The time has finally come. After years of saying no, maybe and we’ll see to the ongoing requests for a pet, I have given in. I have said yes and we are having a bearded dragon. Sounds impressive doesn’t it?
My initial answer was a resounding no. I had no idea what a bearded dragon was, nor did I really want to. A few of the boys’ friends had them and the thought of any pet that needed to be fed live insects really didn’t appeal. Then we went to a local pet shop and the boys pointed one out to me. It was actually quite cute, so the no turned to a maybe.
Then, a few weeks ago, I was contacted by the lovely people at Swell about doing a review for one of their sites and when I found myself looking at their starter kits for Bearded Dragons, I finally accepted that we would be having a new addition to the family.
Bearded Dragons are quite low maintenance as pets go, however, you do need to be well prepared before you can even begin to think about bringing your pet home.
The starter kits are a great idea as they really do give you petty much everything you need to get you off to a good start. Firstly, you get the vivarium, which comes flat packed but is quite simple to put together, I am no DIY expert and it took me about twenty minutes to build. The kit also has two lamp holders and the bulbs to go in them; one for the basking lamp and one for a UV lamp. Those are the essentials and then you get sand, two trays for food and water, a little wooden hut for hiding/resting and some calcium dust to sprinkle on the food to keep them healthy.
You do need to get everything set up and ready long before you get your Bearded Dragon as most reputable pet shops will ask you about your vivarium and will want three days worth of temperature readings from it too, to make sure that you are taking your Bearded Dragons home to the right conditions.
So, once you are ready to go, here are my top tips for preparing for your Bearded Dragon;
1. Bearded Dragons need a balanced diet of fresh fruit and vegetables or pellets that you can buy from pet shops along with live crickets or grasshoppers. Yes, live ones. You can buy these little critters from pet shops too and they too will need feeding so that they are alive and well. You can buy little enclosures to keep them in and tongs to fish them out with and they quite happily live on grated carrot and potato. You need to feed them directly to your Bearded Dragon too, so you do need to be prepared to deal with live insects on a daily basis too.
2. The lamps in the vivarium need to be on for twelve hours a day, so it is a good idea to invest in one of those timer plugs so that you can set it to come on and off from eight until eight each day. The Beqrded Dragons settle down to sleep once the lights go off and can cope with the cooler time during the night.
3. Bearded Dragons need the UV light in the vivarium to help with their digestive system, so never feed them until the vivarium is warm and light and they also need the calcium dust too which you sprinkle over the crickets and the fresh greens to ensure they take a little in every day.
4. You can handle Bearded Dragons. They like being stroked and you can handle them gently, but they can also move quite quickly and like to climb, so be prepared for them to run up your arm and don’t give them to a small child (or adult for that matter) who is likely to drop them as I have it on good authority that they are very difficult to find if the escape.
5. The vivarium has to have a warm end and a cooler end. Keep the lamps at one end as the other end needs to be a good few degrees cooler so that the Bearded Dragon can go and cool off if it overheats or feels stressed.
6. Never give a Bearded Dragon ice berg lettuce. Quite random, I realise, but a good friend of mine who has had a Bearded Dragon for some time, made this mistake and they don’t react well to it at all.
7. Find out all the information you need, before you commit to buying a Bearded Dragon. Like all pets, having a Bearded Dragon is a big commitment. It costs money and takes time to set everything up and you do need to know what you are doing before your pet arrives. There is a really good booklet that came with our Starter Pack and most pet shops have leaflets on how to care for them too. I have alo discovered a wealth of information on the internet too and I have found it really useful to read up on the subject.
So after what seems like months of talks about it, we finally went to the pet shop last week to buy our Bearded Dragon. There were two and the shop assistant let us handle both of them to see which one we wanted. The boys wanted a male and although when they are very young it is difficult to tell, the shop assistant is fairly certain that they were both girls. Not to be deterred, the boys are still hoping that ours is male and he is called Toby.
The children are thrilled to bits. None of them want to hold him yet and to be honest, I am happy to give him a few days to settle in, but he seems quite happy and the children are quite mesmerised by him.
I would like to say a huge thank you to Swell for sending us the starter kit and Swell are also offering one lucky reader a voucher for £100 which can be used on any of their three websites; Swell UK, Swell Reptiles or Swell Pets or all three as the voucher does not have to be used all at once and can be used across the three websites.
Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter form and good luck.
Really interesting and sounds like a big commitment. I am also subject to endless requests for a pet. When and if I finally give in, it will be a rabbit!
I can lend you a bunny Sarah! 😉
Thanks!
Awww I love Toby! I have a beardie too – his/her (we’re not sure on the sex either) is called Jubjub, named after Patty & Selma’s reptile in The Simpsons!
In fact our house is like a zoo, we also have a Chinchilla and two dogs! (They’re all rescue animals!)
I look forward to reading more about Toby!
Jen xx
Awwww I love beardies! I have promised no more pets till I finish my degree though (10 months and counting). My friend has one called Dude and he sits on his lap and he leaves the tank open and he wanders around the flat lol!
Good luck! Rather you than me (and as you know that’s from someone who’s had a go).
aww ! Toby is a cutie ! we have 2 beardies and also 4 corn snakes , A trantula and a giant african land snail we love our mini zoo ! ……. 6 months is best age to tell sex of beardies altho its normally easy enough to see by about 4 months 🙂 ours are both male (MoJo & Chaos)
We have lots of lizards. Bearded are the best as a starter pet and as long as handled daily they ll be fantastic. Ours is called Ben (after Ben10) we also have a pair of rankins, a baby bosc monitor and a 14 month old Bosc monitor that’s HUGE!
Bearded dragons take an awful lot of work to look after – just keeping the temperature and moisture levels right is a full time job! We’ve got a Marine Tank, but I would like to get a chamelion one day.