We welcomed a new, as-yet-unnamed, member of the family this weekend: a bearded dragon. Evan really wanted a lizard for his birthday, and although I had my reservations about another pet, Amy’s kind heart prevailed. As she will be the one who will have to pick up any slack if Evan does not follow through on his stated intention to take care of his new charge, who was I to say "no"?
Easing our entry into the world of lizardry was Josh (shown above), an extraordinarily enthusiastic, knowledgable and helpful employee at the Petsmart in Woodinville. Lacey was also a great help when we first arrived at the store, taking us to the back and showing the bearded dragons that had just arrived but had not yet been put in the display case. Josh is the expert on bearded dragons, though — having one of his own — and helped both inform us and allay our concerns over the magnitude of this new undertaking … particulary with respect to the diet: the bearded dragon eats fresh vegetables and live insects. Josh assured us that caring for a bearded dragon is relatively straightforward — once you get used to it — and well within the capabilities of an eleven-year-old. Of course, someone will still need to drive to Petsmart about once a week to pick up a fresh supply of live crickets (the lizard’s daily recommended allowance is between 10 and 15 per day, and Petsmart sells bags of 100 crickets in "bulk" … and they only last about 7-10 days).
The bearded dragon grows to a length of about two feet, and can live for 10 years or more … assuming it is fed and cared for properly. We haven’t quite achieved an ideal solution to heating the terrarium, but have managed to keep the lizard’s new home within the range of acceptable temperatures (75 – 85 degrees F) … and stocked with an appropriate supply of crickets. I’ll post an update, with more photos, and perhaps a video of the lizard eating a cricket, once it has a name.
Comments
6 responses to “The Newest Member of the Family: A Bearded Dragon”
Excellent! During my undergrad I was a proud and enthusiastic mama to 23 species of reptiles and amphibians (but never a bearded dragon) and still recall each and every animal with glee!
Does she have a name yet?
PS – my box turtle, Henry Miller, after three years of living with me, suddenly laid eggs and revealed *her* true nature. I never could change her name tho 😉
23 different species … I can only imagine how many different individual animals you cared for during that period.
I loved your story about Henry Miller laying eggs! Evan had a related experience in using gender-biased names — he originally named his guinea pig “Chester”, even though it was a female. After having to explain over and over that Chester was a female (as she lived in a cage with Meg’s guinea pig, “Charlotte”), he decided to rename it “Chestnut”.
As I understand it, we won’t know the gender of the bearded dragon for another several months. However, the reason for the continued “delay of name” is that Evan is waiting for the animal to reveal more of its personality (animality? repility? lizardality? bearded dragonality?) before assigning a name … similar to a practice I’ve heard of in naming [human] children in some cultures.
Oh man, I had just assumed Henry Miller was gay until she laid those eggs! I’ve never been one for gender neutral names, fully convinced that my turtle still lived up to her namesake – as did two other females, Kafka and Nietzsche. I also love the idea of waiting for an appropriate name to emerge, although I did name my cat in the hopes that she would become her namesake. So far she’s too bloody cute, but I can’t imagine her being called anything else 😉 If I ever have children, I hope to be allowed to put off the naming for as long as possible. But then, I think I’ve always failed to live up to my own name and that’s struck me as a bit of a shame…
Hi,
I would like to invite you to look at a forum full of great advice. This site is run by people who have and love their dragons. (bearded-dragons.com)
In the event that you choose not to check out this forum I would like to give you a few tips. (I have 4 dragons)
First your temperatures are a little off. The basking spot for your dragon should be 100 to 110 degrees, this can only be measured accurately with a digital thermometer with a probe. (petsmart sells them) the cool side of the tank (enclosure) should be about 80-85 degrees.
Next Dragons eat a little more than what you were told. Dragons should be eating between 50-100 crickets per day. Don’t panic you can get 1000 crickets online for little more than what you are paying for 100 at petsmart.
My last tip is that if petsmart sold you something called calci sand, repti sand or any other kind of sand or loose bedding, get rid of it immeadiately, it can hurt and possibly kill your dragon.
I really feel that it is your best interest, and your dragons to check out bearded-dragons.com, it is a free forum for the exchange of information and help to new owners.
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the tips!
I wanted to include a hotlink to the site you mentioned (bearded-dragons.com), and have forwarded on the tips you shared to the lizard caregivers in the family. When we bought the bearded dragon, we also bought a digital thermometer with a probe, as well as firm carpet-like material that we use on the floor of the terrarium. We’ll see what we can do to boost the temperature under the basking lamp and will experiment with increasing the daily allotment of crickets (the online sources for which on the web site you referenced will be helpful).
I’ll be posting new photos and an update (including lizard’s new name) sometime in the near future.
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