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Make sure a shallow water dish is available at all times. Adult bearded dragons may be
fed once daily. Their diet should be varied and may consist of crickets, madagascan
hissing roaches, king mealworms (zophobas) and newborn mice. Vegetables and fruits
should be offered twice weekly. The vegetables and fruits should be chopped up and
mixed together as a salad. Fruits and vegetables may include kale, collards, carrots,
mustard greens, apples and bananas. Vitamin and mineral supplements should be
added to the salad mixture. All prey animals should be dusted with a high calcium
supplement. During the breeding season it is very important that females be given a diet
rich in calcium and vitamins to maintain good health following egg laying.

A basking light should be provided at one end of the cage. The temperature at the
basking area should reach 90 degrees F. There should also be a cooler area in the
cage around 75 degrees F.

Exposure to natural sunlight, whenever possible, is important. Make sure the enclosure
you provide outside for your bearded dragon allows for good ventilation so that the
animal is not overheated while being exposed to sunlight. You should also provide a
shade area inside the enclosure. Ideally exposure to the sun should be three times
weekly with a minimum of thirty minutes each exposure. Indoor enclosures should have
a high quality full spectrum light. These full spectrum lights do not however, take the
place of natural sunlight.

A substrate which I like to use is Canadian sphagnum peat moss. Peat moss makes a
good substrate because it is a natural substance which is totally digestible, maintains
moisture and naturally absorbs odor. Mix the peat moss with water and rub the two
between your hands until the peat moss has absorbed all the moisture. Firmly pack the
peat moss in the bottom of the cage and let it dry in the sun or under a heat lamp for a
couple of hours until all moisture has evaporated. The peat moss will dry to a hard
surface.

Male dragons have a larger and wider head than that of the female. Males also tend to
be larger than the females. The preanal and femoral pores are larger in the males. The
throat area of the males becomes dark during breeding season. The females may also
show some darkening in the throat area but will not get as dark in color as the males. I
have found that sexing this species is difficult. The technique of "popping of the
hemipenes " should not be attempted on this species as you may very well injure the
animal. I have seen some breeders sex this species by pulling back the cloacal
opening just slightly with the opening on the males being significantly larger.
When I started to breed the bearded dragon I bought four animals hoping to have a pair
and I was lucky and had two pairs. If you plan to breed bearded dragons I would suggest
buying three or four hatchlings and wait for them to pair off the next breeding season. My
animals have bred at ten months. Providing you have a pair the others may be sold off
as adults for a much higher price.

The females abdomen will expand quite considerably when carrying eggs. If you
suspect your female is carrying eggs it is important to make available an egg laying site
in her cage. Failure to provide an egg laying site may result in egg binding of the female
which may result in death. Make a box about two feet by two feet and about eighteen
inches deep. Fill the box with a mixture of potting soil and sand. Make sure you keep the
potting soil damp. If you notice the female digging watch for her appearance to change. If
she becomes thin overnight you know the eggs have been deposited in the soil.
Carefully remove the eggs for incubation. I use a chicken egg incubator, commonly
known as Hovabator, to incubate the eggs. Temperature inside the incubator should be
maintained at around 85 degrees F. Incubation time is around sixty days.

Bearded dragon hatchlings should be fed two to three times daily. Crickets are a good
first food for the hatchlings. Size of the crickets is critical. Hatchlings should be fed 1/4
inch crickets or smaller until they gain a little size. Feeding prey that is to large for the
hatchling may result in what is known as hind leg extension (partial paralysis). If hind leg
extension occurs the animal usually will die. Finely chopped vegetables and fruits
should be offered twice weekly and consists of the same salad mixture as the adults.
Buying feeder insects from a pet store can become very costly. I would suggest buying
your feeder insects from a supplier such as

I would also suggest that you soak your dragon once a week in about 1/2 inch of warm
water for about twenty minutes. This helps to rehydrate the animal along with cleaning
feces off of the animals body that has accumulated during the week.
If you intend to house hatchlings together it is IMPORTANT to maintain their feeding
schedules as they will not hesitate to bite a hand or tail of a cage mate when hungry.