Keeping bearded dragons outdoors
Article by Andrea Georgina-Danielle Teasdale
Housing:
When housing bearded dragons outdoors some of the most key factors are these….
· How much sunlight/heat is the position of the enclosure getting daily?
· Is the enclosure escape proof, fry proof (safe from over heating in hot temperatures)
· Are the animals safe in their enclosure for predators (yes your humble cat or playful dog is a predator to your bearded dragons)
· Is it shielded away from bad weather ( rain, hale, strong winds)
All these factors depend on the survival of your beloved pet/s. Most people think that bearded dragons come from the hot center of Australia and are bullet proof to extreme temperatures. Well here is the honest truth: there not. Although bearded dragons live in those types of climates, when out in the wild they can find a suitable place to burrow and hide out of the extreme heat during the day. Another factor to think about is that in a boxed in enclosure the heat is a lot more intense then out on a flat plain somewhere (when you think about it, if you’ve been caged in an outdoor enclosure made of iron it’s going to get like a hell pot in there on a 40 degree day)
So let’s start on where to position your enclosure. You need somewhere with at least 80% shade for maybe a couple of hours in the hottest part of the day, otherwise your bearded dragons won’t last very long. It could be a shady tree, or a tall fence that can block of some of the suns hot rays. Here are some things that DO NOT classify as adequate shade:
· A towel or tarpaulin stretched on top/across the roof of the enclosure. This will only make the temperatures rise even more as the heat coming onto the sheet will go straight through into the air of the enclosure, there for trapping it inside and making a climate almost like a sauna.
· Shade cloth. This works to keep some heat out on a mildly warm day, but when your looking at temperatures at nearly 40-45 degrees this thing is useless.
· Anything black. One of the worse things you can do is put anything on top that is of black colour. Black attracts the heat rays of the sun causing it to become hotter than anything else around it; we don’t want to kill our bearded dragons.
Well it may seem like there aren’t many options left but it’s either them or nothing. Keeping any reptile outside is a risk because the sun/weather doesn’t have a dimming thermostat on it. The weather forecast lady might broadcast a mild, warm sunny day and it turns out to be pouring down with rain. So in this case you’ve got to be prepared for anything. A nice big shady tree would be great protection for both hot and rainy days, so some protections double well enough into one. A thick tarpaulin might be great shelter for a drizzly day but a killing machine for a hot one.
In the end that position you choose for your enclosure needs to be logic sense. Think about what’s going to happen if you place your enclosure in the middle of a yard with no shade? Or if you place your enclosure under a veranda where it gets no sunlight? Is there a place in your yard where you get a bit of both?
Now you’ve got your positioning sorted out what’s happening about your enclosure being escape proof and fry proof? Well here’s a check list to see if it is….
· Secure lock on door
· No holes, fractured wiring in the fencing of your enclosure
· On gaps at the bottom of your enclosure where your bearded dragon could escape from (yes those sharp talons are not just for climbing)
· Adequate shade for hot and rainy days (check your positioning)
· Plenty of water for hot days ( must be easily accessible for your bearded dragons)
· Lots of cool/dry hides for your bearded to retire to if it gets to hot or too cold/wet.
· Sunny basking spot for your dragon to sun himself during the day
Have you got all these? If yes, well then you’re ready to go! If not, well check over the list and fix the things that you couldn’t check off. All the things above are key elements to your dragons survival, if they didn’t have these you wouldn’t have a bearded dragons because it would of either escaped, cooked or been eaten by a dangerous predator.
Heating and lighting:
Heating and lighting are very important things for your dragon’s survival. Without heat your dragon wouldn’t be able to digest his/her food, get away fast enough for predators, or keep his body running properly. Without light (UVA, UVB) your bearded dragon wouldn’t be able to grow, produce vitamins from the sun or disperse beautiful colours. When housing bearded dragons outside lighting is easily fixed. UVA and UVB come naturally from the rays of the sun, like humans, bearded dragons need UVA and UVB too. Heating isn’t that complicated either but a bearded dragon must be at a certain temperature to be able to digest his/her food and move around quickly. Basking temperatures should be around the 30-35 degree mark. As I explained earlier in this article about bearded dragons being able to cope in hot temperatures but must need adequate shade and water. If your temperatures outdoors are not hot enough for your bearded dragon they will go into a stage of ‘cooling down’ mode. This is a natural cycle, usually taking place when it draws closer to winter. The bearded dragon will slow down his internal organs and go into a sort of half awake/half asleep mode, also know as ‘burmation’. When keeping outdoors you do not need to apply extra heating for your bearded dragon as his/her burmation cycle will go along with the weather pattern.
Feeding:
My favorite part of this article, feeding. I’m sure your bearded dragon will be just as pumped as I am about feeding as bearded dragons are the pigs of the reptile world! Bearded dragons live on a diet of both vegetable and animal matter. Most vegetables you would feed your bearded dragon you would find in your vegetable compartment in your fridge. Here is a list of healthy, nutritional vegetables for your bearded dragon:
· Mixed lettuces
· Cabbage
· Corn
· Carrots
· Apples, pears, mangos, bananas, NONE CITRUS FRUITS
· Peas
· Boy Choy
· Spinach
· Cali flour
· Broccoli
· Garden weeds like dandelions flowers and sour sobs (if they will eat them)
Vegetables should always be chopped into bite size pieces, big enough for the bearded dragon to chew and swallow comfortably. I find that a good rule is to dust 2 MEALS of vegetable and fruit matter a week with any brand of reptile-calcium. Bearded dragons need there food to be supplemented with calcium because of most of our vegetables have been process or lack enough calcium benefits to our bearded dragons.
As I said earlier in this part of the article, bearded have a diet of both plant and animal matter. The main part of a bearded dragon’s animal diet is crickets or invertebrates. Here is a list of invertebrates that are a good selection for a bearded dragon:
· Crickets
· Woodies
· Baby cockroaches
· Mealworms
· Superworms
All these feeding choices have to be supplemented with a protein, nutrition boost called ‘gut load’. With most brands of insect breeders, they usually include gut load, but if not you can buy it at your local reptile/pet store. You should feed your insects the gut load on there food 24 hours before feeding to your bearded dragons. Before feeding your insects to your bearded dragons you should dust your insects with a sprinkle of reptile calcium like with your vegetable meals.
A good feeing schedule for adult’s bearded dragons is to feed vegetable matter on a daily basis and animal matter only once a week.
In order to stop stomach impaction and choking, NEVER feed any type of food (both plant and animal) bigger then the length between both eyes from a birds eye view.
Water:
You should always provide water for your bearded dragons. Even though they are used to have never limited access to water it still needs to be provided. A simple shallow dish is a great water bowl, or you could go more natural and ‘mist’ the enclosure daily with a water sprayer. Spraying the walls of the enclosure make your bearded dragons feel more at home as in the wild they lick up the rain drops, or morning dew that had fallen or accumulated the night before.
Conclusion:
I’m sad to say that this is then end of the article, but I hope I’ve given you a insight on how to keep your bearded dragons outside and what are the advantages and disadvantages of it. Bearded dragons are by far one of the most interesting and hardy commercial pets in the reptile trade and we’ve already seen there potential around the globe as being one of the worlds most popular pets. Just remember that Herpetology IS a disease and needs to be spread around more often.
