If you are looking for a pet with a difference, one of my personal favourites is the Bearded Dragon. These native Aussie lizards are one of the easiest reptiles to keep. They’re laid back and genuinely seem to enjoy interacting with humans.
Appearance
Bearded Dragons are squat-bodied lizards with medium length tails and small spikes all over their body. They have the ability to extend the skin on the underside of their throats creating a beard-like display - hence the name. They are ‘diurnal’, meaning they are active during the day and just love laying around, basking in the sun.
Selection
If you are looking for a single pet, it is recommended that you choose a male, as females can encounter problems with their reproductive systems. Look for a healthy lizard - one that is active and alert with wide-open eyes.
Handling
The beauty of these lizards is that they really respond well to being handled and ‘tamed’ and it is relatively easy to train them to sit calmly on your shoulder. The key is to have short periods of interaction with them and to hand feed them so they get used to taking food from you. Depending where you buy your lizard, it may have already received a lot of prior handling, which will really help in the taming process.
Lizards should be held with your hand gently under the belly, allowing them to rest comfortably… but be careful as they can run off if you take them outdoors and there’s nothing worse than a squished new pet!
Housing
You can keep them singly or in breeding groups, although for the first time lizard owner, I would suggest starting with just one. A basic set up would be a large glass tank with a sand substrate or fine aquarium pebbles, some plants and branches for climbing, a shelter, a water dish, a spotlight for heat and a full spectrum fluorescent light to provide a source of UVB rays. Bearded Dragons need both basking and hiding areas.
The tank should be cleaned and the substrate replaced about once a week.
Feeding
Bearded Dragons are omnivorous and eat a variety of insects such as cockroaches, moths, crickets and mealworms. Their diet should include about 20% vegetable matter such as spinach, lettuce and fruit. Juveniles should be fed every two to three days and adults about once a week. You can order live cockroaches and crickets from larger pet stores. This is probably the only down side of this pet… they do need live insect matter to provide them with a source of protein.
There should always be fresh water available in the tank, but an occasional spray of fine mist is also a good idea, as many dragons enjoy licking up water droplets instead of drinking from a bowl.
License
As Bearded Dragons are a protected native species, it is a requirement in some states that you have a license. Your local National Parks and Wildlife Service can give you these details. Some States require you to do a short course (just a few hours) on keeping reptiles. This will enable you to learn valuable information on Bearded Dragons, including husbandry should you wish to breed them.
Cost
It will cost you somewhere between $60 and $200 for a lizard, but the tank and set up will cost as much as $300 to $1,000 depending on how extravagant you want it to be. Once up and running however, your costs are minimal and they are generally much less expensive to maintain than (e.g.) a dog or cat.