to ask for quick help on the bearded dragon we are about to adopt?

[milkmaiden]

A bearded dragon is coming to us in an emergency today. I have never kept a lizard. We have cats. We won't leave them unsupervised but we will attempt to introduce them safely.

I have questions I need quick answers to as I am backed up with work deadlines and have videos open but not the time to watch them properly before the dragon comes.

Is any quick help available to specific questions here or somewhere else?

He is coming with an enclosure (we will be getting a bigger one)

I think we need a UVB and a high output heat lamp right now? And we should definitely buy this in the morning if he doesn't have them, is that our main priority apart from food?

Is it okay to never give live bugs or will we definitely have to do this sometimes?

Can we give him leftover dinner or will that harm him? We are vegan so all our meals are fresh but can we give him leftovers or is that a no-no?

Can we let him roam free around our bedroom or will this cause issues?

Is it good to handle them often or would that annoy him? How much should we "pet" or handle him? Don't want him to be lonely or upset.

Heat and light are most important...ginger aka "the potato" is my daughter's Dragon, she rescued him for her birthday.

He insists on sitting on Her shoulder to discover the world. He seems to enjoy a wander amount her room and even the garden on a warm sunny day.

He eats a wide variety of vegetables we do offer him meal worms which he loves as well but majority veg ginger loves kale...and the odd blueberry as a treat.all veg is raw.

I wasn't that keen on reptiles but he has grown on me much more than I thought he would.

Photo below...he only wears the harness when he's out of the house on an adventure :)

He's very cute. Thank you.

So you take him in the garden or for walks?

We may have to rehome him if we can't give him the life he needs but I may fall in love with him.

I think they are very beautiful animals but I'm a cat person so hopefully he can co-exist with our cats a bit.

Does the dragon poo on your furniture if you let him out? I want to let him out as much as possible, hate to think of any animal closed in, but also won't be cleaning poop off my furniture constantly. This may dictate whether we keep him.

Is he affectionate?

Hi, we have a beardie. If yours is an adult the recommended Viv size is 4ft x 2 x 2. You'll need a UV strip light as well as a basking spot lamp - this is essential. They like a dry habitat with a temp gradient - a cooler and warmer end approx 25C - 38C ish (slightly warmer for a juvenile). They also like to have a shady area or somewhere to hide under.

Although there is dried/frozen food available for beardies it is highly recommended to give live food - they like to hunt and is probably a bit better nutritionally. Make sure live food is dusted with calcium powder . Greens, fruit and veg should also be offered. Once it reaches adulthood approx 75% of their diet in captivity should comprise veg but some are reluctant to eat this - it's not something they would do in the wild. Hopefully yours will already be happy to eat this. Check online for suitable fruit and veg - not all is suitable. No to leftovers unless it's suitable salad / raw veg with no dressing. A shallow water dish should also be provided. They tend not to drink from thus but might like in it and often poo in it as well.

He will probably enjoy having the freedom to run around - just make sure there's nowhere he can hide or get lost and definitely keep the cat out of the way. If you have a suitable area he will also like getting out into natural sunlight. Beardies can be stressed by other animals so try to stop the cat peering into his enclosure as well. You can handle him as much as he will tolerate - this will vary between animals. They often like to sit on your shoulder. Just make sure they have sufficient exposure to UV and get to bask in heat after they eat. They should also be given a bath each week.

Thank you. That is all very helpful. I think I am getting a good idea on how to make him comfortable.

Is the bath just water then? Or soap?

Do they bite you?

One of my DD's friend's BD only goes the toilet in his pool/bath. He likes to sit/ride on her shoulder, local shops let her in with him. She has three and they are different personalities. They are a proper hobby type pet because of the cleaning if kept in a bedroom (harder to ignore any odours) and the need to observe their health etc. Read up on the essentials. The need for live food might not suit you. Generally both cats get on with BDs.

Just warm water - you can add a powder called Reptoboost if you like, but not essential for every bath.

There's YouTube videos on baths. It's important that they are warm enough during and after.

They're not aggressive and don't bite. However they do have very sharp little teeth as I found out when I had to administer some medicine!

Don't let him roam free yet, he doesn't know you or the territory and catching him will be stressful. Let him become acclimatised to his enclosure, and learn where the warmth, food and water bath are. When you start to let him out, do so in the room where his enclosure is and make sure he can get back in it himself.

Join bearded dragons U.K. Facebook group for advise on the set up, bearded heed very specific temperatures and UV ranges. They can get metabolic bone disease if their set up for heat and up is incorrect, they need a cool zone, a mid zone and a hot zone with a basking area.

Don't introduce your cat and beardie, they do not ever need to be in the same space together. If our cats are in the garden and the door is closed we let our beardie free roam (max 20 mins at a time) and then put him back in his viv.

Do not handle beardie for two weeks when rehomed, they can suffer relocation stress. Some like being handled and some don't, ours won't walk onto your hand but when free roaming will climb up our leg and sit on our shoulders.

Only give live bugs, you can buy dried scorpions etc but this is not a full diet, it's an unnecessary treat. They can eat crickets, roaches, morio worms, calci worms etc all bought from pet shops. You can buy tongs and escape proof containers so you do not personally handle them- you will need to feed the live food also and give them water (gel is safer so they don't drown). Young ones under one need fed every day (very young a few times a day). Adults, about 8 bugs (more if Calci worms) twice a week. You need to use a supplement powder regime (3 types) to dust live food.

Beardies should have access to a water dish but seldom drink from them-they are desert creatures.

They do not eat cooked food so no leftovers. Fresh salad type veggies every day (again this is very specific because of calcium absorption and preventing MBD). Fruit is also unnecessary.

Exotic pets are less common and change more. Again, the FB group will advise on the ones near you if you join.

They will pop whenever and wherever they feel the urge to. The produce black poo as well as white urate from a vent. They can go weeks without pooing, they might poo twice a week. It stinks.

Baths are not really unnecessary, it doesn't help shedding and NEVER use any soap or oil.

Substrate for the viv is important, they like to dig but not deeply, incorrect substrate can be eaten and not digested and result in an emergency. If in doubt use beardie life or slate tiles (I use both).

When you decide to keep him don't think he needs a friend... They thrive better alone...
We used a pop up paddling pool to let ours catch their own crickets! The ddog and dcat sat around it like at a show!!

Daughter has a beardie that likes to cuddle up to the cats for warmth

As @Cheerybigbottom says, they can be stressed after moving home. This can affect their appetite so don't worry too much if they aren't interested in food for the first few days. Just keep offering each day. Also, remember to remove any uneaten food a couple of hours before lights out each day and NEVER leave uneaten live food in the Viv for any length of time. Crickets can bite them and the presence of other bugs can stress them as well.

Thank you everyone. This is all very helpful. I'm also watching the videos bit by bit.

I used to have a beardie. He might have relocation stress when he arrives and not want to eat for some days, this is normal. You should have the vivarium set up for a day before he arrives, light and heat on to get the temps up to the correct range.

Lock on the viv might be a good idea if you have cats. Best not to let him free roam unsupervised as he might get hurt or disappear somewhere. Remember to dust his food with calcium and vitamins such as nutribol on alternate days (I can't remember if you need to do this every day though).

I used to be a member of a great BD group of FB (low risk group so def no cohabiting dragons or introducing them to your other pets and no loose substrate either) but I don't think it's around anymore.

Thanks, I'll join the group. Thing is he is coming tonight and we can't get anything now. He's coming because the person caring for him was not caring for him and he needs to be rehomed so we are taking him from basically neglect. He has his enclosure and I am unsure what lights he has, but we will put him there with whatever he has.

If he has no lamp could we just point the table lamp at him until we can get to the pet shop tomorrow?

Ah ok, got you. My little guy had been neglected too but was with another owner who nursed him back to health before I got him.

I don't think the table lamp would give off much heat tbh. I'm not sure. They need a good strong basking lamp at one end of the viv, I used to use the ones from Arcadia Reptile but there's other brands. A hot water bottle wrapped in some cloth might help for now until you get a basking bulb? And the UV tube has to be for desert species and of a certain percentage UV (10 or 5%, I can't remember). But if you join a FB group they will put you right.

It's a lot to think about but once you've got the set up correct everything should be fine. I miss my little guy, he was quite a character! From the "stink eye" glances, to the cute little wiggle he'd do before settling down to sleep.

Nothing to add as advice covered well by PPs but shamelessly posting our little old lady Liz ( after her Majesty because she’s an absolute Queen in her dotage ) who was also a rescue…..

She roams in the lounge and we put her into natural sunlight whenever we can - we also have 2 cats but they are always out when Liz is having a wander. I take her into the garden with me but always keep her on me never alone in case a bird wants to take her.

she hasn’t got long left 😩Beardies are a fantastic species and I really think we will get another one when Liz has passed on.

Thank you so much. I will definitely leave him alone then for a bit and provide a salad and get down the shop tomorrow :)

Nothing to add as advice covered well by PPs but shamelessly posting our little old lady Liz ( after her Majesty because she’s an absolute Queen in her dotage ) who was also a rescue…..

She roams in the lounge and we put her into natural sunlight whenever we can - we also have 2 cats but they are always out when Liz is having a wander. I take her into the garden with me but always keep her on me never alone in case a bird wants to take her.

she hasn’t got long left 😩Beardies are a fantastic species and I really think we will get another one when Liz has passed on.

Don't worry about lights / heat tonight, it all gets turned off at night anyway. Just don't feed anything until you have the viv temperatures correct or he won't be able to digest.

I hope he does come with more than just the viv because the heat/uv light setups with temperature probes at each end etc can amount to a bit of money, and then furniture like hides, small climbing apparatus and other enrichment costs too.

Please don't rely on pet shops for advice, again I strongly urge you to join bearded dragon owners U.K. group on Facebook.

Sometimes people even sell pre owned equipment, though the bulbs need to be new (and uv one replaced every 12 months).

Theres lots of useful advice online, esp the forumds specific to Bearded Dragons, l absolutely adore my Beardie. My cat loves him too, they often share the same chair, mine only comes out for short bursts as l worry he will get cold, he loves sitting on the windowsill watching the world go by , we have low wattage heatmats that we put a towel or blanket on first and check him every few mins. He is five years old and no trouble, very clean, as soon as we put him down on grass within a minute o r two he usually goes to the toilet, only tim e we ever see him pace is if he needs to go toilet, doesnt like doing it in vivarium. My son puts tiny insects into the special soil he uses that help clean up any waste , think they are called icpods, not sure re spelling, so we dont get any odour at all.
l am amazed at how attached l have become to my little Beardie, in the summer when its warm enough he goes in the garden, otherwise he has free reign of the house., just have to make sure he doesnt get cold.

Also, I love the little settling for bed wiggle 😂

I couldn't believe how quickly I loved beardies, I keep saying oh look he's not happy we moved his hammock and my son will comment mum, he's literally done fuck all in 2 days where are you seeing this personality 😂

I confess to knowing nothing about bearded dragons but bloody well done for rescuing him and for being so determined to care for him properly. You sound like a great pet owner.

There will be loads of books available on reptile care and probably specific books on caring for bearded dragons, so as well as Facebook groups etc, have a look on Amazon and consider buying a handy guide for easy reference.

I second the well done for rescuing!

If you have a garden you can take him outside for a bit to get some natural uv light once he's settled in. Just keep hold of him or watch he can't escape anywhere. You can get harnesses for them too.

Another good forum is Reptiles UK, lots of experienced keepers there who can answer any questions. There's sections for other pets too. I got my beardie from someone on that forum.

www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/lizards.12/