i want a BeardedDrangon but wat do i feed them i dont wanna do mice. do they grow big so there hard 2 care 4.?

Question

somone told me that there tooken from the wild and kept in filthly tanks and grow so big like iguannas that you have 2 let them go? what do i use the keep them wat do i feed them. how much money are they.

Answer 1

No they are not taken from the wild. They are captive bred. Most only reach around 16-22" in full length. Some may reach up to 25". Usually the larger dragons are german giants or have german giant in their bloodline though. They are a little on the expensive side. Don't feed them any kind of mice, like pinkies. They contain parasites, are extremely hard for beardies to digest and have poor nutritional value, except they're loaded in fat. It's best you stay away from pinkies. Feed crickets, silkworms, or lobster roaches as there staple (everyday diet) and waxworms, superworms, pheonix worms, and butter worms as treats only. 1 or 2 a week. Sometimes, dragons will get "addicted" to fatty foods like treat worms and wont eat nothing else and gain a whole bunch of weight in the process.
Babies/juveniles are to eat atleast 3 times a day, as many as they can eat in 15 minutes. This can easily add up anywhere between 30-100 crickets per day. Adults only need about 30 max per week.
You'll need reptile multivitamins and calcium supplements (like Repcal's calcium and Repcal's Reptivite for example) to dust crickets and sprinkle greens. For babies and juveniles, dust their crickets with calcium 6 times a week and vitamins 3 or 4 times a week. For adults, dust their crickets 4 times a week with calcium and 2 or 3 times a week with vitamins. I feed my adults 4 crickets a day in the evening (so they'll eat greens during the day). You can buy spray supplements for adults to spray on their greens if they don't like the dust on their greens if needed.
For feeding greens, check out this page: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html for a color coded food chart. The foods typed in green can be fed everyday (as a staple). The foods typed in black can be used as treats only. Please watch out for off Ca:P ratios (calcium to phosphorus ratios) and oxalate acid when feeding your dragon. Phosphorus and oxalate acid binds calcium...so your dragon may not be getting the right calcium he needs. Read the whole page if you can. It will greatly help you understand better than I can explain.
You can order crickets in bulk. I buy mine through the pet store. I get 1,000 crickets for $20. There are lots of sites on the web you can buy crickets from.
You also need a UVB light. UVB rays help them obsorbe calcium for proper growth and bone stucture. Beardies deprived from UVB rays will suffer from metabolic bone disease. Get a tube UVB light (not the screw in socket kind) and the bulb needs to be atleast an 8.0 (8% of UVB). Reptisun 5.0's are ok since they are equal to a Reptiglo 8.0. The UVB bulb needs to be changed ever six months. www.lllreptile.com has reptisun 10.0's (highly recommended bulb) for about $22. From what I understand, they are usually around $40 since they put out more UVB than any other flourcent bulb in the market. A Reptiglo 8.0 and other UVB bulbs run about $20-25 depending on where you buy from.
You also need a heat light. Regular household bulbs work good and are cheap. You do not need the expensive UVA basking spot lights from the pet store. You can also use halogen bulbs and indoor flood lights. Basking temps for babies need to be around 110. Juveniles basking temps can range between 105-110, and for adults 100-105. Measure your temps with a digital thermometer with probe. They measure surface temp, not air temp. You need to measure surface temps when you check. basking temps. Wal-mart has digital thermometers with probe for about $8. The little round ones at the pet store can be as much as 20 degrees off and measure air temp. Air temp can be as much as 20 degrees below surface temp. Place the sensor of the probe where ever you want to read temps.
You also need substrate (bedding). Do not use sand. Calci sand, childrens play sand, etc all holds a risk of impation and killing your dragon. Walnut shells, repti bark, etc can tear up the dragons intestines when ingested. All loose particle substrates hold in moisture which harbors bacteria...and isn't good for your reptile. Go to Lowes or Home Depot or another store like that and get some ceramic tiles. They look awesome in cages and are easy to clean. They're a lot cheaper than a few bags of shell or sand too....and you don't need to change tiles unless you are simply tierd of the design. I got my pieces of tile for 32 cents at Lowes on sale. Took me about 6 peices to cover the cage...and the store should be able to cut tiles if you need them cut. Non-adhesive shelf liner also works well for a substrate. You can buy a role from Wal-mart for about $5 depending on your taste. Reptile carpet works good to that you can get from the pet store. Paper towels are also good substrates, especially for growing babies. You can also use yesterdays newspaper, computer paper, or butcher paper.
For a cage....you need atleast a 20 gallon for a baby. The baby will grow out of it once it hits around 10-12 inches in full length. Then he/she can be moved in a larger cage. 40 gallon breeder cages are good for juveniles and adults. It can last the dragon it's whole life. However, if you have a large adult...say 18" and over, you may wanna consider a bigger cage. Adults need atleast 36" in length and 18" in width for cages. Don't depend on the gallon size.
If you have any reptile shows near you, you can pick up a normal baby dragon for $20 probably. Whatever the price of a dragon, really depends on the morph. Normal dragons are usually the cheap ones.
Check out this forum: http://bearded-dragons.com/boards/index.php . They have all the updated information on how to properly care for bearded dragons. Check us out, and if you have any questions, no matter how many, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!

Answer 2

You should not feed your beardie mice. I have a huge bearded dragon, five years old and hes massive. One of the biggest ive ever seen. He alone is kept in a 65 gallon terrerium. To continue from your other question, i personally feed mine a bowl of veggies (kale and one other veggie such as peas or carrots for variety) every other day. and adult bearded dragon food every other day that its not eating veggies. Then 12 large crickets everyday on top of that. every few months i get him a fuzzy or pinky mouse, but nothing bigger than that. They arent good with digesting big bones and that really fattens them up. They dont grow big at all, about a foot and a half with tail. When i say massive i meant they grow fat and wide. They arent supposed to be kept in filthy tanks at all. They need to be attended to everyday so that they have a bacteria free cage. If you are gonna buy one make sure it is captive breed and not fromt he wild and they dont cost much i paid 100 for mine canadian.

Answer 3

Mice are not recommended. They are used sparingly to help fatten up pregnant female beardies.

Common food for bearded dragons are crickets, superworms, silkworms, hornworms etc., along with various vegetables and fruits.

Setting up a bearded dragon tank can be quite spendy along with the routine expenses. Need to have a basking light, a UVB bulb, large tank etc.,

Read up a few caresheets and buy all the supplies needed for the setup before hand.

Some bearded dragon caresheets:

http://www.reptilerooms.com/Sections+index-req-listarticles-secid-1.html

http://www.australianbeardies.com/care.htm

Answer 4

Bearded Dragons are very versitile when it comes to feeding. They will eat vegetables, manufactured Bearded Dragon foods (I recommend Zoomed foods), crickets, mealworms, and mice. Mice are very fattening, though, so I dont suggest giving them many. Vary their diet so they do not get bored and get the most out of their foods (vitamin-wise). Also, if you feed them mealworms or crickets, make sure to dust them with a calcium powder/suppliment once or twice a week.

Answer 5

When the male is an adult it gets up to 2 feet long including the tail. you can feed them chopped meat, crickets, leafy greens, and earthworms. You can keep it in a aquarium big enough for it, and provide rocks and branches to climb and stuff. The live for about 10 years. Dont kno how much they are. lol

Answer 6

We owned a bearded dragon for about 18 months. They are wonderful pets but you have to do your homework first before getting one. You have to feed them the right balance of veggies, fruit, crickets, worms, etc... plus a calcium supplement along with diet. Also lighting and basking area is important. Do some research before getting one. Ours was an adult when we got her and we didn't know how she had been cared for prior to our getting her and she had metabolic bone disease, stopped eating and drinking, couldn't walk, so we put her down. What a way to die. Please do extensive research 1st and get one from a reputable source. gl

Answer 7

My daughter had two. One of them died. She had them for several years. They were both just over a foot long and were fully grown. She kept hers in an aquarium with sand in the bottom which she cleaned regularly. She had some kind of dry food she fed them and she also went to a local bait store and purchased crickets for them to eat. Hope that helped.

Answer 8

Beardies are great, for the right person however. Here are some links with great info below.

TDK

Answer 9

go to Petco(or any petstore) and ask for a caresheet. You should also look online for more information

Answer 10

try using wikipedia.com to find ur answers, but uuhhh go to petsmart or whatever. I wish i knew what a bearded drangon was :(