does anyone else own a bearded dragon??????

Question

MY teenage son has a bearded dragon. she is about 5 years old now. how many of you out there have had one and how long did it live and what health probllems do we need to look out for???????

Answer 1

Dude, my girlfriend has a bearded clam, I think she should shave it. I think its in the same genus?

Answer 2

Watch out for internal parasites, mouth rot , Metabolic Bone Disease and impaction. Those are the most common problems that you might run into with your beardy. I have 12 of them at this time , Fire and Ice Citrus x Georgia Bearded Dragons GA Peach. Beautiful colors of orange and yellow. I have bred bearded dragons for more than 13 years. They can live to be 25 to 30 years of age , ma bye even older when provided the proper care.
Here's a good link for a care sheet :http://www.kingsnake.com/gladescs/bearded/

Answer 3

Yes I do have a bearded dragon and it's name is Cheater. He is 9 years old in July and he is healthy and well! I do have to say that you have to be careful about what you feed it! Once my son feed one of my bearded dragons a piece of gum and the next day it died! That is all I have to say about health concerns. But it also needs a loving family to take care of it and a good and healthy cage that is cleaned weekly.

Answer 4

We have one and we got it when she was 4 months old. During the summer we put her outside (in a big container) for 20 min. because they need the sun rays, that is how they get their vitamins and their color. They live for 7-10 years. Our dragon is 5 yrs now. Feed her in another container, especially if you have sand in your tank, cause they can get impacted, very deadly. Make sure it has a basking light, because their stomachs need to be warm to digest their food. They eat crickets, and romaine lettuce, apples, and carrots, make sure they are sliced because to big of a piece can get lodged in their throats. Make sure there is a cool spot the dragon can go to in case it gets hot. Also make sure they have climbing rocks, and something to hide under. More information and setting up a cage etc... can be found http://www.bearded-dragons.com/tips/

Answer 5

My brother had two bearded dragons.
With proper car bearded dragons can live up to 10 years

Below is a care sheet.


Make sure a shallow water dish is available at all times. Adult bearded dragons may be fed once daily. Their diet should be varied and may consist of crickets, madagascan hissing roaches, king mealworms (zophobas) and newborn mice. Vegetables and fruits should be offered twice weekly. The vegetables and fruits should be chopped up and mixed together as a salad. Fruits and vegetables may include kale, collards, carrots, mustard greens, apples and bananas. Vitamin and mineral supplements should be added to the salad mixture. All prey animals should be dusted with a high calcium supplement. During the breeding season it is very important that females be given a diet rich in calcium and vitamins to maintain good health following egg laying.
A basking light should be provided at one end of the cage. The temperature at the basking area should reach 90 degrees F. There should also be a cooler area in the cage around 75 degrees F.

Exposure to natural sunlight, whenever possible, is important. Make sure the enclosure you provide outside for your bearded dragon allows for good ventilation so that the animal is not overheated while being exposed to sunlight. You should also provide a shade area inside the enclosure. Ideally exposure to the sun should be three times weekly with a minimum of thirty minutes each exposure. Indoor enclosures should have a high quality full spectrum light. These full spectrum lights do not however, take the place of natural sunlight.

A substrate which I like to use is Canadian sphagnum peat moss. Peat moss makes a good substrate because it is a natural substance which is totally digestible, maintains moisture and naturally absorbs odor. Mix the peat moss with water and rub the two between your hands until the peat moss has absorbed all the moisture. Firmly pack the peat moss in the bottom of the cage and let it dry in the sun or under a heat lamp for a couple of hours until all moisture has evaporated. The peat moss will dry to a hard surface.

Male dragons have a larger and wider head than that of the female. Males also tend to be larger than the females. The preanal and femoral pores are larger in the males. The throat area of the males becomes dark during breeding season. The females may also show some darkening in the throat area but will not get as dark in color as the males. I have found that sexing this species is difficult. The technique of "popping of the hemipenes " should not be attempted on this species as you may very well injure the animal. I have seen some breeders sex this species by pulling back the cloacal opening just slightly with the opening on the males being significantly larger.

When I started to breed the bearded dragon I bought four animals hoping to have a pair and I was lucky and had two pairs. If you plan to breed bearded dragons I would suggest buying three or four hatchlings and wait for them to pair off the next breeding season. My animals have bred at ten months. Providing you have a pair the others may be sold off as adults for a much higher price.

The females abdomen will expand quite considerably when carrying eggs. If you suspect your female is carrying eggs it is important to make available an egg laying site in her cage. Failure to provide an egg laying site may result in egg binding of the female which may result in death. Make a box about two feet by two feet and about eighteen inches deep. Fill the box with a mixture of potting soil and sand. Make sure you keep the potting soil damp. If you notice the female digging watch for her appearance to change. If she becomes thin overnight you know the eggs have been deposited in the soil.

Carefully remove the eggs for incubation. I use a chicken egg incubator, commonly known as Hovabator, to incubate the eggs. Temperature inside the incubator should be maintained at around 85 degrees F. Incubation time is around sixty days.

Bearded dragon hatchlings should be fed two to three times daily. Crickets are a good first food for the hatchlings. Size of the crickets is critical. Hatchlings should be fed 1/4 inch crickets or smaller until they gain a little size. Feeding prey that is to large for the hatchling may result in what is known as hind leg extension (partial paralysis). If hind leg extension occurs the animal usually will die. Finely chopped vegetables and fruits should be offered twice weekly and consists of the same salad mixture as the adults.

Buying feeder insects from a pet store can become very costly. I would suggest buying your feeder insects from a supplier such as Fluker Farms 1-800-735-8537. You can purchase crickets from this supplier at a cost of $13.50/1,000.

I would also suggest that you soak your dragon once a week in about 1/2 inch of warm water for about twenty minutes. This helps to rehydrate the animal along with cleaning feces off of the animals body that has accumulated during the week.

If you intend to house hatchlings together it is IMPORTANT to maintain their feeding schedules as they will not hesitate to bite a hand or tail of a cage mate when hungry.

Answer 6

bearded dragons are great, their average lifespan I believe is about 7-10 years or so, as long as its perky and not lazy all the time it should be fine.

Answer 7

If she really has a bearded dragon, sell it to me! I love flying reptiles. Never seen one alive! Your lucky!

Answer 8

Soccer mom

Answer 9

Here is a link to a very nice page that will answer your questions:http://www.tetra-fish.com/fauna/beardeddragon.aspx

Answer 10

No, sorry. Try again later.