How To Take Care Of a Bearded Dragon: Part One

Is a Bearded Dragon The Right Pet For You

When you are getting a bearded dragon, you have to think about the space and time you have. They may be cute or make you look cool but they take a lot of time and effort. They get really big (up to two feet) and require a large amount of space to live.

Daily Duties:

1. You Must Hold The Dragon
   Bearded dragons are very needy creatures and require a lot of attention. They loved to be held, You can just put them on the front of your shirt and they will be happy. If you don't hold your bearded dragon this can cause them to become aggressive. Once they become aggressive it is a lot harder to take care of them and help them stay alive.

2. Spot Clean The Cage
   Depending on what you feed your bearded dragon and their personality your cage might be a big or little mess. Every day it is recommended to spot clean your beardies cage just so they don't crawl around in their filth. Also if you do this the presentation of your cage is a lot more eye pleasing.

3. Feed Your Newborn Bearded Dragon
   Depending on the age of your beardie you are going to have to have different feeding schedules. For my newborn bearded dragon, I feed him every day. For my 1-year-old bearded dragon, I feed him every other day. One thing to remember is portions they may want to eat a lot and this is okay you just want to take them to regular check-ups with the vet to make sure they are a healthy size and weight for their age.

4. Mist Your Bearded dragon
   Bearded dragons need something to keep their skin moisturized and help them shed. The misting helps with this process. All you need to do is get a spray bottle and fill it with distilled water and put it on the mist setting.

Every Other Day:

1. Give Them a Bath
   Bearded dragon needs to have baths every other day in order to help them use the bathroom. Just put your bearded dragon in warm water and make sure it is shallow so they don't drown.

2. Use calcium powder
   You have to keep your bearded dragon healthy, this includes their bones. The calcium powder keeps them from getting bone deformities or bone diseases. I use the brand repashy, my veterinarian recommended it to me when my bearded dragon got sick.

Every Week:

1. Clean Their Cage
   Every week or so your bearded dragon's cage needs to be cleaned to keep the germs out. You cannot use regular cleaners though it will harm your bearded dragon. The cleaner that I use is buckeye watchdog, it is harmless to animals. This is the cleaner that the PetSmart by me uses to clean the cages in the store. All you have to do is water it down, you just take a medicine cup and fill it with watchdog. Then pour it into a​ large spray bottle. Once you do that fill the rest of the bottle with water.

When cleaning the cage I​ usually take out my bearded dragon and put it into one of my extra 10 gallon cages, I then take everything​​​ out of the cage put it into the kitchen sink. After everything is in the sink I clean out the bottom and sides of the cage. Then I go to the sink and clean the extra items in the sink because it is easier.

Thank You for reading this, these are just some of the tasks that have to be done when owning a bearded dragon.