How to Properly Take Care of a Baby Bearded Dragon
Disguised dragons are condign more and more popular as pets for reptile lovers effectually the world.
As any pet owner knows, information technology is of import to learn about the animal you're planning on making your pet before bringing them dwelling so that you volition be able to requite them the best care available.
As domesticated reptiles go, baby bearded dragons are certainly not the most difficult animals to care and provide for…but in that location are some primal requirements y'all'll need to take care of if y'all want your pet beardie to stay salubrious.
In this commodity, nosotros will offer you tips, suggestions, and recommendations regarding what to look for when picking your pet, how all-time to set up their new homes, feeding tips, cleaning suggestions, and several other aspects of caring for a infant disguised dragon.
These animals and many others accept a special place in our hearts, so past bringing you the information you demand, we hope to make you lot an excellent caregiver for the bearded dragon that you'll soon (or already) telephone call your ain.
Choosing a Healthy Baby Bearded Dragon
When picking out a babe bearded dragon, at that place are several factors you'll want to consider.
In that location'southward no "all-time" place to get your beardie from. It could be a breeder you found, or a friend that needed to get rid of their lizard.
Yous may be looking in a pet store or some kind of rescue shelter. Your dragon tin come from anywhere, but there's a certain way it should look and human activity.
What to Look For
- Healthy baby bearded dragons will be agile and mobile, moving easily around its enclosure. They will have vivid, clear optics and an energetic disposition.
- They should look alert and attentive to their surroundings – nose and vent area should be clean and articulate.
- If the dragon you've institute has a slightly circular little tummy, it's likely they've been well fed and are already on their way to growing big and good for you.
You also shouldn't pick out the smallest baby bearded dragon of the group. "Runts" are more likely to have been picked on and have problems subsequently in life.
Breeders with good reputations are known to only sell the baby dragons that have demonstrated a good for you appetite and a normal shedding schedule.
These dragons usually do non get put upwardly for sale earlier reaching four weeks of age.
If the breeder you've been talking to has decided to expect to sell until their dragons are a little older, you have no reason to worry.
This tin often exist preferred over selling the dragons when they're younger, as slightly more than mature dragons will come to you stronger, with more than singled-out coloration, and with personalities that they've had a little more than time to develop.
Setting up a Bearded Dragon Habitat
Putting together a proper setup for your bearded dragon is extremely important. Here are some factors that you will demand to take into consideration:
The Tank
Even for the youngest of bearded dragons, the tank you're setting up should exist able to concord at least 20 gallons. But think, if y'all start out with a tank this pocket-size, you volition need to upgrade your setup very chop-chop.
If you've decided yous'd rather build your lizard enclosure, it will need to be at least 48 inches long.
Tanks of this size will, even so, need to be upgraded past the time your dragon reaches 6 months of historic period.
If you would adopt to skip the upgrading pace and spring for an adult-sized enclosure correct from the first, there's no harm in doing and then.
Adult bearded dragons should be housed in 125 gallon tanks (48″ x 24″ x 24″)
When it comes to layout, length is much more of import than width. As a effect, long tank is meliorate than a tall tank!
Substrates
The substrate is the layer of material that will be laid on the floor of your terrarium under everything else in the tank.
Though there are several options out in that location, most experts hold that the safest materials are the substrates like slate tile or simply some paper. Reptile carpets are too widely used, only some claim that they pose a danger as bearded dragon boom can become stuck and rip off.
You can discover reptile carpets or muzzle liners in pet stores or online that are made to simulate the grassy terrain a bearded dragon may take encountered in the wild.
If you practise choose to select a cage liner, be sure to utilize ane with a tight weave to avert snagging your cadger's claws, as there have been incidents of dragons ripping their claws off trying to escape.
The varieties of substrate listed higher up are relatively cheap and like shooting fish in a barrel to clean, making them good choices for new bearded dragon owners.
Substrates to stay abroad from would be anything fabricated upward of many little pieces, such equally sands, pebbles, or gravel.
These substrates carry with them a significant risk of gut impaction, or the ingestion of objects by your bearded dragon that leads to the blockage of their abdominal tract.
If not immediately treated and remedied, these blockages can be fatal.
Since young dragons are eager and less conscientious when eating, substrates made of smaller pieces tin can often come up upward with their food, causing such impaction problems.
Some bearded dragon owners have claimed that calcium based sands like Vita-Sand are a good for you alternative, as this kind of sand will be metabolized if swallowed, allowing it to more easily pass through the dragon's organisation.
There are even so some who worry that the risk is still there, however, and then information technology's up to you as the pet possessor to decide if options like Vita-Sand are safe enough for your dragon.
Lighting and Estrus
Note: In this department we will cover the bones light and heat requirements for your disguised dragon. Since this is a bit of a complicated subject, I recommend that you cheque out our complete bearded dragon lighting guide equally well.
It is necessary for a bearded dragon enclosure to have some source of UV light. With this type of lighting, bearded dragons cannot process calcium, which can lead to significant problems.
I such bulb that comes highly recommended from experienced bearded dragon owners is the Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0 seedling.
It is of import that you recollect to change out your UV bulbs effectually every 6 months to maintain the right levels of UVA/UVB lighting.
These UV levels volition assist your dragon in digesting its food, metabolizing its nutrients, and maintaining a healthy growth charge per unit.
Bearded dragons are like about other reptiles in that they require a designated "basking spot," kept at 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit, within their tank to provide one side of the necessary thermal slope.
The other side of that gradient is their "cool side," kept at effectually 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
About experts recommend heating your tank using a combination of a ceramic oestrus emitter to continue the temperature comfy for your dragon.
The Fluker'south Ceramic Heat Emitter is a great selection choice for the heated side of the tank and should exist placed together on that ane side, leaving the other side of the terrarium without a heating source to keep it cool.
To control the temperature of the ceramic emitter, you may desire to utilise a thermostat, maybe a model similar the BAH-500 or BAH-1000DC.
To keep track of the temperatures in both the warm and cool sides of the tank, a simple thermometer should practise the flim-flam.
Accessories
Giving for new bearded dragon a few fun accessories is a great way to go on them entertained and healthy.
Peculiarly for young lizards, information technology can exist beneficial to requite their tanks elevated spots similar plants or other structures that they can climb on or hide in.
Stone outcrops, Habba Huts, grapevine, and cork rounds have been suggested often as climbing structures by experienced owners of bearded dragons.
Your dragon might savour sheltering in an Exo Terra Cave or fifty-fifty a bootleg cave, provided that y'all've made the shelter nice and sturdy to ensure that information technology won't collapse and injure your dragon.
Infant Disguised Dragon Diet & Hydration
The bearded dragon's environment should typically be kept pretty dry, but practice require some water to bathe in.
Giving them fresh water in a dish three to 4 times per calendar week will give them the perfect source of water to clean themselves with and to blot.
Take care to make certain that the water isn't too deep, though, so that your lizard doesn't run the risk of drowning if they get stuck in the dish.
Some dragons might require an additional misting from fourth dimension to time and y'all may consider misting their tank a couple times per week to ensure that they are kept well hydrated.
Diet Makeup
Knowing how to feed your baby bearded dragon a proper nutrition is i of the most of import pieces of information that you should learn.
A baby bearded dragon's meals should consist of fourscore% insects and twenty% greens and vegetables (this ratio volition flip bomb as they grow older, but don't worry almost that just yet).
Bearded dragons tin receive much moisture and nutrition from eating greens similar dandelion, turnip, mustard, or collard greens, along with several other equally as healthy alternatives.
Avoid feeding your lizard greens such every bit iceberg lettuce, however, because it lacks the nutritional value you're looking for.
Information technology is of import that y'all chop or grate any veggies y'all feed your pet into modest pieces and then that they won't have any trouble chewing or digesting their food.
This is likewise a practiced practice for any fruits you may wish to feed your dragon as an occasional treat (papaya, some varieties of berries, mangoes, or grapes would be best- just not too much at one time).
Best Baby Bearded Dragon Insects
Your baby dragon needs plenty of insects, and then a proper meal schedule might include 2 or three feedings of insects every day.
Only feed your dragon equally many insects every bit they can eat in a 10-15 infinitesimal sitting for each meal, though, and so in that location aren't loose insects crawling around the tank all day.
To become the correct size of insect for your baby bearded dragon, the general dominion is that you'll want insects that are no longer than the distance betwixt your pet's eyes. I
nsects like crickets, mealworms, behemothic mealworms, Phoenix worms, superworms, and wax worms are all pop among almost bearded dragon owners.
Experts list the Dubia roach as the highest quality staple feeder on the marketplace, with approximately v times the nutritional value of crickets.
Which types of insects, veggies, and fruits you end up feeding your lizard will largely depend on what they adopt to eat, and then offer them a wide diverseness at first and pay attention to which foods they seem to like best.
Gut Loading and Dusting Insects
To ensure that your dragon is getting the most beneficial meals, you'll want to gut-load the insects before feeding them to your pet.
To gut load the insects, feed them a healthy variety of fruits and vegetables, possibly some pellet fish food or some of the commercial gut-loading formulas offered at pet stores, before feeding the insects to your bearded dragon.
This will guarantee that your lizard is eating insects total of every nutrient they'll need to grow big and strong.
You lot'll also need to go on up a schedule of dusting the live feeder insects with vitamins and calcium before sure meals.
Here are a few suggestions for supplementing you bearded dragon's diet:
- Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamin
- Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3
- Repashy Superfoods Grub Pie
You should exist dusting insects with calcium on a daily basis and with a multivitamin a few times per week.
To get a good coating of the supplement on your feeder insects, common practice is to drop the insects into a baggie, then sprinkle in the supplement.
Yous'll want to gently merely thoroughly shake the bag until it looks like every insect has at least a partial coating of calcium or multivitamin.
Common Intendance Questions
Here are a few common questions that new owners have most their babe bearded dragons:
What If My Baby Bearded Dragon Doesn't Seem to Be Soaking?
Not a huge problem.
If they're not too corking on hydrating themselves, y'all can do it for them past taking them out for a brief ten-xv minute soak in warm water.
Be certain to clean your easily both before and after coming into contact with your lizard, as our hands tin can laissez passer on germs that can exist unsafe for our pets to bargain with, and vice versa.
During soaks, you'll desire to use distilled or RO water, or tap water that'southward been run through a dechlorinator (similar the one fabricated past ReptiSafe) to make it safe for your bearded dragon.
Can My Bearded Dragon Live With Another Beardie Buddy?
There is some contend in the reptile owners world about whether or not information technology is a good idea to firm two or more dragons together in cohabitation, but the answer isn't all that complicated.
Bearded dragons are solitary in nature.
They are generally pretty territorial creatures who prefer not to socially interact with others unless it is for fighting or mating purposes.
It is a office of their instinctive nature to compete with one another, no thing if they were raised together or are fifty-fifty related.
Neither baby beardies or developed bearded dragons should be housed together if y'all'd like your pets to remain happy and comfortable.
What Do I Need to Know Nigh My Dragon's Shedding?
Many species of reptiles and amphibians take part in some form of shedding process, and bearded dragons are no different.
They shed their quondam skin all at one time to reveal the new one, and since babe dragons are still growing at a rapid pace, they will need to shed their pare more frequently than adults.
Most of the time, dragons should be able to shed without a problem, simply if they are unable to get plenty moisture during shedding time, they may not be able to remove all the old pare.
Information technology'due south a good thought to check your dragon after a shed to make sure it was able to remove all the leftover old pare from its trunk.
Keeping your shelter a lilliputian moister during your dragon'due south early on stages can help ease the shedding process.
Placing a bit of sphagnum moss or Zoo Med Forest Floor Cypress Bedding in your dragon's tank will retain a petty more of the humidity in the tank, which should make shedding fairly smooth and simple.
Should your dragon retain skin even after shedding, placing it in a plastic container (preferably a small one) and lining the container with warm, wet paper towels will help.
Place the top on the container with your dragon inside and leave your pet to sit in the moisture for somewhere around thirty minutes.
The humidity levels in the container will exist elevated enough to loosed the remaining skin, which will let you lot to remove the excess skin with a pair of tweezers.
If the skin has non quite loosened plenty, re-moisture the paper towels with more than warm h2o and put your dragon back into the container for some other 30-minute session.
Do non use hot water, as it can burn and harm your young dragon'southward sensitive skin.
This well-nigh of import affair to remember well-nigh shedding is that you should never pull hanging skin off of your disguised dragon, peculiarly babies.
Refer to our disguised dragon shedding guide if y'all would like a more than in-depth explanation of this topic.
How Should I Go About Cleaning My Dragon'southward Tank?
Whatever food that has gone uneaten and whatsoever carrion that may have accumulated in the tank should be removed at the end of every day with a loving cup or minor shovel.
If your substrate is some kind of tile, launder whatever dirtied tiles with soap and water and rinse them thoroughly.
If you're using a newspaper or paper towel substrate, it should be removed and replaced any fourth dimension it gets soiled.
For reptile carpet substrates, though they are difficult to clean, information technology can nonetheless exist done.
You may still want to proceed an extra rug to switch in for the onetime one, should the old i become particularly dirty.
To make clean stains from the glass of the tank, use a 20% white vinegar to 80% water solution to wipe the stain out.
When cleaning whatever climbing or shelter décor, tank accessories, or bowls that accept been soiled, y'all should remove each piece to clean it.
Use a soapy h2o solution to get rid of whatever germs or leaner, then rinse each object thoroughly before placing them back in the tank.
When engaging in a full tank cleaning, first make certain your pet is in a safe location outside and away from the tank and any fumes your cleaning products might give off. If you've got a spare tank, that volition piece of work perfectly.
If you don't, you can just equally hands identify your cadger into a box lined with damp newspaper towels until their tank is in one case again fix for them.
This kind of heavy, top to bottom cleaning really simply needs to take place nearly one time a month, unless the tank has begun to odor or your dragon has fallen ill and needs a cleaner environs equally it recovers.
Spot cleaning will be your most common chore, just cleaning up little messes as they occur.
Yous may want to keep a roll of newspaper towels and a spray canteen of that vinegar and water solution (maybe add together in a few drops of dish lather) adjacent to the tank for quick fixes to sudden messes and easy admission during daily cleanups.
The most of import cleaning you give your tank is the one before your beardie steps foot in information technology for the first time.
Especially if you're reusing a tank from a previous pet, you'll need to make clean the entire quite closely before setting it upwardly for your new lilliputian cadger.
Decision
We hope now that you've read all well-nigh the proper baby bearded dragon care and which practices are certain to get your pet'due south health and growth off to a corking kickoff, yous feel a little better prepared to take on the challenges and responsibilities of owning one of these lovely little lizards.
You should at present have a practiced idea of what will exist required of you lot when it comes to providing a home where your pet can thrive and flourish, too as a meliorate notion of what to look for in terms of the best habitat features, products, and food varieties to give your pet the optimal tools to go on them fit and active.
Nosotros've provided some of the basics and essentials for you here, but as your dragon advances in age you will demand to go along looking for lizard intendance practices and methods that volition adapt their new size and preferences.
As ever, any health concerns specific to your pet or questions yous might accept about caring for your cadger in particular should be taken up with your veterinary care provider and then that yous might become the most accurate information to help you continue your pet happy and safe.
We wish you well in caring for your baby disguised dragon and we're sure that with the proper methods of intendance your pet will quickly grow strong and happy and volition stick with you for a long fourth dimension to come.
Concluding update on 2022-03-09 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Source: https://www.reptileadvisor.com/baby-bearded-dragon-care/
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