiles who is based in Pendle Hill. If you are from Sydney, he is a great resource and very knowledgeable staff. His place is more like a zoo and always interesting to go and have a look. He also sells tanks, food, and everything you need to get setup. Don't forget to get a reptile keepers licence as well.

Couple of tips, get a decent UV light. We get ours from Camo's as we found that the ones in commercial pet stores aren't that great. Make sure to replace it every year.
We also changed from the IR heat lamps to the Ceramic Heat Lamps. We would go through the IR bulbs every couple of months, but the ceramic one has now lasted a couple of years. We set ours to 30deg (on a timer and thermostat) with the UV on a timer for 12 hours a day. We also have a small heat mat for the colder months (set to 25) that comes on when the lamp goes off (if needed).

Feed is crickets, Asian greens (he likes Bok Choy, but not Kale very much), Woodies, Super worms, etc... dusted with calcium powder. We now get the crickets from Bio Supplies (https://biosupplies.net.au/) as they are cheaper than getting them from pet stores all the time. Our guy will smash a whole container from the per store in 1 sitting, so about $6 per feed. We buy the 600 medium pack and have a separate container for them (50w bulb for heat, water, scraps (they love fish food) and egg cartons for shelter).

They are quite the characters, often jumping out of the tank when you open it, especially for food. Our guy hates one of our dogs, and gets all aggressive whenever the dog is near the tank (not that there has been any interaction between the 2, and the other dog is fine, so who knows).



« Last Edit: December 17, 2021, 01:43:36 PM by whitedg »
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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2021, 01:51:35 PM »
Some good info :)
Didnt realise they were this popular..
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Offline Kegs1972

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2022, 09:14:10 AM »
yes! Got my son one when he was 3, he named him Crusty and he lived for about 12 years, what a little character he was.
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Offline nab

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2022, 01:50:23 PM »
Snakes around the house that aren't pets? Get F$^%@&#&@%#ed. That's one reason I like suburbia....

Can handle snakes when camping for some reason, but living around the house has knobs on it haha!!!
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Offline vern

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #13 on: January 05, 2022, 02:06:13 PM »
Snakes around the house that aren't pets? Get F$^%@&#&@%#ed. That's one reason I like suburbia....

Can handle snakes when camping for some reason, but living around the house has knobs on it haha!!!
Haha, we were watching a movie the other night, when a 1.5m python slithered its way out from under the couch

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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2022, 09:44:51 PM »
Got the enclosure... tomorrow for the Dragon...
lookin forward to it.
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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2022, 06:58:59 PM »
Hes home and getting used to his new home... already a character...
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Offline Pete79

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2022, 09:25:39 PM »
Nice.
Leather back/silky?

Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #17 on: January 17, 2022, 09:58:59 PM »
Quote from: Pete79
Nice.
Leather back/silky?

I'll ask son, its his pet
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Offline Fizzie

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2022, 06:58:55 AM »
Decent log you've got there for him.
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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2022, 08:23:42 AM »
Quote from: Fizzie
Decent log you've got there for him.

yea Son bought the "starter kit" that comes with everything you need...
He seems to have taken to son already - cam went to clean out some Shit and the dragon jumped on him and went for walk round happily.
Just finding good 'fresh' veggies is a bit of a challenge round our way.. Woolies was out of cabbage, lettuce (and meat/pasta/bread/dunnyrolls etc) totally - even the prebagged Shit
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Offline plusnq

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2022, 08:34:29 AM »
Cool pet 👍

Offline GGV8Cruza

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #21 on: January 18, 2022, 09:46:38 AM »
yea Son bought the "starter kit" that comes with everything you need...
He seems to have taken to son already - cam went to clean out some Shit and the dragon jumped on him and went for walk round happily.
Just finding good 'fresh' veggies is a bit of a challenge round our way.. Woolies was out of cabbage, lettuce (and meat/pasta/bread/dunnyrolls etc) totally - even the prebagged Shit

Plant some in the backyard, we plant some of the same and feed it to the chickens for a fresh pick

GG

Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2022, 12:59:01 PM »
Hes doing well...
Still not a fan of being picked up, but goes ballistic for his crickets :D
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Offline Kegs1972

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #23 on: February 28, 2022, 10:15:00 AM »
so cute!

ours loved milk thistle and chopped up banana :)
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Offline Bird

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Re: Bearded dragons as pets
« Reply #24 on: November 19, 2022, 03:54:58 PM »
Couldnt resist this little bloke today.... still no name.
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