Bearded Dragon Shopping List
What you will
need to keep one adult Bearded Dragon Happy and Healthy
- One large fish tank
(45-75 gallon) with screen top. Cost = $70-150 for the tank. $30 for
the screen lid. Watch the classifieds and tag sales. Large tanks come
up quite frequently for less. You can also choose to build your own
cage. Look around at the pet shops too. Sometimes they have "$1
per gallon" sales. I got my 75 gallon this way.
- Heat lighting
- This is simply a fixture from a hardware store with a suitably sized
light bulb. A normal everyday lightbulb is fine for heat. You will need
to experiment with wattages to get the desired temperature. Generally
60-100 watts is sufficient. Cost = 50 cents to $1 for the bulb and $10-15
for the fixure (I recommend a ceramic fixture for durability).
- UVB Tube lighting
- ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 (or ZooMed Iguanalight 5.0) is the most recommended
bulb. Cost = $20 online OR $35 at most pet shops. Buy it online at www.herpsupplies.com
and save yourself some cash. You will see other "full spectrum"
bulbs advertised and pushed by pet shop personnel. Don't buy it. Go
for the ZooMed Reptisun 5.0!
- UV Tube fixture
- You can buy the pretty one at the pet store for $35 or you can go
to Home Depot or similar stores and get a less attractive one for about
$20 or less that works just fine. Some of them can be screwed into the
screen top so that they hang into the tank.
- Substrate
- This is a tough one and opinions vary. You can use playsand from a
Home Depot type of place which is about $3 for 50 lbs. If you use any
particulate substrate be careful when feeding as any of them can cause
impaction if swallowed in quantity. I use sand for my adults but I also
hand feed them so there is no danger of ingestion.
- Cage Furniture
- You can find branches and rocks outside for free. Just make sure you
disinfect them thoroughly with a mild bleach solution or by baking them
in the oven. (Don't bake rocks, they have been known to explode.) Fancy
rocks and branches cost a lot at the pet store. This is an optional
cost so I won't put anything here.
- Food
- Adult Dragons will consume vast quantities of crickets & superworms
(plus other insects if offered). If you plan on buying your crickets
at the pet store they will run you 8-10 cents apiece. A normal dragon
will easily eat in the neighborhood of $15-20 worth of crickets a week
if purchased this way. I recommend buying in bulk from either Southern
Cricket Wholesale or NY
Worms. In this case the crickets are about $13-15 per thousand and
will last a couple of weeks. It is far more economical this way. Also
plan on buying greens and veggies. These are relatively cheap. All I
can say here is maybe you will spend $3-4 per week on veggies.
So there you have it. A Bearded
dragon costs much more than the $50-100 price tag on the dragon itself.
Keep this in mind when you purchase one. Print this out and take it along
with you when shopping. Another great place to get good deals on supplies
are the herp shows that are all over the country. Search the net to find
one near you!
Feel free to write me with
any questions at
reptileszz@cox.net
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