five to six months of age. The growth rate begins to taper off after about six months.
Our studies show that baby bearded dragons kept under conservative husbandry conditions can increase in size a mind-boggling 4,000 percent within six months of hatching. Under more intensive conditions, a 5,000-percent increase in weight may occur. A baby inland bearded dragon will weigh about 0.08 ounces (2½ grams) at birth. By four months of age and a length of 12 inches, it will weigh about 4 ounces (between 100 and 125 grams—just imagine a human baby growing from 7 pounds to 280 pounds in four months!). Most Super Citrus dragons will reach 16 inches by six months of age if maintained under optimal conditions.
What’s the lesson to be learned from this? Kept in optimal conditions, bearded dragons can grow fast, requiring more food than you may have realized and larger enclosures at an earlier age than you may have planned. Of course, the upside to this fast growth is that within a very short period of time, your bearded dragon can be sitting on your shoulder and becoming more involved with the family group.
Common Health Problems
As with many fast-growing lizards, the most common problem seen in immature bearded dragons is calcium deficiency associated with soft bones (metabolic bone disease or MBD) or with twitches and seizures (low blood calcium or hypocalcemia). Calcium deficiency results from several factors that may occur singly or together: improper vitamin/mineral supplementation; inadequate heat, which prevents the absorption of calcium supplements; an inappropriate diet or feeding schedule; and insufficient exposure to an ultraviolet-B (UVB) light source. Prevention is simple: follow the instructions in this book.
Two other diseases common in bearded dragons of all ages are caused by parasites. One is heavy pinworm infestation, which remains a significant cause of these lizards’ failure to gain or maintain weight. Another, more problematic, disease is coccidiosis, caused by a type of protozoan parasite. Both diseases require diagnosis and treatment by a qualified veterinarian (see Chapter 10).
Older pet dragons may suffer from gout, liver disease, kidney failure, or even cancer. The current knowledge about these disorders suggests that ensuring proper hydration, correct thermal gradients, and an appropriate balanced diet are the best potential preventive measures.
2: SELECTING YOUR DRAGON
Probably nothing is more important for successful bearded-dragon keeping than the initial selection of your animal. You must pay attention and choose, to the best of your abilities, an apparently healthy animal to start with, or you must work with a reputable online breeder who will use his or her experience to choose wisely for you. You should also evaluate what you expect from owning a bearded dragon: is the lizard meant to be a pet that should interact with you, a display animal noted for its beauty, a dragon that will be bred, or some combination of these purposes? Will this dragon interact with children? Other family pets? A caring and qualified breeder can help by selecting the right dragon for your situation.
Gender and Number of Dragons
Both sexes of bearded dragon make good pets, but males grow larger and are considered by some to exhibit more character, personality, and responsiveness. Of the color morphs, males tend to be brighter in color than females. Some females are more particular about what they want—“You are feeding me that again today?”—and may run a risk of egg binding. Of course, most people become completely hooked on these lizards, with their winning personalities and with so many colors to choose from, and rapidly wind up with a collection! After all, if you are going to get one bearded dragon, it doesn’t take much more work (and can be much more entertaining) to keep two or three.
On that note, how many bearded dragons should you get? If you a want a single pet, an individual bearded dragon will fare well enough, though males may display signs of social deprivation by bobbing their heads at you. This mainly occurs during sexual maturity, and many males calm down as they grow up and become regular coach potatoes. Females can be sweet and charming in their own right.
Females can be picky about both food and mates.
Because bearded dragons are social creatures, an adult male and female pair, matched so they are close in age and size, is an ideal combination. If you wish to breed, start with juveniles and raise them separately until they are ready to breed; this way, you will have a close bond with both dragons.
Some breeders maintain larger groups, using a ratio of one male to two females. However, in indoor enclosures, it has been our experience that a 1:1 ratio is preferable because it seems to reduce the stress of the breeding animals. In the 1:2 ratio, one female always seems to eat less and is in a more subordinate position. How this stress affects the dragon in terms of health remains to be seen. It should also be noted that females can be picky about their chosen mates. In fact, we usually allow each female a choice of two genetically compatible males so that, should she refuse one male, she will usually accept male #2.
Some females can be quite possessive of their mates. One year, we removed a paired female named Storm to a different room to attempt to breed the male, Ra, to a different female. Though female #2 showed obvious signs of breeding behavior, the male wanted nothing to do with her. He froze. Once we brought the original female, Storm, back, she ran all over the enclosure, “tasting” for the other female, and then proceeded to lie on top of the male. There was no mistaking her point!
In large walk-in enclosures, you can keep up to two males and four females together. Although adult males will get into territorial and competitive engagements during the breeding season, they are usually not aggressive enough to cause serious harm to each other. Close observation is nonetheless always necessary to evaluate the compatibility of dragons kept in a group and prevent potentially dangerous situations.
This dragon’s belly shows the dark markings associated with stress.
Baby bearded dragons raised in groups are very competitive and will form hierarchies early on in which the tougher and usually larger animals will intimidate smaller ones and eat most of the food. This causes the dominant dragons to grow faster, making them even more intimidating and dominating. It’s a vicious circle. If small specimens are not separated from larger specimens, the small ones will often hide, fare poorly, or eventually become food for their bigger brothers and sisters. It’s imperative that you closely observe the dragons to evaluate their individual growth, health, and welfare. As soon as you observe a dominance situation, you should move the submissive babies in with other submissive babies so that they will thrive. You’ll then observe the dominance display all over again. Often, babies kept in groups indoors need to be moved every day or sometimes even several times a day so that all of them get the chance to eat and grow.
At Fire and Ice Dragons, we separate all of the babies after the first week and place each baby in its own bin. This way, the babies experience no potential physical or psychological risks. Because we raise each baby in a stress-free environment, they grow normally and thrive, and we have no problems resulting from cannibalism (e.g., missing toes, missing tails, or even unnecessary death). That said, this type of setup may be too costly for those breeders raising as many babies as they can.
An ideal setup, if you have the space and ability,
