These are Hugo, Huguette, and Hougotte, LZRDGRL's mascots, bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps). They are not for sale. They are coming along with LZRDGRL and her "staff" to the reptile shows, to guard the booth and make friends with the kids.
| Bearded Dragons |
#1 ID: ISB-M-08-28-2011 Name: Hugo Gender: male Date of Birth: 08/28/2011 Morph: Italian Silkback Origin: http://www.a1reptiles.net/ |  |
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#2 ID: LB-F-07-2011 Name: Huguette Gender: female Date of Birth: 07/2011 Morph: Leatherback; very smooth Origin: http://www.bloodbankdragons.com Photo: http://www.bloodbankdragons.com |  |
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# ID: TIL-F-09-2011 Name: Hougotte Gender: female Date of Birth: 09/2011 Morph: Translucent Italian Leatherback 100% het Hypo Origin: Elizabeth Hileman Photo: Elizabeth Hileman |  |
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Bearded Dragons
Provenance and Housing Requirements
Bearded dragons received their name due to the "beard" under their chin, which can become black when they're agitated, in a bad mood, or feeling threatened. They are rather social reptiles and interact with their owners. They also have rich gestures, for example males do the famous "head-bobbing" when interested in a female, and wave their front arm in a circle when showing submission. They can also hiss loudly.
Bearded dragons live in the arid and rocky semi-desert regions and dry open woodlands of Australia and are good climbers. Therefore, cages should contain some branches. In the wild, they bask on rocks and sun-exposed branches in the mornings and afternoons. In captivity, they need a UVB light (a 2-coil 5.0-10.0 UVB bulb with linear, not with phosphorus, which can harm their eyes) on one side of their tank, and a heat-emitting light (can be an ordinary 60w bulb) on the other side of the tank.
The substrate should not be loose, like sand, which can cause compaction. LZRDGRL's beardies have peat moss mixed with top soil (without fertilizer!) at the bottom of their 20g tanks.They also have some wood and a few rocks, so they can shorten their nails (nail trimming might become necessary, anyway). Hatchlings and juvies can be kept in 20g tanks, whereas adults should have a minimum space of 36x24x24 available.
Food
Their food will be dusted daily with calcium with D3, and twice a week with a herp vitamin. Juvies eat twice a day (and Hugo is only 2 months old and 6" long so far!); adults can eat once daily. He gets gut-loaded crickets as addition to his staple diet. It is important that the crickets for a juvie under 5 months are smaller than the distance between his eyes. Also, bearded dragons must not be overfed. This can cause paralysis of their hind legs.
LZRDGRL's beardies eat the following things, after they have gone through the food chopper to get the appropriate size:
collard greens (high in calcium and part of every meal),
bananas once a week (may cause blocking of calcium intake, since they're high in phosphorus),
kale (rich in iodine); moderately used,
apples (only occasionally, since they can be bowel irritant and cause loose stool),
scrambled or boiled eggs (good protein source),
squash,
and an occasional waxworm. Baby beardeds don't get any mealworms yet, which have a hard shell.
Tail loss
If a beardie gets a tail nipped, it will never grow back.
Breeding & Genetics of Leatherbacks and Silkbacks
Silkies don't have scales like the normal bearded dragons, and their skin feels smooth to the touch. When shedding, they sometimes need cow udder lotion to help with their shed. Hugo gets a shallow, lukewarm bath at least twice a week. He is missing one nail on his left front foot; either due to a cage mate nip or bad shedding.
Bearded dragons are able to breed at the age of 10-12 months, but they will only be fully grown at age 2. Before breeding, they need to be cooled down for 6-8 weeks during the winter. Females can lay up to 35 eggs, up to six times per season. Hugo will be mated with a Leatherback female with extra soft scales (micro scales), so he won't scratch his sensitive skin, since he is a scaleless Silkback. Likewise, he won't be mated with a Silkback female, because she would get hurt when he grabs her by the neck and bites her during the mating ritual.
Silkback x Leatherback gives 50% chances for Silkbacks and 50% chances for Leatherbacks for the offspring.
Two Leatherbacks bred together have a chance of producing Silkbacks. Leatherbacks have reduced scales compared to normal bearded dragons.
photo from Elizabeth Hileman
photo from Elizabeth Hileman