New to Bearded Dragons--an ask for input

Hi all,
I have owned leos and cresteds for years, and we also have an outdoor California Desert Tortoise. A pet sitter friend of mine hit me up today because one of her clients is looking to rehome their 2yr old bearded dragon. The current owner says they "just never connected", and my friend clarified that the beardie seems personable enough and its probably the owner just not being interested anymore. My friend asked if i have any interest in adopting, and i am considering.

For those who keep beardies, is there anything you wish you knew BEFORE you got one that you wish someone had told you? Or, are there any best practices/care guidelines I'm unlikely to find in a regular web/youtube search? I will definitely be doing some reading before deciding if we should take him in, but thought I'd do well to right to current keepers to learn from any surprises or mistakes already made by others!

At the moment, I do not know anything about his enclosure, diet, or level of socialization. I am going to go with ym friend when she takes care of him this weekend to meet him and see where his comfort level with handling is at. This was a pic sent to me. As far as I can tell in this photo he seems well cared for 1683845768953.png
 

acpart

Well-known member
I've had beardies (usually 1 at a time) for the last 15 years or so. The biggest thing I didn't know before I got my first one is that female beardies, even if they haven't ever been with a male, often lay eggs. A lot of eggs! I had a female for about 5 years and in the spring and summer I used to bring in my big plastic planter when she started trying to dig in her cage. I'd put her in there and she'd dig and lay about 25(!) eggs about once a month. One year she laid 125 eggs. Since then I've made it a point to get males.
Other things that I may have known but that it's good to know:
--the minimum reasonable size enclosure for a beardie is 36"x18"x18" and bigger is better. Since I don't have room for a bigger enclosure, our beardie spends most mornings have free run of the living room and dining room
--they need UVB and need to have their light replaced after about 12 months (for a T5 bulb). For basking they need an incandescent and not a compact florescent which isn't good for their eyes
--they brumate: my current dragon slept from about October to January
--check out beardeddragon.org

On the whole they are very engaging pets and I highly recommend them.

Aliza
 
I've had beardies (usually 1 at a time) for the last 15 years or so. The biggest thing I didn't know before I got my first one is that female beardies, even if they haven't ever been with a male, often lay eggs. A lot of eggs! I had a female for about 5 years and in the spring and summer I used to bring in my big plastic planter when she started trying to dig in her cage. I'd put her in there and she'd dig and lay about 25(!) eggs about once a month. One year she laid 125 eggs. Since then I've made it a point to get males.
Other things that I may have known but that it's good to know:
--the minimum reasonable size enclosure for a beardie is 36"x18"x18" and bigger is better. Since I don't have room for a bigger enclosure, our beardie spends most mornings have free run of the living room and dining room
--they need UVB and need to have their light replaced after about 12 months (for a T5 bulb). For basking they need an incandescent and not a compact florescent which isn't good for their eyes
--they brumate: my current dragon slept from about October to January
--check out beardeddragon.org

On the whole they are very engaging pets and I highly recommend them.

Aliza
Thank you for this--super helpful. I am hopeful he would come w his set up, which my friend says is definitely larger than your given min. She refers to it as a "he" so hopefully i dont have the egg issue! We have 4 cats so i dont think there will be unmonitored free roaming in the cards, but we already make time to close off a room for playtime w our mice, so the same can be done for him. I will check out your website rec for sure.
 
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