Anyone have a bearded dragon?

[Bernadine]

H and dss have been wanting one, and I’ve been on the fence. Are they portal pains to own?

[SwimDeep]

I had a friend years ago who had a bearded dragon. She rescued him from a garage sale (apparently the son had gone off to college and the mom decided she didn't want to take care of it 😒 so my friend got the dragon and accoutrement for like $10 🤨 and the poor thing was in awful shape 😔).

My friend loved Puffy. She spent a lot of time helping him heal and gaining his trust. I remember he loved to eat crickets, but if he ate too many he'd get constipated and she would have to "float" him in the tub to help him poop. He needed a big tank and a warming light, but she would take him out of the tank often to bond with him and let him soak in the sun. He liked her cat too, though if I remember correctly her cat wasn't so sure about him 😅

Secondhand anecdote, but I thought it might help 🙂

[circa1978]

We kept one for month or so over the summer that was my son's classroom pet. It was mostly very easy and she was fairly congenial. I learned that lizards, like chickens, occasionally lay clutches of eggs without the presence of a male, so that was a startling morning, but otherwise we muddled along.

[origami]

We used to have one. The way DH set ours up it became a huge PITA but probably wouldn’t have been too bad under normal circumstances. DH got into some FB group for lizard owners that convinced him to build a biodome enclosure. In theory this would have been awesome. In reality, the cage grew mold and became permanently attached to the flooring under it. Roaches escaped through the air vents and then hid all over the house. Etc etc.

If we were doing this again I would not get any pet that had to eat live food. I tried to convince DH to do dried insects but he wouldn’t go for it.

[isabel]

Feb 26, 2023 9:16:24 GMT -5 origami said:

We used to have one. The way DH set ours up it became a huge PITA but probably wouldn’t have been too bad under normal circumstances. DH got into some FB group for lizard owners that convinced him to build a biodome enclosure. In theory this would have been awesome. In reality, the cage grew mold and became permanently attached to the flooring under it. Roaches escaped through the air vents and then hid all over the house. Etc etc.

If we were doing this again I would not get any pet that had to eat live food. I tried to convince DH to do dried insects but he wouldn’t go for it.

This is horrifying.

[underwaterrhymes]

Feb 26, 2023 9:16:24 GMT -5 origami said:

We used to have one. The way DH set ours up it became a huge PITA but probably wouldn’t have been too bad under normal circumstances. DH got into some FB group for lizard owners that convinced him to build a biodome enclosure. In theory this would have been awesome. In reality, the cage grew mold and became permanently attached to the flooring under it. Roaches escaped through the air vents and then hid all over the house. Etc etc.

If we were doing this again I would not get any pet that had to eat live food. I tried to convince DH to do dried insects but he wouldn’t go for it.

😳😮😬 did you leave out the part where you moved?

[origami]

Feb 26, 2023 9:24:53 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Feb 26, 2023 9:16:24 GMT -5 origami said:

We used to have one. The way DH set ours up it became a huge PITA but probably wouldn’t have been too bad under normal circumstances. DH got into some FB group for lizard owners that convinced him to build a biodome enclosure. In theory this would have been awesome. In reality, the cage grew mold and became permanently attached to the flooring under it. Roaches escaped through the air vents and then hid all over the house. Etc etc.

If we were doing this again I would not get any pet that had to eat live food. I tried to convince DH to do dried insects but he wouldn’t go for it.

😳😮😬 did you leave out the part where you moved?

Lol. We actually did move. I didn’t even know about the cage mold issue until the movers tried to pack it up and it wouldn’t budge. they had to cut it out. I do wonder if the ppl living in that house still have a roach issue. I really hope not because we tried to fix it. But……

[mcmel]

I haven’t owned one but I have owned quite a few caged animals and never again. Caged animals just generally require too much work for the amount of enjoyment I get out of them.

[origami]

Also forgot to add, aside from the problems already mentioned, my biggest normal pain point was what to do when we went on vacation. We didn’t know anyone who could take it. (Even if we had a portable cage, which we didnt). We couldn’t leave it bc of the living bug issue. There wasn’t a doggy daycare type place for lizards near us. We ended up having to beg my grandma to put bugs in the cage and she’s still not over that favor.

[mala]

My neighbor does, and we petsit for them when they travel. He's a cool little dude, but not very friendly because his teen owner doesn't really take him out much. He's a PITA to get to eat his veggies. They're probably the most common lizard to own, I wouldn't say they're difficult to care for at all though you do need to be prepared to feed live bugs.

If they're open to other reptiles, snakes are much easier (depending on species of course) and can be even less work.

[wildrice]

Feb 26, 2023 10:32:15 GMT -5 mcmel said:

I haven’t owned one but I have owned quite a few caged animals and never again. Caged animals just generally require too much work for the amount of enjoyment I get out of them.

Exactly this. For a caged pet I think bearded dragons are pretty cool... But in a house with cats and dogs you are going to find one far less rewarding and in a lot of ways, more work.

[stemmie]

My cousin has one in her guest room. I have not met Randolph but my mother says he's very outgoing and spends a lot of time out-and-about with family and their cats. Their son lives in the other unit of their 2-family home and watches the animals when they travel.

My cousin dotes on her pets in way I consider extreme*, so it doesn't surprise her lizard is so engaged.


* the 3 cats, for instance, have little holiday-themed bibs they wear (not long-haired cats that require "protection" from food) and youth chairs in which they sit at dinner which they enjoy with cousin and her DH.

[wanderingback]

Feb 26, 2023 9:16:24 GMT -5 origami said:

We used to have one. The way DH set ours up it became a huge PITA but probably wouldn’t have been too bad under normal circumstances. DH got into some FB group for lizard owners that convinced him to build a biodome enclosure. In theory this would have been awesome. In reality, the cage grew mold and became permanently attached to the flooring under it. Roaches escaped through the air vents and then hid all over the house. Etc etc.

If we were doing this again I would not get any pet that had to eat live food. I tried to convince DH to do dried insects but he wouldn’t go for it.

WTF!
Yikes, sorry you had to deal with that.

[Bernadine]

H remembered that a friend of his has two, so he called her, and we’ve decided it’s not for us, lol.

[expectantsteelerfan]

We researched them extensively a little over a year ago when dd begged for one as her 10th bday present. My 1st hang up was having to go to the store at least weekly to get the live bugs for food, but after going to our local pet store to see the set up for that, I actually got on board with that, at least in theory, so that wasn't what killed the idea for us...it was their life-span. She was set on getting a baby and raising it with lots of handling so it would be super friendly, and I just wasn't ok for signing on for 10 years of helping her clean the tank and dealing with it assuming she's going to leave for college at 18 and not be able to take it with her.

We recently had 2 people post them on our buy nothing group because their kids are getting ready to leave for college and want to rehome them well before they have to go to school because the parents don't want to deal with them. I hadn't thought of that as an option, but there was tons of interest in both of them though. They did seem like cool pets.

We also researched guinea pigs, but decided that with 2 dogs that have a high prey drive, we couldn't make it work for the guinea pigs to have enough room to free-roam safely anywhere often enough without also worrying about the dogs getting at them. So we ended up with gerbils. And I have to say, they are a very low-maintenance pet, but like others have said, even the little maintenance they require makes me annoyed with them for the fact that we get almost no 'return' from them. Dd tried to 'train' them, but they still don't like to be handled and one is an escape artist, so even if take them out to clean their tank and put them in an almost empty rubbermaid tote, one of them has to be watched constantly because it can find a way to escape!

[wesleycrusher]

Well, I see you decided not to get one, but DS got one this summer when he turned 10 (and expectantsteelerfan DD got 2 guinea pigs when she turned 10 this fall!)

We adopted ours from a local rescue that was so helpful after we took him home and had questions- they always have multiple bearded dragons coming through, and they work to fit one that matches the adopter. Ours is 4, his previous owners were moving out of state and couldn't take him, but cared for him extremely well. He came with his tank and is very tame. Bearded dragons can be very people friendly, they will sit with you while you watch TV, they are curious and like to explore, they can be walked on a leash. I like him way, way more than I ever thought I would. They live 10-15 years, so we expect we may still be caring for him when DS leaves for college. We've had him 6+ months and he's actually very easy to care for now that we have a routine.

The one thing about the bearded dragon is that it requires daily care, so we can't just leave for the weekend like we used to before, we have to have pay a pet sitter.

[goldengirlz]

Feb 26, 2023 11:58:57 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Feb 26, 2023 10:32:15 GMT -5 mcmel said:

I haven’t owned one but I have owned quite a few caged animals and never again. Caged animals just generally require too much work for the amount of enjoyment I get out of them.

Exactly this. For a caged pet I think bearded dragons are pretty cool... But in a house with cats and dogs you are going to find one far less rewarding and in a lot of ways, more work.

Seriously. We’ve had so many caged and aquatic pets over the years just so I could avoid getting a cat … and lo and behold, the cat is the easiest pet we’ve ever had. Hands down.

[ksun]

I really want one. We have a gecko now (and 4 cats) so we are already doing the live bug thing. I had a patient who had one that they let roam the house supervised. Apparently they really get along well with cats. My youngest cat has already tried to murder the gecko 3 or 4 times so I don't know about that, though.

As far as the roaches go (we feed our gecko roaches not crickets) they can't live outside their little egg crate you buy them in with other roaches. One time when we were out of town one of the asshole cats knocked down the roach container and they got out and none of them made it far. Agreed that the gecko is more work than the cats - you have to change her lights every 12 hours and of course feed the roaches. Luckily we have a couple different neighbor teen boys who are cool with helping out with this when we are out of town.

[erbear]

We have one. It requires very little work.

[jg183]

we have one. I think its the most boring creature ever. My son swears he loves it but he does not play with it very often. My husband has to go to the petstore weekly for live worms and we need to pay someone to feed it when we travel.

[Leeham Rimes]

Xavier wanted one a few years ago. I made him do a power point presentation on it and he decided the upkeep and cost wasn’t worth it. They need daily feedings (several times a day if I recall correctly) so if we ever went on vacation we’d need a sitter to come to the house daily to feed it. There were other detractors that I cannot remember. Nothing major, just more effort than he was willing to make at the time. He settled on getting a snake which is infinitely easier IMO bc I knew that this pet would be my pet that lives in his room. Lol. He’s gotten better as he’s gotten older but I have to be on him constantly about doing the little maintenance the snake requires.