BEARDED DRAGON
(sorry if my english isn't perfect!!)
General:
The scientific name for the bearded dragon is pogona viticeps and are descended from from australia. They thrive in deserts, grasslands and woodlands. The bearded dragons spend most of their time sun-bathing on rocks and banches. they have a scaly,thorny skin.The thorns look hard but the are not they are soft. the intention of the thorns are to scare off enemies. When threatened the bearded dragon has the ability ( with help from little bones in their chin ) to extend their skin beneath their throat which usually also turns black and during all this the dragon has his mouth open. This looks kind a dangerous to their predators.
looks kind nasty doesn't it??
reproduction:
The female lay about 15 up to 25 eggs. When the eggs hatch the newborns are 2 up to 3 inches. The baby-dragons grow rapidly. After about one month they easely reach a lenght of 4.5 to 5 inches. so the youngsters grow fast therefor its very important that they have a balanced diet with vitamins and calcium. Especially the calcium is of importants, cause when they grow so fast and get not enough calcium the bones will get thin and break easily.
Housing:
The cage of the bearded dragon especially needs a large bottom and needs a height of 20 inches. Cover the bottom with wooden chips or rough sand. Don't use fine sand, when the dragon eats fine sand he can get an intestinal canal stoppage!! I use some bark, wooden brancehes and some big- and slate-rocks to decorate the cage. The dragons will use this for climbing and to lie on. The slate-rock is best placed beneath a basking spot, because the rock will get warm from the light from the light-bulb. This basking spot should have a temperature of 104 degrees fahrenheit. Make sure you also have some cooler places in the cage so the dragon can choose the temperature for that point himself. Its possible to buy electric heat-rocks in the pet stores, but my advise is DON'T BUY IT !! Because the dragon, especially the young ones, can get burned spots on their skin.
Nutrition:
The bearded dragon is a real glutton, they prefer bugs like crickets, grass-hoppers and worms, infact they will attack and try to eat anything that moves. For instance when our dragons where little they even tried to eat one of our parakeets. When the dragon is little older you also can give him little baby-mice which are easy, because you can inject the vitamins and calcium in your mice. This way you are sure they have all the vitamins and calcium they need. Its also of importants that you feed them vegetables like endive, this stimulates the digestion and eases the stools. You can also give them fruits like peaches, apples, pears and mango's. scatter al the food again with calcium-powder. Don't be affraid to give them to much calcium, because all the calcium they don't need will come out on the natural way!! (poop). This does not apply with the vitamins, because when you give to much of that they can get real sick and even die!!!