{"id":26366,"date":"2019-10-21T22:34:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T21:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/?p=26366"},"modified":"2019-10-21T22:34:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T21:34:59","slug":"bearded-dragon-our-sons-first-pet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/2019\/10\/21\/bearded-dragon-our-sons-first-pet\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearded Dragon – Our Son’s First Pet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our third son had asked for a Bearded Dragon for ages. He\nhas read so many books on reptiles and is a really mature and responsible young\nlad. When I saw one on Facebook for sale for \u00a350 including all the set up I\ndecided to see if he wanted to spend his money on one – I never realised how\ncomplicated such an easy to care for pet could be – because there is just so\nmuch conflicting information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bearded Dragon Set Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Firstly we are lucky that it came with everything it needs\nwhich is great for helping him to get used to everything. The Bearded Dragon\nneeds a hot area (with lamps and lights), a cool area, a rock to climb on\/hide\nunderneath and some pretend greens – as well as a feeding bowl. This came\ncomplete with the Bearded Dragon – and the sand that lines the floor. The viv\nwe have is 3ft and the Bearded Dragon still a juvenile – but this will need to\nbe replaced as he grows to at least 4ft. We heard that the bulbs need replacing\nbut apparently it is really important to change the UV light yearly too. That\nif he seems to be lethargic and off his food this could be the reason why. Our\nson also bought a separate water bowl because we didn\u2019t feel that his Bearded\nDragon was getting enough water by squirting it on the walls\/on his nose and if\ntoo much water is put into the big bowl it can raise the humidity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Feeding The Bearded Dragon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is such conflicting information on this and I think that every Bearded Dragon is different. We believe that our son\u2019s Bearded Dragon is around a year old and apparently they need more live food than greens to help them grow. We got these milo worms and he brought them back up. We discovered that really they are too big and have since got him hoppers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is best to try to get him to chase them and you can coat them in this protein powder. The guy in the shop said to open the hoppers in the viv so they couldn’t escape and just get used to feeding before dipping them in powder. Once the Bearded Dragon knew what they were though this proved difficult! It was amazing how still they were when he was around though and the hoppers played dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bearded Dragons do not need feeding every day as in the wild they would have to hunt for food. As he gets older then he will need to up the greens\/salad but again this is conflicting with some people saying give it him daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handling The Bearded Dragon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To get the most out of the Bearded Dragon is to interact with him. We are still really new to it all and I am frightened of my own shadow when it comes to pets as the only thing I was allowed was goldfish. I have been encouraging our son to touch his Bearded Dragon build up confidence getting him out. Bearded Dragons like the warmth from our skin. We read that it is important not to pick him up from above or he thinks he is being attacked – so go from the front or the side. It is clear he also does not appreciate his tail being held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"handling<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bearded Dragon wasn\u2019t used to been out too much in his previous home as there were a lot of small children. Next our son wants to give his Bearded Dragon a bath – which he says he needs to do because it has shed some skin.We have bought some ice-cream in order to have a tub big enough for him, but he has to make sure the water isn’t too deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had also bought our son a book on Bearded Dragons and I am really proud of how seriously he is taking his responsibilities. He is listening to advice (the guy at our local pet store was absolutely amazing) and generally getting to know his new pet so he can understand and meet his needs: Like when he indicates that he wants to come out and go back in to the viv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bearded<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Have you had a Bearded\nDragon? Do you have any advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learning how to care for a Bearded Dragon as a first pet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4517,4518,4519],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/up-the-glass.jpg?fit=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"pinkoddy","author_link":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/author\/pinkoddy\/"},"uagb_comment_info":4,"uagb_excerpt":"Learning how to care for a Bearded Dragon as a first pet","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pepM9j-6Rg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26366"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinkoddy.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}