bearded dragon set ups

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Mantidforum

Help Support Mantidforum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Samzo

Samzo

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 24, 2005
Messages
609
Reaction score
2
Location
Devon, UK
Hi,

Does anyone know what I need for a beardie set up? Also is there like a website where you can get a whole setup? lol kinda lazy..

 
Hi Samzo. For a bearded dragon, you'd need the following equipment:

Basking lamp

UV light

(You can buy bulbs now that do both, and last much much longer if you're willing to pay a bit more)

I prefer a calci-sand substrate (proper calci sand, not coloured)

A minumum 3ft vivarium, preferably 4ft

A small amount of wood/foliage/whatever shelter for him/her to hide under, once they get used to you they rarely hide anyway, they love people.

One thing people often do is place a water bowl in the tank with them. For almost any other animal, i'd insult you if you DIDNT, but these guys I do not recommend it personally. Bearded dragons are able to 'drink' so to speak, through their anus. They rehydrate this way by sitting in their water, which also gets filled with as a result, making the water unhealthy very quickly. Instead, spray them lightly towards their head, you'll see what those grooves heading towards their mouths are for and why they are a successful desert species. The grooves are drinking channels that collect dew and direct it to their mouth to drink. Beardies LOVE a bath, especially at shedding time. Bath them at least once a week and the beardie will think you're it's best friend.

As for a website that sells it all, it's tricky. So many places give not-necessary equipment to up the cost, and others dont give the necessary euipment at all. If possible, it would be more productive for you to buy from a shop/specialist. Also, keep your eyes open in free ad papers, I see alot of complete setups WITH dragons going for very cheap, but make sure you inspect everything, especially the animal, very carefully before purchase.

Good luck :)

 
Hi Samzo,

The night time bulbs (the red lights) are the same as the basking lamp, if you get the red light for basking, as soon as you turn your uv off, the red light will be invisible to the beardie (so they say) and will just be warm.

Dave

 
Oh right, excellent thanks! Hopefully next month or so I can show you some pics of it and my beardie :lol:

 
Nice one. I'd go as far as to say they're probably the best lizard species to keep in captivity, closely followed by, or equal to, Leopard geckos.

 
would "kids play sand" be suitable for substrate because i have alot of that. or do I need to get proper calci sand?

 
Many people use it, some with success, some with impaction problems. I only ever recommend calci-sand to customers personally, simply because even if the little guys get a mouthful of it, it is digested and doesn't cause any of the horrible problems that other sand may.

I'd go with the calci sand mate, you'll know you've found the right stuff because it is grey and quite dusty.

Dave

 
Sorry Ian, but the opposite is true mate. Calci sand is designed in a way to prevent impaction in the first place.

Dave

 
online, in nearly every shop in the south west, (that I have been to) cali sand has speifically been know to cause impaction, and I have always be told against it. I do belive that, and am going to stick to that conclusion.

Cheers,

Ian

 
Ian, I didnt tell you not to stick to that conclusion, but i can be pretty sure that the calci sand in question wasn't the same stuff we use.

Dave

 
That's similar stuff samzo, just make sure not to get the coloured versions, I don't trust them...

Dave

 
Ian, that's where i know we're talking about different stuff, it hasn't got pieces of calcium in it, it is MOSTLY calcium.

 
ok, what if i put sand on the bottom of the viv and have the calci on top? its just a 48 inch viv will take alot fo sand to fill it..

 
okay then dave, but I am saying, calci sand DOES cause impaction. If ya wonna email a bloke who has bred in excess of 500 leos this year, so is pretty experienced with this sorta stuff, then here is his address. [email protected] (maybe hotmail) He has had problems in the past with it, and stongly advises against it.

Cheers,

Ian

 

Latest posts

Top