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The Central Bearded Dragon or Inland Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps) is a type of agamid lizard. Of the several species of the Pogona genus, P. vitticeps is the most commonly seen breed in pet stores throughout the world.

Adult central bearded dragons usually grow to be about two feet in length, with the tail accounting for over half of the total body length. Females are typically smaller than the males. Bearded dragons come in a wide variety of colours, including brown, grey, reddish-brown, green, and even orange. They are capable of undergoing very slight changes in the shade of their colour to help regulate temperature. The specialized scales along both sides of the throat, neck, and head form many narrow spines which run down the side of the body to the tail. When feeling threatened a bearded dragon will flatten its body against the ground, puff out its spiny throat, and open its jaws to make itself appear larger. The bearded dragon is so named because of the spiny throat projections appear similar to a human beard. Males typical have a darker "beard" than females, and during mating season and courtship the "beard" will typically darken to near-black. The bearded dragon, like most agamid lizards, has strong legs which enable it to lift its body completely off the ground while it moves. This is done to reduce the heat taken in from the ground, as well as to increase the air-flow over the belly to cool itself further.

The central bearded dragon is native to the semi-arid to and arid woodlands and rocky desert regions of Central Australia. They are skilled climbers, and often spend just as much time perching on tree limbs, fence posts, and in bushes than they do on the ground. They spend much of the morning and evening sunning themselves on top of an exposed branch or rock. They are diurnal, but like most desert animals they spend the hottest parts of the day hiding in underground burrows or any other cool hiding spot removed from direct sunlight.

FEEDING

Central bearded dragons are omnivorous. They are voracious eaters, feeding on insects and other invertebrates, and are known to sometimes eat small vertebrates, such as mice, as well. They also tend to eat more soft plant matter (such as green leaves, fruits and vegetables, and flowers) as they mature. Although that they eat the larvae of the greater waxmoth (wax worms) well, never use as a staple food for them, because it is very high in fat and can cause obesity or heart disease. Never feed hatchling bearded dragons mealworms because of the chitinous outer shell that can cause gastrointestinal impaction. Crickets fed to bearded dragons must never be wider than the width between the lizard's eyes, because it can cause paralysis. Make sure you never put adult bearded dragons in contact with baby bearded dragons because in the wild, they eat juveniles.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Bearded Dragons

 

Life Span:                               10-20 years have been known in captivity, this is a great beginner lizard for families and young children due to the ease of care and the hardiness of the lizard, but make sure you are committed as the life span is long, and the food requirement is substantial.

 

Tanks:                                     Minimum size is 4ft x 2ft x 2ft, and should increase per dragon.  Wood is best as glass is not understood and can cause serious injury if the beardie constantly bangs their snout, as mouth rot can set in.  Try to decorate the tanks with real and fake plants, rocks and tree stumps for climbing.  All of these should be previously sterilised or purchased in store to guarantee that you are not introducing mites, ticks, fungus or disease.

 

Heating needs to be provided constantly, day and night but most options are low voltage and are low cost to run.  There are two main options, 1) the heat mat.  This stays under your substrate and warms the tummies of your dragons.  2) An Ultratherm heat emitter, similar to a bulb except it produces heat, not light. As these become VERY hot they need to be somewhere that your dragon cannot get at, as the heat will sear the flesh, resulting in seriously bad burns.  The temperature gradient during the day should range from 24 C on the cool side to 30 C on the warm side, with a basking area ranging from 32-37.7 C. Night time temperatures can drop no lower than 21 C on the cool side.

 

Beardies need access to a UVB source. In a country like ours this means being subject to a UVB-producing fluorescent tube such as Zoo Med's Iguana or Reptisun lights (5.0+) or similar UVB-producing fluorescent tube. The term "full spectrum" is incorrectly used by incandescent light manufacturers whose lights are suitable only for producing heat and light; they do not produce the UVB required for calcium metabolism. These lights can be plugged into a timer meaning the lizard will get the 8 hours of required light every day without any effort from you, also ensuring that you can enjoy your weekend away without worrying.

Fresh water should always be available to your dragon.  Please be aware that some lizards never figure out how to drink still water, which means that you may have to invest in something like the electronic waterfalls made for this purpose, or spray down your lizard twice daily from a gardening ‘mister’.  This should really be done for all lizards once a day as it softens the skin, and most love the sensations.

Baby Beardies must only eat crickets in the ‘pin head’ stage, as anything larger will result in impactions, which often lead to death. At about 3 months old it is safe to assume the rule ‘the width of the beardies eyes’, meaning never feed any prey over that size. Mealworms, Wax moths, Mario worms, crickets, locusts and vegetables should all be offered to your beardie, with the vegetables only making up about 20% of the diet.

 

Foods they will take;

Escarole

                                          Dark lettuces (not iceberg)

                                          Bok Choi

                                          Endive

                                          Carrots

                                          Peas

                                          Yellow squash

                                          Eggplant

                                          Green Beans

                                          Mustard collard kale and beet greens

                                          Nasturtium, hibiscus and dandelion leaves and flowers.

                                          Parsley

                                          Pumpkin (orange fleshed squash)

                                          Cantaloupe

 

Treats;

Romaine

                                          Strawberries

                                          Raspberries

                                          Apples

                                          Bananas

                                          Squash

                                          Melon

                                          Mango             

                                          Mice pinkies

 

Sexing:                                    Not even to be attempted when the beardies are babies, but differences start to show about four months onwards.  The easiest way to do it is lay your dragon flat on your palm with his back to you, and lift the tail straight up and taut, but making sure you are not hurting your dragon. Two ‘bumps’ may be present just above the cloaca, if there is only one small nearly invisible bump you possibly have a female, two distinct bumps means you are looking at the hemipenes of a male.  Be careful however as the hemipenes need time to develop and can often happen overnight when you have been sure you have had a female for two months! Males have larger beards as they store fat in the sides, and females are generally smaller.

 

Mating:                                   Beardies become sexually mature around 1 ½ - 2 years old, please do not attempt to mate them before this time.  Females should weigh over .8lbs, and should have been brumated. (See brumation.)  Males when introduced should bob their head furiously, the beard should blacken and flare, and they should make a run for the female. The female if she’s receptive (they nearly always are) will put her head down, or seem to do a really slow push up, and the male should then run to her, bite the back of her neck and push her tail out of his way.  They will then ‘roll’ as he inserts the spermatozoa. 

 

Gestation:                               Lasts between 20-30 days, with the female laying from 10-50 eggs, 20 being a good average.  The female can retain sperm in her body and re-inseminate herself the day after laying, for up to a year, potentially producing a LOT of eggs in a short season.

 

Laying:                                    Before your female lays be sure to increase her vegetable intake as she needs more nutrition.  Laying is a complicated procedure, and can cause death if not done properly, so please be very sure before you breed a female.  A few hours/days before laying your female will begin pacing the cage and scratching in all corners or plants.  Now is the time to take her out and place her in a lay box.  A lay box is a large 20 gallon tub (at least) filled 3/4s full of compost (sterile) or vermiculite.  She will dig for hours, eventually putting her bum into a hole, laying her eggs and then replacing the mud.  You can now take her out and give her a warm bath to gently cleanse her, and replace any lost moisture.  Feed her well at this stage too, mostly fruit and veg.  If you do not provide a suitable egg laying area for your beardie she will become egg bound, a very serious condition that will result in the DEATH of your dragon. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION, especially if you have two beardies living together.

 

Incubation:                             Takes approximately 60 days, and the eggs need to be kept at exactly 28.5C in a moist, sterile environment.  When the dragons hatch you can’t touch them until they have been free of the egg for some hours.  They will not eat or drink for the first week or so as they are living off the yolk.  When they do eat, there quickly becomes a lot of aggression between siblings, keep no more than four in a 20 gallon tank as any more will cause missing toes, and possibly tails, and sometimes death. 

 

Brumation:                             Most beardies should be brumated for about a month and a half every winter.  This is achieved by turning the heat in the tank down little by little and shortening the ‘day’ periods and weaning the feeds.  Make sure that your dragon is healthy and carrying substantial weight before you do this though.  When your dragon wakes up it will be VERY VERY hungry!

***Please Note;                    Two males cannot be housed together as they will fight to the death eventually.