bearded dragon tank?

Question

what are some cool looking features i can put in my 8 inch bearded dragons 30 gallon long tank? its pretty plain. he has sand substrate, with a log, water dish, and a food bowl. is there anthing else i could add like decor or something they she would like?

Answer 1

You need to separate them. Bearded dragons are solitary reptiles and do not need any friends or company. They probably don't want any themselves. I had two 6 inch babies that faught. Unluckily...one lost a foot and part of her leg. I would get them their own tanks....Especially if you have a male. It wont be long before they reach sexual maturity and they'll mate. Your female(s) will be gravid at a premature age. They may become egg bound or have complications laying the eggs since they are too young. Females will fight too. It's not as likely for males...but I;ve heard stories of adult females being together for years, and all of a sudden on day they decided to fight. Probably got tierd of each other. The best thing you can do before you run into a lot of problems is to seperate them or sell however many you need to sell. You don't wanna use sand as the substrate....especially for babies and juveniles. It causes impaction, holds moisture and harbors bacteria. Especially calcium sand. I would get some ceramic tiles from Lowes or Home Depot, reptile carpet, non-adhesive shelf liver, or paper towels. Newspaper and computer paper work well too.
Walnut shells, repti-bark, etc can cut up the dragons insides when injested and also cause impaction. Please stay away from loose substrates. Their natural substrate is hard packed clay. Impaction can be fatal if not taken care of immediatly. You'll wanna upgrade to a 40 gallon breeder tank each once they hit about 10-12 inches since the demensions of the 30 gallon long are only 12 inches wide. It'll last them their whole life unless you decide to upgrade bigger. Adults need atleast 36" in length and 18" in width for a tank size.
The water dish is useless. Usually, beardies aren't like dogs and cats and wont drink from water bowls. They also raise the humidity in the tank which can cause your little girsl a respiratory infection. I would take it out or use something else for the bowl...like pellets. To keep him hydrated...I would use a good sized rubbermaid (shoe box size rubbermaids work well for small beardies) or the kitchen sink and give him a nice warm soak for 20 minutes. The water should be about 95 degrees and up no higher than her arm pits. She'll either obsorbe the water or drink. I wouldn't mist them in the tank either. It also causes the humidity to go up to dangerous levels, as beardies are from arid climates.

You have all the right lighting right? Heat light and UVB light? The UVB needs to be replaced every 6 months and should be atleast an 8.0 (8%) unless your using a Reptisun 5.0 which is acceptable since it is basically equal to a Reptiglo 8.0. They need to be within 6-10 inches of the UVB light.

The temps should be around 110 degress and measured with a digital thermometer with probe (which measues surface temps, not air temps. Need to measure surface temps). If you have not already purchased one, Wal-mart has them for around $8. Great investment for your dragons health.

Babies and juveniles need to be fed atleast 3 times as day as many as they can eat in 10 or 15 minutes. This can easily add up to 30-100 crickets per beardie. Check out this link:http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
for a good food list. It's color-coded for when to feed. The foods typed in green can be used as a staple (everyday) and the ones in black as treats...and so on. Watch out for foods with off Ca:P (Calcium to Phosphorus ratios) and oxalate acid. Be sure you give them fresh greens daily and dust their crickets with reptile calcium and multivitamins. Multivitamins 3 times a week and calcium 7 times each week. The food link I mention has a chart for dusting with supplements at ages.

As for decorations, fake flowers and vines work well. Backgrounds also make the cage look awesome. Here are some pictures of my cages to give you an idea of what you might choose to do for yours...
http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/MetalChick8591/?action=view¤t=000_2044.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch34
http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/MetalChick8591/Cages/?action=view¤t=000_1693.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch1

Hope this helps! :) Good luck!

Answer 2

I have a male bearded dragon and the same 30 gal tank/ I have a few rocks that are piled on top one and other and then I have some plastic plants that have suction cups on them and I have them hanging in there as well my dragon likes to climb them and be near the top of the tank sometimes. I have just plain brown sand in there as well he loves it. oh ya and I have a med heat rock there too.

Answer 3

I would recommend colored sand made specifically for reptiles if you can find it, and a vivarium waterfall if you feel like spending the money on it. The sand generally isnt a problem as long as u dont put the food in the sand (use a food dish). As for flowers i would look for something such as a desert species (not something like dense rainforest vines, as that would not fit very well).

Answer 4

Bearded dragons are the best!!!!!!!!!!!
Just know that the sand can be an issue in there. When she eats she can ingest the sand which can real havoc in their stomach es. You can try rabbit pellets which absorbs urine and can be scooped for easy cleaning and quite tasty.
But it sound like she has a nice set up. They are minimalists and don't need much decor.
Good luck!

Answer 5

Try something like this:

http://www.morion.com/teo/english/rockwall-cage/frame-cage.html

We also used reptile carpet rather than sand - easy to clean and keep sanitary, plus it looked great!

And example of the first enclosure for my first Beardie: http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/taradk/1AllyPose2.jpg

And one of my old girl: http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d31/taradk/2a.jpg

Answer 6

Maybe try some bushes or branches from petco...idk what you want...just go to petsmart.com or petco.com or find a local petstore and see what they have