Beardie Upgrade

[Leslie]

I have a 1 year old beardie at the moment. She is 17 inches long, and I currently have her in a 40 gallon breeder. I have been upgrading my reptiles' habitats and just moved my anoles to this enormous bioactive Exo-Terra terrarium. Doug (the beardie!) has been getting really stressed lately in her habitat, so I feel guilty that I have been working on the anole project for so long. She hates being in her room, despite all of the temp/humidity factors being normal. She runs around with me while I do chores, so she isn't being cooped up all day, but I want to give her the best possible setup and would prefer her basking to being at room temperature. I've been looking at the Exo-Terra terrariums (the wide ones), but I don't think they are nearly big enough for what I would like for her, and she loves climbing. I do enjoy giving my reptiles as much space as possible, so are there any other brands or terrariums that you guys know of that could satisfy my dragon? Or would I be better off just building my own? If so, what dimensions would you recommend? Thank you so much!!

 

[PatsyB]

You'll probably need to build your own. Just don't go too tall because even though she likes to climb, beardies are kinda clumsy and have poor depth perception so they can easily just walk off something or fall from something in their tank and hurt themselves. With my older dragons. I have a hammock bridge that spans their tank but I have it low enough so they can step off of it onto another decoration and if they did step off to the floor of the tank, it isn't a big distance.

 

[Hydro]

I will apologize now for most likely being in the wrong forum. We recently adopted a rescue bearded dragon. He came in a very small tank and we upgraded him this evening to 40 gallons. We had the lighting all wrong I just learned so I want to be sure with new terrarium everything is right. Do I put his rock house/hiding place in the cool side of tank or the warm?
Should hammock hang close to basking light or UVB light?
Thank you for any help. DK

 

[Leslie]

Hydro, there should be a basking spot under the lamp, so as long as he has something under the basking light to sit on, whether it be his hide or not, you're good. The basking light and UVB should be right next to each other so, say while he's basking, he can also be absorbing UVB without moving. Does he use the hammock? I know mine wouldn't touch hers, but I have heard a lot of beardies liking them--if they can stay up!

 

[Leslie]

PatsyB, yeah I was just concerned with the Exo-Terra enclosures being wayyy too short--mainly the 36x18x12 I believe. I have something similar to your hammock, but instead it is a log with a bridge beneath it for any spills she takes!