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Hi and welcome to episode 26 of Reptil.TV!
You can probably imagine what today’s episode is about.
We received a lot of messages via Twitter, YouTube, Mail and Facebook that we should finally do an episode on bearded dragons.
So we wanted to fulfill your wishes and we'll show you the basics on bearded dragons.
First you need to have a terrarium to keep a bearded dragon.
Bearded dragons are about 50-60 cm long, including their tail.
Therefore, you need a terrarium with the appropriate size.
I think 1,2m x 0,6m, or even better 1,5m x 0,6m, should be sufficient for 1 or 2 animals
The height can be 80cm or 100 cm.
The three most important facts regarding bearded dragons and the terrarium are:
The Brightness, or light intensity.
Second: the ultraviolet light.
Third: you need heat.
Let us start with heat. The warmest point, the sunspot, should be around 50°C. Let’s say between 45-50°C.
The coldest spot in terrarium should be 30°C. Roughly between 25 and 30°C.
If you measured those two spots and have these temperatures. Than you know that the temperature inside your terrarium is correct.
With an Elstein heat radiator you can achieve that quite easy.
It doesn't emit light, but does a good job at heating.
At the moment it is the best and cheapest way to heat a terrarium.
The same applies to lighting sources too, only use ceramic sockets and heat enduring silicone cables
Don't use a normal cable! You need a special heat enduring cable, that can resist these high temperatures.
Lightning by itself is the next point.
The animals need a bright light. Outside in the sun we can see that the light intensity is really huge.
Therefore, we have to achieve this light intensity inside the terrarium.
You can't use a murky light bulb. Moreover, you can't use a neon light as an exclusive light source.
You need a real spotlight with enough power, like a Sylvania spotlight with 160W.
Or a "Bright Sun", it's based on a metal halide lamp. We've got a 70W lamp here. But you can also buy a lamp with 150W.
With those, you can create a light intensity that is good for the animals.
The bigger the terrarium, the more lamps you need.
For a terrarium with 1,2m the 160W lamp is good. For a terrarium with 1,5m you already need two lamps.
Third we have the UVB rays.
Both lamps emit enough UVB rays.
There are also energy-efficient lamps with UVB. But be careful because they are only adequate for small terrariums.
This one here is for a 0,5m / 0,6m terrarium, where you can raise babies in - this would be alright as UVB lighting.
In a big terrarium, a 23W lamp doesn't have enough radiation, to go more than 20cm.
For a small terrarium and raising babies, it is good.
For a big terrarium, it is not useful.
Let's talk about feeding.
Here we have various insects. From grasshoppers, crickets or cockroaches.
If you don't feed too much, you can also feed worms, like flour worms.
Don't feed too much worms, because have a lot of fat and phosphor.
The best chow is "jumping stuff", like crickets, grasshoppers and cockroaches.
Furthermore, each day you should offer lettuce to your animal.
Put a bowl of fresh lettuce in the terrarium each morning.
And exchange it in the evening or the next day.
Babies don't eat lettuce from day 1 on. They need some weeks until they eat lettuce.
By and by, they start eating salad.
It's healthy and important for the animals, that 1/3 to 1/4 of their food is vegetarian.
Our little trick: we always put a piece of apple or carrot inside the terrarium.
The insects, that i.e. stay overnight inside the terrarium, or even during daytime.
They can feed on the apple or carrot.
On one hand, it's a so-called "guts loading". They take in the nutrients from the fruit.
On the other hand it has the purpose that during night the insects leave the reptile alone. And might even eat away at it.
They just find chow inside the terrarium and keep out of mischief.
Really important is that you don't forget to dust your feeding insects with a calcium-mineral supplement.
There are various suppliers in the market e.g. Herpetal, Herbamed and Nekton.
The same goes with the lettuce. Always dust it when you place it inside the terrarium.
In episode 19 of Reptil.TV, we showed you how to dust the insects and the food.
Really important! Obersve how your animal behaves.
It has to be active, energetic and really important it has to keep up.
It shouldn't rest it's head on the substratum.
The eyes have to be wide open and clear.
The animal has to look at what is happening around it. Then it is a healthy animal.
If you observe that your animal is sleepy and unfit, then something is wrong.
That doesn't mean your animal has to be sick. Maybe the temperature or the lighting is wrong.
If the animal has the impression, that it is half dark and winter or it isn't as hot as it was inside the terrarium.
Then it begins to prepare itself for its winter rest and becomes sleepy.
Of course it may be true that it is sick in some other way.
But those are some facts a terrarium owner has to check first, what could be wrong and what do I have to change.
Then there are always the basic questions. How big do they get?
As we said before, 50 to 60 cm.
Of course including the tail.
If we look at our mate here, he's 40 to 45cm big, as I would guess.
He's one year old.
Even a little bit older. They also get bulkier.
Regarding the age, I would guess that they can become around 20 years old.
The problem is, that 20 years ago, almost nobody kept bearded dragons as pets.
That's why we don't really know how old they can become.
I think, 15 to 20 years is a good estimate.
A common question is: In what intervals do I have to feed the animal.
As said before, I provide lettuce every day. I also don't do an abstinence day.
With the insects I'm more economical. I would feed babies and young animals every day.
When it get's bigger I have one abstinence day with the insects.
If they are adolescent, I might do two days of abstinence.
Big animals, or big males, it's enough if I feed them Insects two or three times a week.
It's important that the animals don't get too fat. The males tend to eat too much and become too fat because of the food supply in the terrarium.
If you take it easy, it's healthier for the animal and they live longer too, because they are not too fat.
Then there is the question regarding drinking. Should I put in a drinking bowl or shouldn't I?
I recommend to putting in a water bowl, even if the animals normally don't drink directly out of the bowl.
If it gets too hot inside the terrarium, I observed that they sit inside the bowl, probably to cool down.
Another insider trick: We always put a stone in the water bowl.
That way the feeding insects can't drown. If a house cricket hops in, it would drown, because it couldn't get out with the clean edges.
They can hold onto the stone and don't drown.
It's better, more practical and hygienic.
In order for the animals to drink enough, I have to spray a little every day.
I imitate the dew from nature. With a plant spray gun, spray inside in the morning and in the evening.
The animals lick the water from the plants, stones or decoration that are inside.
They drink that way. Not from a water bowl, but rather the due.
Important fact: With young animals, I have to spray at least twice a day, because they have to absorb a lot of water so they don't dry up in the warm terrarium.
And bearded dragons have to hold their winter rest.
They have to rest roughly between 6, up to 12 weeks.
During fall, when it gets colder outside and the temperature drops 1-2 degrees inside the terrarium.
They are not as agile anymore, not as active. Then it's time when they need and want their winter rest.
Depending on the size, I let them have between 8 and 12 weeks of rest.
A young animal about 8 weeks and an adult animal 12 weeks.
I do not have to lower the temperature a lot during winter rest.
I don't have to put them inside the fridge or in the basement.
From my experience, it's enough if I have a cool room
E.g. a bedroom where you have a little below 20 degrees. That's enough for the winter rest.
Even in my living room, it should be enough if you turn off the lighting and heating inside the terrarium in order to have about 20 degrees inside.
I can also cover the terrarium with a big piece of cloth. So the animals are not disturbed.
In that state, you just leave them form 8 to 12 weeks in their winter rest.
You shouldn't turn off everything all of a sudden.
In the past it was pushed too hard. Turn down the heating slowly, than the lighting. I think you don't have to exaggerate it that way.
We can observe outside how winter arrives from one day to the other.
It's the same in the tropical, or very hot countries.
One day the sun shines and it's 30°C, the next day it's gone and winter arrived.
So I would say you can shut down the whole thing in 6 to 7 days. And the same the other way around, turn up heating and lighting within 6 to days.
Another common question: How often can I touch the animal and can I take it outside the terrarium?
I think there is no harm for the animal, even if I take it out each day at the beginning, and keep it in my hand for 1/4 hour.
As long as the temperature inside the apartment is alright and there is no draft, I can handle the animal.
It would do it any harm and of course one wants to touch the animal. And with a bearded dragon that's alright.
Breeding bearded dragons, happens almost inevitably if you have a pair,
You can't avoid that the two mate and that the female will lay eggs, because they are really copious.
If you want to avoid breeding, you have to hold a single male, or two or three individual females.
By no means should you put a pair together.
To conclude, a bearded dragon is a grateful fosterling. But you have put in a lot of energy.
You require a terrarium with a high light intensity and that is very warm.
As said before, 45-50°C at the sun spot.
Coldest corner 26,27,28°C as minimum value.
If I don't have these temperatures, something is wrong.
So you have to use a lot of energy. You need heat radiator and lamps with a high light intensity and enough performance.
So with a terrarium with 1,5m it'll be 300-400W of energy that you need to utilize.
If a customer says that his bearded dragon is not fit and says that he only has 50-70W of energy, then I already know that something isn't right and what's wrong.
Therefore, if you want to keep bearded dragons, you have to invest some Watts.
That's all for today. And remember...
Check my Balls and check my Bartagamen (breaded dragons)
Hey Florian, did you see? Stephan even thought of the powder. He independently thought of his make up?! I think he really is starting to like it.
Audio?! And action!
So now we'll talk about feeding the animals. I'll do it once again without that "so".
Then there is the winter rest, that bearded dragons have. Ahh stop it, I talk about that every time.
It should stop every moment. I think it should stop every moment.