r/BeardedDragonCare

My dragon, Batman, is about six months old and getting super curious about everything. I can tell she wants to explore the living room, but I’m a very nervous dragon mom 😂

I’ve been thinking about getting her a leash so I can maybe train her to explore safely in the space.

A couple questions for the pros:

- Any tips or tricks for acclimating your dragon to roaming around your living space?

- Does anyone use a leash? I’d love to see pictures if you have one in action!

We just chillin in the window watching the world go by

I'm new to the Bearded Dragon world. But when I saw the condition Shrek was in, I knew I needed to rescue him.

Shrek started his recovery on March 31st, 2026. He's about 8 years old, 16 inches long, and on this day, he weighed 170 grams. Shrek was severely dehydrated and malnourished. He could hardly hold himself up.

Today, just 21 days later, he weighs 303 grams, and is slowly gaining back energy and is coming into his personality. It brings me so much joy to see him recover. We are by no means done, but we've made HUGE progress in just 3 weeks.

I thought I would share the joy of his growth with you all.

the title

Hello. This is my bearded dragon falkor. We got him as baby in October. We are estimating his age to be a year old this coming June- July. In February we got another baby beardie. Once falkor realized there was another beardie in the same house he hasn’t eaten as much. He started head bobbing daily looking at her tank even when he can’t see her, he knows she’s there. It’s not constant head bobbing and he has only got a black beard 1 or 2 times and hasn’t had stress marks. He doesn’t show any interest in bugs and hasn’t eaten any. He will eat his collard greens or arugula but he will only take 1-2 bites then be done and not want anymore for the day. We’ve put bee pollen and flavored calcium on it to try and encourage him. He doesn’t like any fruits like strawberries bananas or blue berries. The only way we have been able to even get him to take a bite of his salad is by holding it in front of him and hand feeding him. The only bug he’s even willing to eat is a horn worm but most the time he won’t eat it right away and we have to sit there holding it for 5-10 min before he decides to eat it. He has still been pooping at least every 3-5 days. His poop looks normal.

He still basks and has energy. He doesn’t seem sluggish but he is lazy and likes to cuddle a lot.

How do I get him to eat more. Does he need to go to a vet? Or is it him being stubborn because of the baby?

Is it just stress from a new environment or what? I've been leaving a sheet over his tank half the time so he can adjust and feel secure but as soon as I take it off he starts desperately clawing at the glass and he only calms down when I hold him.

The thing is, I can't possibly hold him all day but he keeps freaking out in his enclosure. He's got plenty of hides and places to climb but he still freaks out.

When we got him, he was a few weeks old but now he's a month old, at first he was living in a 50 gallon tank but he would glass surf on occasion, so we upgraded and now the problem is worse.

The tempature and humidity is fine, he always has plants avaliable, like dead nettle and dandelion leaves and we feed him six insects per day but he constantly wants to move around.

Does he just want to burn more energy? Is there like a lizard wheel I can get him or what?

He likes bathing and swimming (we only bath him rarely as a treat)

He used to be underweight but now he's a good size and bursting with energy, perhaps too much.

I know stress from too large of a cage is supposed to be a myth, but I honestly have no idea what to make of this.

He also just tried to climb onto my phone, like, he jumped on it and started glass surfing on my phone and opened three apps in the span of five seconds. Is he trying to fight himself?

The enclosure is a Phailozoo 4x2x2 the spot light is Exoterra 100 w and the uvb is an Arcadia 12 percent. The other light in the dual dome is a Sansi Grow light. The sand is Australian red sand. The basking spot goes up to 110 Fahrenheit and the temperature in warm side is around 80 and humidity 42. Temperature is around 75 On the cool side and humidity is around 48. Thanks 🙏🏽

Finally got my little guy to eat some greens. Proud mama

I am FINALLY able to get a bearded dragon after tons of research. I am getting my little guy at a reptile expo in a month and I was just wondering how I make sure a bearded dragon is in good health at the reptile expo?

Also! I have a checklist that I posted, PLEASE tell me what else to add!!

I took over a 7 month old beardie from a friend that said they couldn’t properly care for it. I bought him a Dubia Roaches 4x2x2’ enclosure. Before I transfer him I want to get a substrate for him and need suggestions. Also, any decorative tips are welcome.

Could I add more water next time or is this a good depth?

Hey there. I do not own the lizard I am asking about here, but we need a very quick upgrade. The bearded dragon is currently in a 40gal which we are now aware is far too small, at the moment the largest we can afford is a 110 gal without having to wait more weeks for part time paychecks to add up. The beardie is a kind of medium sized adult, not the size of the chonkers I usually see online but also not extremely tiny. The dimensions of the 110 gal we can afford are length 47 inches, width 23.5 inches, and height 23 inches.

Hi everyone, she is 4,5y(34cm long 258g used to be 270g not showing any obvious sings of loosing fat at tail base or around head) old and doesn't want to eat her greens, she mainly waits for her crickets (every two days 8 crickets), she still eats paprika but not very enthusiastically, we were considering putting her on a fast to see if that will help, but my GF is worried she that she will just choose to kill herself rather than eat the greens. She just finished shedding, we were going to take her to the vet in the next 2-2,5 weeks, but due to her feeding habits we are thinking about speeding it up to somewhere next week. What should we do, is moving up the appointment the best idea?

PS she spends considerably more time in her basking spot, she is more lethargic and we think it might be tied to lower appetite since she always loved trying to eat everything around her

These are screencaps from the Reptifiles guide which I understand to be highly respected.

I’ve adopted an adult beardie a week ago and I’m looking for help on what this guide looks like in practice.

If I follow this guide, there are two days that i don’t feed my guy? This week, I gave him about 5 Dubia roaches two times as recommended and salads every day which he doesn’t always finish unless I make it exciting and hand feed it to him. (I think I’ve been giving him too much salad if one meal is truly just a portion the size of their head.)

Also, the site lists the Repashy Grub Pie gel as an option along with live feeders with no notes. Does that mean it’s actually just as good in terms of nutrition … but maybe not enrichment? I can’t see myself feeding something like that a lot but it might be good to have on hand if I can’t pick up bugs one week or have a squeamish pet sitter or something, for example.

I bought a batch of giant mealworms for my bearded dragon who was underweight. Some of the mealworms, however, are not giant and in fact normal sized. Is it possible those normal sized mealworms will grow up to be fertile? I know giant mealworms are treated with a hormone that makes them infertile and grow continuously without pupating.

I've had one attempt to pupate but that was before I upgraded their enclosure, so they ate it before I had a chance to separate them and the leftover skin became cricket food.

So guys uh what is wrong with my babies arm? I bought him at a pet shop for cheap cuz no one else wanted to buy him apparently. I was told he was born this way but a petsmart employee told me he had metabolic bone disease(??) any thoughts? Thank you sm 💛