April 24th, 2020 | Updated on June 28th, 2022
With more people increasingly looking forward to owning a bearded dragon, it’s important to know the ideal ways to care for them.
A bearded dragon makes a good pet as it does quite well with the right care and handling, but you can only get the best out of them if you understand exactly what to do.
With the right care and handling, a bearded dragon is capable of showing affection to you as they bond easily over time. This post will explain the best ways to care for your bearded dragon.
Proper Temperature And Humidity
It’s important to remember that bearded dragons originate from Australia which has hot and arid weather conditions.
Therefore, you need to replicate these conditions as much as possible while keeping them. When housing a bearded dragon, the right temperature that is close to their natural habitat should be maintained.
Here is how you can make sure that the enclosure has a proper temperature. Use a digital thermometer at the cool part of the enclosure and another one at the basking area.
You can check the temperature daily, but ensure that it should not go down to below 22 degrees C.
You can increase the temperature at the basking place by placing bricks, a log or rock straight under the light.
Simply put, a bearded dragon should have a hot spot to bask and a cool area to cool off. This is because they are cold-blooded animals that control their temperature by staying in cooler and hotter areas.
When it comes to humidity, bearded dragons thrive in low humidity to prevent breathing or skin problems.
Hence, you should use a hygrometer at the cool part of the enclosure to measure the humidity. The right humidity should be between 30 and 40%.
Light
Light is another important element you have to consider when housing a bearded dragon.
They need natural light to create day and night settings. Bearded dragons use ultraviolet light for their color vision and to make vitamin D3 in their skin.
This vitamin helps these lizards to store and utilize calcium which is an essential mineral.
When using a UV lamp, place it inside the enclosure. But you should always follow the manufacturer’s recommendation in regards to the distance between the bearded dragon and the lamp.
In this way, you can prevent your pet from injuries or burns should the bulb break. You should also turn off the lights at night, meaning turn them off for 12 hours at night and on for 12 hours during the day.
Cleaning
Like any other pet, bearded dragons can mess their enclosure. So poorly maintained ones can become pretty dirty quickly. This can be a health hazard for your pet and you.
For this reason, the pet’s waste should be cleaned thoroughly as soon as you see it.
The best way to do it is to make sure that you use a reptile-safe disinfectant to clean the enclosure once a month. Read more about caring for your bearded dragon at Bearded Dragon Guru.
While cleaning the vivarium, you need to be careful because reptiles are usually carriers of Salmonella.
Hence, wash your hands carefully before and after handling or cleaning. This may prevent the spread of infections between the bearded dragon and you and the other animals.
