Bearded Dragons

Bearded dragons are native in inland Australia, where they have adapted well to life in a warm, dry environment. Free-ranging bearded dragons are omnivorous, consuming a variety of animal and plant items. The most common dragon is the inland bearded dragon, Pogona vitticeps.

Ball Pythons

DESCRIPTION Variable with patterns in tan, brown, red-brown, yellow, and yellow-orange. Robust. Head is distinct from the body.

SIZE HATCHLINGS: 10" to 17"; ADULTS: 3' to 6.5'

Your New Baby

Housing

For a hatchling dragon, and those up to 6" in length, you should start with a 10 gal aquarium. The reason for this is, in a larger aquarium your dragon may have trouble hunting down its crickets. You may start with a larger tank, but where possible, try to section off part of it so the crickets can’t run too far.

Distinguishing nocturnal (night active) reptiles from diurnal (day active) reptiles

The rule is about 99 percent accurate: Nocturnal reptiles tend to have pupils that are slit like a cat’s eye, and diurnal reptiles tend to have pupils that are round like ours.

The importance and relationship between UVB, calcium in diet and vitamin D

Vitamin D maintains calcium and phosphorus levels, critical for bone health. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light coverts a precursor (7-dehydrocholesterol) in the skin to vitamin D. This converted vitamin D is used by the body to uptake calcium from the digestive tract and enables the body to use it in the formation of bones. If any one of the three parts of the equation (vitamin D in the diet, or the precursor in the skin, calcium in the diet and the exposure to ultraviolet light) is missing, then the body becomes calcium-deficient and the end result is metabolic bone disease (MBD). This is equivalent to brittle bone disease in humans. In reptiles, if sufficient bone loss occurs, the body tries to shore up the degrading bones by creating fibrous tissue around the bones.