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bearded dragon


scott16

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Hey mate,

The basics of what you need are the enclosure- 3 foot aquarium should do for one dragon, lighting that provides UVB ( mercury vapour are best, but tubes are also good), and food.

In NZ for these you are looking at around $400 for a reasonable set up (although this could be done for much cheaper) and maybe $10 per week for food for one dragon.

As far as the dragon goes, it depends on what you want. Usually the better the colour the more you pay. Beware though of people who talk up their dragons with silly names like 'sandfire' (an American brandname dragon). Also beware of people selling dragons with "orange highlights", or "red beards" etc. There are basically three colour forms of dragons in NZ, all of which have come from NZDRAGONS stock (the people at the pet expo). These are golds (see livingarts pics of his dragon, some refer to these as reds), the lemon yellows (these are solid yellow all over- will try and post a pic), and the normal "dull" form (depsite refering to these as "dull" they actually often do have a fair bit of colour e.g oranges and yellows, but they never have the solid colours of the golds and yellows). Apart from colour each form seems to have a different body shape. The golds are smaller in size with large heads, the yellows are often huge (500grams plus) and the normals are in between.

If you are paying the extra money for a coloured dragon, which I believe is well worth the price, then you should ask to see the parents. Unless BOTH parents a coloured stock then you will in all likelyhood not get a truely coloured dragon.

Please remember that the vast majority of dragons out there are of the normal variety, and that there are many who claim that they are otherwise.

Hope this helps :)

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These are golds (see livingarts pics of his dragon, some refer to these as reds),

best way to describe the beardie in question is either red/orange or hot pastel

he is most like that description on this page

http://www.dachiu.com/gallery/pix2.html

I will go by description on this site as i feel they have more experience with colour morphs in bearded dragons than anyone in N.Z, so far

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thanks guys i think all i need to know now is what brands of lights do you beardie owner suggest that are good

thanks

Exoterra desert 8% are the best at the moment- but they are double the price of the normal reptile tubes- reptisun and arcadia.

Will have merc. vapours available jan. these are basking lights that provide huge levels of uva/uvb. This is good as the lizard always gets uva/uvb when basking and u dont need the flouro tubes.....bummer is if they blow as they are around $60NZD and although they typically last well over a year, they are bulbs and as such they can blow early.

Cheers, :lol:

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best way to describe the beardie in question is either red/orange or hot pastel

he is most like that description on this page

http://www.dachiu.com/gallery/pix2.html

I will go by description on this site as i feel they have more experience with colour morphs in bearded dragons than anyone in N.Z, so far

Americans love the fancy words...does not matter what you call it M, just look at the colour. It is not like this is a science that experienced people know more about. Off to feed my hypo red sand storm x purple moon frogs... :lol:

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I dont have as much of a problem with a colour naming system, if it allows someone to better describe their dragon. I wouldnt trust someone naming colours if I was going to buy one though, as it can be very confusing. Best to always ask to see pics or the dragons themselves.

I do think it is wrong to lable NZ dragons as 'sandfire' or any other brandname, as these are American lines. We do not have any of these lines in NZ. As these lines have been bred in the states for many generations they can be reliably be bred as the same colour morphs as the parents. I dont think we have reached this stage here in NZ.

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I dont have as much of a problem with a colour naming system, if it allows someone to better describe their dragon. I wouldnt trust someone naming colours if I was going to buy one though, as it can be very confusing. Best to always ask to see pics or the dragons themselves.

I do think it is wrong to lable NZ dragons as 'sandfire' or any other brandname, as these are American lines. We do not have any of these lines in NZ. As these lines have been bred in the states for many generations they can be reliably be bred as the same colour morphs as the parents. I dont think we have reached this stage here in NZ.

fair call, living art one does look suspiciously like a dachiu tho.... :wink:

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called it red because it was closest i could think of, maybe orangy red would be best, agree we are nowhere near the american colours, the dragon in question was bred from a nzdragon male and a manawatu female, it was dark orangey yellow at hatching, best idea is to see it in the flesh,

sorry for wandering off topic Scott

merc vapours for lighting would be best, we have run reptisun for last 2 1/2 years with no problems you have to ensure they are low enough to get the full benefit of the lighting and we put in new tubes every 6 - 8 months as they can degenerate. direct sunlight is best but watch out enclosure doesn't overheat on a hot day

young dragons require a lot of livefood, if you can breed or catch your own is cheaper than buying from local pet store, get one that is also eating other food life will be easier

we also feed mescalin salad, bean sprouts, grated pumpkin, carrots, small amounts of whiskas singles kitten food, this has extra calcium in it.

silverbeet and apples and pears baby food the pureed stuff, we also use pinkies occasionally or grated oxheart no fat, also sparingly, too much animal protien will grow the dragon fast but can damage liver and kidneys and lead to problems in later life

we run them on grass carpet or astro turf as its easier to keep clean and no chance of them ingesting substrate

cages are like a prophecys one on forum with under carpet heating and ceramic pig bulb, get them from farmlands or wrightsons, set up near light, helps to attract them to the lighting

do the google thing as mentioned and talk to as many keepers as possible

good luck scott

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no arguement there repto

i purchased 2 iguana and because the seller hasn't fought mafs erma application for declaration of new organism we lost good pets and a fair bit of money

which is the main reason why i wouldn't touch any new species on the scene until i see a document stating they are legal to be held in private hands in nz.

authorities can come in couple of years later and take them away

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yeah right,and the colours that are already here after what?4yrs??you jokers are dreaming if you can`t or won`t acknowledge there has been some serious smuggling going on?

will be until they are cheap. which they are now....colours vary across the range- they are found throughout an area 5 x size of n.z. 4 years is the length of time thay have been above board- many years in n.z tho, makes u wonder what is not above board.......and what can be above board and what can't. living art is right, hard to tell what maf will do, but you can guarantee that it won't be consistent.

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