Vivarium & Equipment

Vivarium is the correct term for the indoor enclosure for reptiles. You can buy it already build or in parts (for IKEA fans). If you are a handyman or an artist you can of course build your own unique vivarium.

The material for the enclosure should be non absorbent and easy to clean. The door should be in the front. This will help with cleaning it and most importantly handling your “dragon”. Do not forget to make holes for the ventilation grids and place for fitting the lights.

Unless you are planning to keep the enclosure on the floor, we do not recommend a large aquarium. You will find it harder to clean and it will be more difficult to take out your pet from the top.

Another important matter you should take into consideration is the position of the vivarium. It shouldn’t be in or near the kitchen or any food preparation area. There is a high risk of faecal contamination especially while cleaning the enclosure.

This lizards are very sensitive to any change of temperature. This means the set up shouldn’t be in the direct sunlight or close to heaters. The room where the temperature is very unstable is also wrong choice.

As they are very sociable animals we recommend the room you spend most time in, so your beardie will be able to observe you and get used to your presence.

We do not recommend housing more than one male together with other females. If however the enclosure is very large and has few basking, feeding and hiding places you may try to keep more than one male in the same vivarium. Large space still doesn’t guarantee the males will not fight.

The size of the enclosure for the long term for one male adult Bearded Dragon should be:

180 cm long x 45 cm wide x 40 cm high

For group enclosures the space must be increased by 36 square cm of the floor for each additional lizard. Do not forget, in order to keep more than one pogona viticeps, you will need multiple basking and feeding places.

Please note, this are the minimum requirements to keep your Breaded Dragon/s healthy and happy.

Bearded Dragons like rest of the reptiles are ectotherms, this means they need external sources to heat their body and have the opportunity to thermoregulate.

The lizard thermoregulates by moving from hotter part of the vivarium to a colder one. Sometimes you may also notice your “beardie” to sit with open mouth. This is a way for them to regulate their body temperature.

The temperature in the vivarium during the time should be from 25-30C. The basking spot should have the temperature between 30-35C. During the night the temperature should be 20-22C.

You can measure the temperature using the thermometers places in both spots, the hot and cold one.

Since temperature is so important, before you bring your reptile to his/hers new home, make sure to set up the vivarium few days before and learn how to monitor the temperatures.

Basking light is a special heating bulb, such as a ceramic heater that radiates heat. You should place the bulb at the end of vivarium where you are planning the basking place for your lizard.

Place the light at a high point to simulate the natural behaviour of the Bearded Dragon to climb up the heat source from above. The Basking lamp helps your dragon to optimise body temperature and improve digestion.

Position the heating lamp to achieve the required basking spot temperature 30-35C and 25-30 in the cold spot. Remember also to give about 30cm distance from the place to the lamp. Make sure that under no circumstances the light is reachable for your Dragon. If the lamp is placed to low they may get burned.

To make it complete, place a flat rock or a large branch just beneth the lamp to encurage your reptile to bask in this spot. You will see how he/she enjoys to lie down on the warm stone/ branch espcially after a nice meal.

If the temperature is still too low,despite the lights and basking lamp, you can purchase additional heat sources.

In the pet stores you will find few options:

• Heat mats – the mats should be placed under the vivarium or around its walls. Since the heat doesn’t directly comes in contact with your pet it is a safe way to add some heat.
• Hot rocks – we do not recommend them. But you should know we never tried one as there are too many cases of reptiles beeing burned by them.
• Night lamps- If the temperature at night falls below 17C you should consider to buy a red light bulbs. This is especially recommended when you have issues with low temperature only at night.

Do not leave the brigh light on for 24hours as it will stress out your lizard and confuse his body clock. The best is always to keep a rutine that your Beared Dragon can get used to. To help you keep same timing for the lights everyday, we highly recommend to buy a timer or a thermostat.

The choice of substrate is very important. You are looking for an easy to clean and safe for your beardie solution. It should also allow you to be able to observe the faeces as a matter of health control.

The type of substrate depends also on the age of your reptile. The youngsters tend to be quite messy eaters, so for babies and juveniles we recommend a paper kitchen towel or newspaper. It maybe doesn’t look so pleasing but its safe to them. Even if they try a bit or two they will not cause any risk. Sand or wood chippings on the other hand can be easily ingested when catching their food, which can cause blockage in the gut or respiratory issue. Very often wrong type of substrate can cause serious health issues. Hence, sometimes we must choose between what looks good and what actually IS GOOD. Here I am listing few examples of what is available and if it is safe to use:

• Newspaper/ Paper kitchen towel/– No, not because he/she will enjoy reading the daily news. It is simply the safest, most economic substrate you can offer your beardie, the minus is of course the look. Your Vivarium will not look as natural but it will be very easy to keep it clean.

• Artificial grass- It is also easy to clean and safe for your beardie surface material

• Large size barks- they are less likely to be eaten by your dragon than the wood chippings but they make it difficult to see the faeces and clean it. Often the uneaten food or live crickets will be left between the pieces.

• Wood chippings – They provide a great risk of ingestion and blockage. Additionally, just as any barks or chippings, they are not easy to keep clean. We are not recommending it.

• Sand- the most natural looking substrate, which will change the vivarium in an Australian desert. Yes, it looks amazing but can be very dangerous especially for the younger Bearded Dragons. It can cause gut blockage or respiratory issues. Even if you feed them outside you should remember, this reptiles use their tongue to investigate the territory and they can ingest sand at any time.

• Digestible substrates- available in many pet stores. They don’t cause any gut blockage if eaten by the animal as they can be easily digested. Additionally, some of the products contain calcium.

• Rabbit Pellets- They are people, who use it because they are digestible. This is of course true but there is a huge difference between digestive system of a rabbit and Bearded Dragon. So no, we do not recommend those.

• Mix – you can use your imagination and mix it a bit to make it more interesting for your pet.

Many Bearded Dragon owners are using some of the above materials and they have healthy long living pets, we just want to make you aware of the danger and consequences.