One of the great things about bearded dragons (and as an owner, you’ll come to realize there are a lot of great things!) is that they are a relatively easy pet to keep. They aren’t maintenance-free, of course, but they aren’t labor-intensive either.
When you take a step back, there are only a handful of things that you absolutely must get right to raise a happy and healthy bearded dragon. Get these 12 beardie “must-haves” right, and you are 90% of the way to giving your bearded dragon everything it needs!
Key Takeaways
ALL bearded dragons should have these things:
- The right-sized enclosure.
- A basking spot kept at the correct temperature.
- A UVB light.
- One side of their tank kept cooler than the other.
- Available water.
- Greens available daily.
- Gut-loaded feeder insects.
- A place to hide.
- Interaction with their owner.
- Yearly vet visits.
- The right supplements.
- A clean enclosure.
1. A 2′ x 2′ x 4′ Enclosure
The vivarium you buy and furnish will be your bearded dragon’s home. The primary idea behind providing them a great environment to live in is to get as close to their natural habitat as possible.
Being that bearded dragons are native to the arid areas of central Australia. They have all the land they could possibly want to roam and hunt and play and be free. We obviously can’t duplicate this in our homes, but we can at least give them ample room to live.
How much is ample room? Check out our full guide to vivarium size here for all the details you’ll need to provide this critical must-have for your bearded dragon.
Keep in mind that you’ll want room enough for your beardie to move around freely. You want enough space to have a hot and cool side. You’ll need room for one or two (preferably two!) places for them to hide. You’ll also need room for them to climb.
As a semi-arboreal species, bearded dragons love to climb. This gives them both exercise and a way to move closer to or further from their basking light. Their enclosure should have enough height to allow this! (source)
There are two properly sized enclosures we love. They both get great feedback from our readers, and if we were to buy an enclosure today, it would be one of these two:
Check out the Carolina Customs 2’x2’x4′ enclosure here on Amazon.
We also really like this 48″x24″x18″ by Reptizoo as a much less expensive option.
2. A 95℉ – 105℉ Basking Spot
In keeping with trying to simulate their native land of Australia, proper temperatures are another critical element. Their native lands are hot during the day but get cool at night. Simulating this temperature variance is important for several reasons.
Bearded dragons are ectotherms. This means they cannot regulate their own body temperatures like humans or other warm-blooded animals. They rely on external temperatures to do this for them. (source)
This means that when they need heat, they have to find a source of it. When they need cool, they must find a spot that’s cool. This isn’t just a preference thing. It’s necessary for several key bodily functions.
One of the most important is digestion.
Without external heat, bearded dragons cannot digest their food. This can lead to impaction, malnutrition, and other serious issues.
For this reason, it’s very important that we provide a basking spot for our bearded dragons that’s hot enough to aid proper digestion. How hot should it be? It depends on the age of your beardie. We cover everything you need to know here in our article on providing the healthiest basking temps for your bearded dragon!
You can see the exact basking lights we use here on Amazon.
3. A UVB Light
One thing that the Australian terrain has that your house most assuredly does not is lots of bright sunlight. Simulating the UV content of the sun’s rays is another must-have for a healthy bearded dragon. (source)
First, a warning—do NOT put your vivarium in direct sunlight!!! This is a common mistake many bearded dragon owners make, and it is very dangerous for your beardie. The glass walls of your beardie’s home do not allow the open ventilation available in the wild.
Instead, the glass walls of your bearded dragon’s home act more like the four walls of an oven. They keep heat in and don’t let any out. A well-meaning bearded dragon owner can quickly kill their beardie by leaving their enclosure in the sun!
So, how do we give our little reptilian friends the gift of indoor sunlight without baking them alive? With a UVB light source.
UVB and UVA radiation are the parts of the sun’s rays that your bearded dragon needs. Specifically, UVB allows your beardie to convert vitamin D to usable calcium. By useable, we mean that it can be shuttled to their bones, where it helps keep them strong and healthy.
Without the proper amount of UVB light, bearded dragons can develop metabolic bone disease (MBD). MBD is an unfortunately common disease that presents itself in older beardies who have spent their lives unable to get enough calcium in their bones. (source)
Want to know everything a responsible beardie owner should about MBD? Check out our full article here!
You can get the proper amount of UVB with a dedicated UVB bulb or by using a combination basking/UVB bulb (mercury vapor). Lighting, on the whole, is a tricky thing to get right at first. We’ve spelled everything out as simply as possible in our complete guide to bearded dragon lighting here (article coming soon!)
You can order our favorite UVB fixture and bulb here on Amazon! It’s what we use for our bearded dragon. Make sure you are getting the right length for your fixture/enclosure (the one linked is for our recommended 48″ wide enclosure).
4. A Cool Side of Their Tank at 75℉
Once we get the basking spot and UVB lighting all set up for our bearded dragon, this sometimes causes another problem. While they like the heat, they also need a place to be cool. (source)
In Australia, their natural habitat can drop into the 50s℉ and sometimes lower at night. During the day, wild bearded dragons will often burrow into the dirt to find cooler spots to rest out of the heat. They also do this at night to find more stable temperatures to sleep in.
While we never want our enclosures to dip below 65 ℉, we do want to give our beardies some respite from the 100° plus temps of their basking spot.
This is done in two ways. The first is that their lights should be on timers. Twelve hours on and twelve hours off is a good recommendation. The second is that their basking spot should be all the way on one side of the vivarium. This leaves the other side at a cooler temperature throughout the day.
Even when the lights are on, your beardie will sometimes prefer to hang out on the cooler side of their tank. Keeping this side in the 70s is ideal for providing them the lower temps they sometimes desire and need for thermoregulation.
5. Water
The fact that a bearded dragon needs hydration is not a subject of debate. How they get it, on the other hand, seems to be the subject of some controversy.
There are 4 primary ways a bearded dragon can get the water they need. The options are drinking from a bowl, misting, baths, and from their food.
It’s common to hear many bearded dragon owners say things like, “my beardie won’t drink from a bowl”. While this is true for some beardies, we don’t feel like this is a good reason not to leave them a bowl of water.
These owners may be very surprised at what their beardie does when they are not around!
For this reason, we choose to provide all 4 forms of hydration to our bearded dragon. This is also what we recommend for you!
*A note to those of you that live in a humid climate. Ideally, you want your enclosure to be dry. In humid climates, sometimes misting and water bowls can raise the humidity level too high, thus inviting respiratory infections. See our article on enclosure humidity here!
Leave a bowl of water out for them. Make sure it’s clean and replenished regularly. Some people recommend you treat the drinking water you give your reptiles with a special additive. We use bottled water instead. Either way works great, but