Raising Baby Bearded Dragons

Hatching the Baby Bearded Dragons

A vivarium is required for hatching and housing baby bearded dragon care, which is separate from the older reptiles. The substrate used in the vivarium for incubating the eggs should be a sand and soil mixture, deep enough to support the eggs and allow them to hatch. The temperature in the vivarium should remain 82 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit to allow the eggs to hatch. It is also important to allow the vivarium to be well ventilated until the eggs are hatched.

When a female lays its eggs, they are generally laid in clusters of anywhere from fifteen to forty eggs. Under the previously mentioned conditions the eggs should hatch in roughly eight weeks, producing a considerable number of bearded lizards hatch-lings. The hatch lings should be left alone when hatching and allowed to fully hatch without any help. Even if the bearded dragon is still inside of the sac when it hatches it should remain untouched and allowed to break free on its own.

Baby Bearded Dragon Care

When bearded dragons are newly hatched, they are extremely fragile and should be handled with care. It is recommended to hold baby bearded dragon care  less frequently due to the amount of stress they endure by constantly being picked up and moved around. After roughly six weeks, they may be handled more frequently as it should be larger in size and accustomed to its vivarium. The vivarium used to house the hatch-lings should be very similar to the vivarium design for an adult bearded dragon, but approximately half the size.

Baby and juvenile bearded dragons require vivariums that are smaller in size to help them feel more secure in the environment and to be able to trap and eat their meals. The young reptiles grow rapidly in the first six weeks and require a specific level of vitamins and nutrients; they also have a high metabolism and require several small meals a day for them to grow and be healthy.

Hatch-lings should be fed a protein enriched diet, with high levels of vitamins and nutrients. The simplest way to provide the proper vitamins and nutrients is by feeding the baby with crickets. Crickets are easily gut loaded, and may be bred at home specifically to feed your newborn lizards; crickets make the perfect food because they will eat anything, allowing for the bearded dragon's to be fed vegetables through the cricket.

For the hatch-lings and juveniles it is important to dust the crickets with calcium and vitamin powder; the crickets must also be smaller than the space between the bearded dragon care eyes for them to be able to eat them. Between meals, diced greens and vegetables should be placed in the vivarium for the hatch-lings to nibble on, thus increasing their vitamin intake.

In addition to food, fresh water should be supplied daily and the water may need to be dropped in the hatch-lings mouth with a medicine dropper before they begin drinking it. Other methods for getting the hatch-lings to drink water are to mist water inside the vivarium and onto the hatch-lings head until it begins drinking water.