Species Common Name: Bearded
Dragon (Central)
Scientific Name: Pogona
vitticeps
Adult Size: 18-22in
(45-55cm) including tail.
Captive Life Span: 7-10
years (12+ is possible but unlikely)
Data for this
species in the wild
Natural Distribution: Central
and Southern Central Australia
Habitat Type: Open
Scrub, Dry Forests, Arid Woodland
Activity Pattern: Diurnal
Activity Zone: Terrestrial
to Semi Arboreal
Summer Temperature Range: Over
30c, regularly over 40c+ during the day
Winter Temperature Range: 18-19c
and occasionally below 10c at night
Wild Diet: Omnivorous
by nature they are opportunistic predators eating Insects (especially termites),
Small lizards, but also eat assorted leafy plant matter, particularly wild sage
which is abundant in drier regions.
Keeping them as
Pets – The Basics
Captive Housing Minimum
Size: 48in x 24in x 24in (120cm x 60cm x 60cm) but many people are now opting for larger enclosures at 60in x 24in x 24in(150cm x 60cm x 60cm) or more. Some people also opt to give them additional
height as well, when given sturdy branches / platforms to climb on they will
make use of this extra height.
Cage Material
Construction: Wood, Melamine or PVC works best for
maintaining the high temperatures required.
Social Structure: Best
kept individually once past 5-6 months of age unless they are being introduced
for breeding purposes.
Daytime Hotspot / Basking
Temperature: 45c
Daytime Ambient
Temperatures: 28c-35c
Nighttime Ambient
Temperatures: 17-20c
Preferred Heat source: 100-150w basking flood or 75-100w halogen lamp.
UVB Requirement Ferguson
Zone: Zone 3 – Open or partial sun basker
Preferred UVB Source: Arcadia12%Pro T5 covering 50-75% of enclosure length, a 14% Dragon lamp is required in
taller enclosures.
Humidity Requirement: Low,
no need for misting for adults or juveniles, newly hatched offspring below 8 weeks of age will benefit from daily misting directly on the animal to encourage them to drink water droplets for hydration.
Preferred Humidity Source:
None
required
Water Requirements: Provide
a small bowl of fresh water, they don’t drink frequently though.
Substrate: Loose
sandy soil, the most popular premix is Pro Rep Beardie Life, but other popular
substrates are Arcadia Earth Mix Arid and Desert Sand.
Recommended Décor: Branches, grapevine, bark, rocks, bamboo roots etc for a naturalistic look. They can also have basking platforms
and resin ornaments like Skulls if you so choose, bearded dragons will climb on
anything they can grip onto. Avoid artificial hanging plants as they may try to
eat them but plastic plants with bases can be used as the leaves on these tend
to be too tough to chew, artificial cactus are also normally safe to use. You
can use live plants such as succulents, Sansevera, turtle vine etc but remember
not to place them near the basking site as it will be too hot for them.
Captive Diet: Assorted
insects including crickets, Locusts, cockroaches, and occasional worms such as
mealworms, morio worms, silk worms and wax worms. You can read our guide to feeding insectivorous lizards for more information. They will also eat mixed
assorted leafy greens and a small amount of fruit can be offered as an
occasional treat. For more information on what types of leafy greens can be
used please read our guide to feeding herbivorous reptiles. Whilst some care
guides suggest that adults can also be fed occasional defrosted baby mice, and while this
can be useful for egg laying adult females for most pet lizards this is
likely to just promote obesity so we would not recommend including it in their
diet. There are some good dietary boosters that can be added to their feed such
as Arcadia Dragon Fuel which is a dried blend of leaves and flowers that can be
mixed into their leafy greens.
Feeding Frequency: For young dragons up to 6 months old we would offer insects daily, and leafy greens twice per week, for juvenile animals (6-9 months) we would feed insects 5-6 days a week with leafy greens offered twice per week. For subadult animals 9-15 months, we would feed insects 4-5 days a week and leafy greens 3 times per week. For animals over 15 months old they should have finished most of their growth, from this point we would only offer insects twice per week and leafy greens 3 times per week. They do not need to eat every day as an adult.
Supplementation: Assuming
you are using a good quality UVB source such as the 12% arcadia Pro T5 unit you
will not need to use a supplement with any added Dietary Vitamin D3. Therefore,
we tend to use Arcadia Ca as a daily calcium powder or our favourite one to use
is Arcadia EarthPro A as this is a calcium balancer with added trace minerals
and carotenoids but without any synthetic preformed vitamins. This should be
dusted onto their insects every feed and sprinkled over their leafy greens on
every feed.
Cleaning: Bearded
dragons need their enclosure spot cleaning daily, so remove uneaten food or
bodily waste. This can be easy to do using some form of sand sieve, or can also
be done by hand. They should have a full substrate change every 6-8 weeks or
sooner if you feel they are a particularly messy individual. When you perform a
substrate change you should also disinfect the entire enclosure and all
furnishings using a reptile safe disinfectant, our preferred ones to use are either
the vet ark Ark-Klens or F10 reptile disinfectant.
Handling Suitability: Excellent,
there is a reason bearded dragons are the most popularly kept pet lizard in the
UK and this is almost entirely down to their personality and suitability for
handling.
Recommended Starter Kit: Click here for a link to our recommended starter kit.
Advancing your
care:
Simple ways to advance
your care can include opting for a larger environment for your dragon both in
terms of length and height. Ensuring regular variety to their diet is also a
simple step that is easily achievable for most keepers. You can also use some of
the most cutting-edge heating and lighting equipment. The Microclimate Evo 2,
Evo 3 and Evo Connected range of thermostats all have the capability to program
varying temperatures throughout the day to mimic early morning temperatures,
heat of the day and late evening temperatures with fully customisable options.
This can be especially good for species like bearded dragons which exhibit “biphasic”
basking patterns in the wild which means they would often bask in both the
morning and the late afternoon while avoiding the hottest part of the day, you
can provide these varying temperatures by using these cutting-edge thermostats.
By using the Arcadia LumenIZE range of UVB fixtures you can also program your
lighting to simulate dawn and dusk to provide a much more natural range of UVB
exposure throughout the day. Another often overlooked factor is the general
brightness inside the enclosure and although we may think of the UVB bulbs as
being quite bright, they are nothing when compared to natural sunlight so it is
now a well-recognised method to improve the environment for lots of species of
reptile to add LED fittings as well as the UVB just to increase the general
luminosity (brightness) within the environment. Again, these are available in
the Arcadia LumenIZE range so that they can have variable levels of brightness
to simulate dawn and dusk.
Environmental enrichment
is another area that you can always improve, this means adding different
furnishings regularly and using objects of different textures and materials to
encourage your dragon to investigate their environment. This can be as simple
as rotating through different cage furnishings or adding things like piles of
dried leaves for them to investigate, the options for this are only as limited
as your imagination.
Additional
Information:
Bearded dragons are probably
the most kept species of lizard in the UK, they have been selectively bred to
enhance their colours and patterns in lots of different ways. Most of these
colour and pattern variants (referred to as morphs) are just as healthy as the naturally
coloured individuals. Do bear in mind though that bearded dragons which are carrying
lots of different genetic mutations may not be quite as vigorous as they will
be from a more restricted gene pool, a bit like with pedigree dogs generally
having a shorter lifespan than mongrels.
Most pet bearded dragons
are probably somewhere in their past a bit of a crossbreed between several
closely related species. The Centralian bearded dragons natural range overlaps
with several of its close relatives and when they were originally exported for
the pet trade in the mid to late 1900’s they would have been accidentally
breeding anything that looked similar together so there isn’t really such a
thing as a “pure bearded dragon” in captivity. The two most likely species for
them to have been hybridised with in the past are their smaller cousin the
Rankins dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni) which is another commonly kept pet species.
Or their slightly larger cousin the Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)
which is rarely seen in captivity in the UK but a little more common with
European pet keepers.
Bearded dragons display a
wide variety of social interactions from head bobbing to hand waving that are
all unique ways of them communicating. They can also turn their beard black and
inflate themselves to appear more intimidating should they feel threatened,
alarmed or in response to other external stimuli.
It is normal that many
bearded dragons will go through a period of lowered activity levels over the
winter, referred to as Brumation. You can read more about brumation in our brumationarticle here.
Bearded dragons are generally a very hardy species and often the most appropriate starter lizard for many people, especially for families. They tend to be trouble free and have relatively few health complaints. Obesity is probably the most common health complaint that we tend to see in them these days as people overfeed their adults by feeding them the same number of insects as they would for a juvenile.
With a suitable environment and
appropriate feeding, they are a very rewarding pet to keep.