Beardies require:

10 gal. for babies, eventually a 30 gal or more for adults, carpet for babies, no sand or walnut bedding as babies will get impacted, 7.0 UVB flor. bulb (without it, your beardie WILL develop MBD, lose mobility and die), a 60-100W UVA basking bulb depending on tank size (without it, your beardie may develop upper respiratory, lose it's appetite, and die), both lights stay on depending on the day cycle, get a timer and replicate sunrise/sunset, vegetables every day (4 groups: romaine, kale, endive, collards/carrots/sweet potato/yellow squash, zucchini), try putting small portions on plastic lids to monitor what he likes, DON'T let him get spoiled on crickets!, 5-10 crickets every other day for adults, 2-3 times daily 5 small crickets for babies, calcium dust the crickets, a shallow water bowl to soak as beardies will not drink. That's about it. Replicate Australian desert conditions. High temps 90-100 basking during the day, down to 65-70 at night. Beardies are among the highest priced initial setups of all, but well worth it due to their willingness to sit on your shoulder and not run away, and their uncanny ability to recognize their owners. Good luck.

I don't know about everyone else, but I no longer keep captives. I have nothing against it so long as captive animals are captive bred. Some of the captive bred animals I have seen are beautiful are certainly could never be found in nature.

These days I am more interested in seeing animals in the field, connecting them with their habitat and studing their habits. No matter where you live a remarkable array of interesting creatures are available. I live in Chicago, Illinois and there are 19 species of snakes that can be found in the Chicago area.

Good luck with the dragons!

Zack

I second that. I got interested in herps through keeping them as pets, but now I would rather find them in the wild. They make neat pets, but it doesn't even compare to seeing them in the wild.

Thank you everyone. Day by Day, We know about set-up costs. Luckily, we have several sizes of tanks for our Beardie to grow in. My daughter realizes she will be responsible for the purchase of the final tank (50 gallons). We've priced them at $100 at our local herp store. The little beardie is quite a sweetie (she's living at a neighbors until Christmas), but I can't interest her in any veggies. I've been researching and found they nibble veggies as youngsters and devour crickets; and then as adults it's just the opposite. Just offer them veggies everyday, and like human children, they'll end up eating them. Thanks again, Carla