The Best Bearded Dragon Housing Set Up
When setting up housing for any reptiles that you want to keep as pets, it is really important to consider their natural habitat. Where did they originally come from? Was it a desert or maybe a rainforest? Did they live on the ground or up in the trees? Once you have this information then you can set about recreating a similar environment for them.
Bearded dragons are native to Australia, being found mainly in deserts or dry shrub land areas. They like to bask on rocks and low shrub branches to warm up in the morning. Being cold blooded reptiles they do need an input of heat to survive and thrive.
I’ve found the following video, which gives you some really good information about setting up an ideal environment to keep your pet happy and thriving.
The important things to take from this video are:
- The minimum sized tank should be 120 gallons, which is about 4ft x 2ft x 2ft. In metric this is about 120cm x 60cm x 60cm, with a volume of about 450 liters.
- The best substrate is Jurassic natural Australian sand, mixed with some topsoil and peat moss. children’s play sand can be used as a substitute.
- 4-6 inches (10-15cm) of substrate is ideal.
- Some branches with foliage for climbing and hiding. Any timber collected from the forest should be sanitized.
- Flat rocks are good as basking spots.
- A water bowl and also a bowl for food.
- Two heat lamps, to create a basking spot of at least 105F.
- A good UVB lamp is critical for good health.
- LED daylight strips for general enclosure lighting.
If you take care in setting up a very good habitat for your bearded dragon, you will have a happy pet for a very long time.
