1. They Are Easy to Care For
One factor that makes bearded dragons appealing to most prospective pet owners is that they are easy to care for. Unlike most other pets, bearded dragons as pets are less demanding and do not have many physical needs.
All you need to ensure is that they have suitable natural habitat and enough food. Since they are cold-blooded, you also need to ensure that their habitat is well-lighted and heated with heat lamps to serve their needs.
The only other thing required is to ensure that you give them a proper diet and clean water. bearded dragons are fond of live insects and various fruits and vegetables since they are omnivores.
Most of these foods are relatively affordable, and you can quickly get them from your local stores. captive bearded dragons are suitable for both adults and kids alike.
2. They Are Docile and Peaceful Pets
Aggression in pets is one of the reasons why most people dislike some pets. Most people prefer dealing with calm pets that cause minimal disruptions and do not need to be constantly watched.
Bearded dragons are such pets. They are passive and easily associate with people, which is not common in most pets. Once they get accustomed to their new home and your presence, they remain calm.
You can even take them out of their terrarium and have them explore the house under supervision. In addition, you can go for even strolls with your beardie on a leash if you have the time but be on the lookout to ensure that the pet does not wander away.
Your beardie will enjoy this, and you do not have to worry about them causing trouble. Rarely will bearded dragons cause problems.
However, adult beardies may act aggressively under some circumstances and even try biting or scratching their handler. If your beardie feels threatened for some reason, they may try defending themselves by acting hostile.
Adult bearded dragon usually exhibit hostility when they are mishandled. If well-handled, your beardie will not show such aggression.
This hostility shouldn’t worry you so much as it is very rare. Again, a beardie’s bite is seldomly serious and will draw blood on very minimal occasions.
However, if a beardie bites you, whether or not there is blood, you should immediately wash the bite with lots of water to avoid an infection.
3. They Can Live For a Long Time
Bearded dragons have a long life expectancy, unlike some of the other popular pet choices. When choosing a pet, you would want to choose one that will be with you for a long time.
Bearded dragons are such pets, and on average, they will live for between 8 and 15 years. Such a long life gives you or your kids sufficient time to bond and gets along with the dragon. The pet becomes a part of your household.
However, for your beardie to love that long, you need to ensure that you give it the proper care. Proper nutrition and a safe and warm habitat are crucial for your pet’s survival.
It is also essential to take the beardie for regular health checkups with veterinary care to ensure that they have a long and healthy life.
In addition, take care of the pet’s dental wellness as this can severely affect other aspects of its health and quality of life.
4. Bearded Dragons Can Show Affection
There is nothing as fulfilling to a pet owner as a pet that shows affection. While it may not be as clear as a dog’s or cat’s, pet bearded dragons can display affectionate feelings.
Many people do not believe this to be true but taking a closer look at your beardie’s behavior, you can tell that it will act differently towards you and other people.
Your bearded dragon will be more friendly towards you and those it can recognize. Towards strangers, your beardie may act withdrawn or disinterested. Such behavior indicates that your beardie does recognize and appreciate its owner.
While it may take some time before your dragon can accept you, he will warm up to you with constant care and love.
You can hasten this process by singing or whistling when feeding your dragon. It will start associating you with voice with food with time.
Other ways of bonding with the beardie include bathing it and giving it treats with your hands. Eventually, it will start seeing you as a friend and not a threat.
5. They Don’t Demand Much
Another important factor that makes bearded dragons preferred pets is that they are not expensive to maintain. Unlike most pets, taking care of a bearded dragon doesn’t demand too much money. These pets don’t require many accessories, and their foods and treats are pretty affordable.
As long as they are well fed and kept warm, your bearded dragon will be happy. The essential thing to ensure when taking care of a bearded dragon is that they have ample space to move around.
The terrarium is a one-off cost and is smaller and cheaper than other reptiles. The other important thing is to ensure proper lighting conditions, preferably UVB light.
Lastly, your beardie needs to have a well-balanced diet. Accessories such as toys are good but not a mandatory addition.
As long as these conditions are in place, your beardie will enjoy a comfortable life. Despite providing proper food and housing for some pets, such as dogs, you will still need to walk them every evening.
While some may enjoy the walks, some view such walks as a waste of time, and they would prefer doing something more productive. As such, you would have to pay someone to walk your dog, which can be a significant financial expense.
If you are looking for a cheap to maintain pet, you are better off having a beardie. Also, due to their low demands, bearded dragons are suitable for training kids on how to take care of their pets.
Even with a tight budget, you need to ensure regular visits to the vet’s office to ensure that your beardie remains strong and healthy. It is a cost you should not compromise on.
6. Bearded Dragons Are Intelligent
Contrary to most people’s belief, reptiles, specifically bearded dragons, can be pretty intelligent. As mentioned above, bearded dragons can differentiate their owner from strangers. They will even develop a stronger connection with time, following their owners wherever they go.
If you are a serious enthusiast and have some skills in animal training, you can train your beardie to do some simple tasks that will amaze your family and friends.
They include teaching the dragon to come when called to feed or even how to walk on a leash. It requires patience and consistency, but the reward is worth it.
7. They Have a House-Friendly Size
Are you looking for a pet that is ideal for small spaces? Then you should consider a bearded dragon.
Bearded dragons are small-sized lizards which makes it convenient for homeowners. You can comfortably house a beardie since it does not take much of your living space.
Further, you can place your bearded dragon in almost any corner of your house as long as you can provide the necessary conditions for your beardie’s survival.
The other good thing with your bearded dragon being small is that it is easy to carry him around.
When you need to move him from one room to the other, you will do this with ease. Even more? When outside the enclosure, your small beardie will rarely cause any mess in the house compared to other bigger pets like dogs or cats.
8. Beardies Are Easy to Feed
Another thing that makes most owners love bearded dragons is that they are easy to feed—being omnivorous means having a wide variety of food to choose from.
That, coupled with the fact that they are not picky eaters, makes them quite suitable for any home. Provided you know what type of food and when to feed them, your bearded dragon should be okay.
Young dragons need more proteins than older ones. Proteins are necessary for the development of the beardie’s exoskeleton and muscles.
Therefore, juvenile bearded dragons lean towards animal-based diets than plants. The main protein sources are; crickets, spiders, mealworms, slugs, silkworms, and grasshoppers which are easy to find and affordable.
As they grow older, there is a general decline in the demand for proteins, and your bearded dragon can live comfortably on a 50% plant-based and 50% meat-based diet.
Some of the common vegetables that your bearded dragon enjoys include; leafy greens, mustard greens, collard greens, spinach, dandelion leaves, and cactus pads.
You can easily find these in grocery stores or in your kitchen garden. Just ensure that the vegetables are free of pesticides and herbicides.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Pet
When choosing a pet, there are several vital factors that you need to consider to ensure that the pet you select will fit your needs. Below are some of the most significant.
1. Time
Taking care of a pet can sometimes be time-consuming; hence, you need to ensure that you will have the time to take care of your pet. It is also a long-term decision, given that some pets have a long lifespan and can even outlive you as the owner.
Further, some pets have much more time and longer one-on-one needs than others, meaning that you may have to be a dedicated pet owner for it to work out.
For instance, a pet like a dog will require you to spare some time and have an evening stroll with it in the evenings. Failure to do this may make your dog very restless.
2. Ease of Vulnerability to Diseases
Other pets may be susceptible to diseases and other ailments. Such a pet may mean constant trips to the vet’s office. If you don’t have enough time, you may find the pet too demanding, and you may ultimately have to do away with it.
There have been sad cases where reptile owners abandon their pets or release them into the wild because they can no longer care for them. You can avoid such by ensuring that you can adequately meet all the needs of the pet you choose.
Other pets may need specialized care, which may force you to attend a course to take care of them properly. You need to ask yourself whether you are ready for the time and financial commitment that this comes with.
You may also need to consider learning and giving them the necessary diet and supplements to prevent diseases such as metabolic bone disease.
3. Rules and Regulations
Another factor that you need to consider is the regulations and laws around owning pets. There might be regulations that forbid you from keeping some types of pets or limit you on the number of pets you can keep.
Contravening such laws may land you into problems with the authorities. Hence it is crucial to be aware of them.
From the above, it is evident that some pets may be harder to care for than others. For this reason, one needs to consider which pet might work best for them.
It is not enough to want a pet; you also need to consider the amount of time available to take care of them and the skills required to handle the pet effectively.
You may want to learn about the different types of bearded dragons species such as central bearded dragon and others.
Are Bearded Dragons Good for 10-Year-Olds?
Yes, bearded dragons are good pets for a 10 year old child. Having looked at why most people prefer to keep dragons as their pets, let us now delve deeper and understand whether dragons are good pets for 10-year-olds.
Choosing a pet for your 10-year-old kid may be a daunting task because there are so many factors that you need to consider.
Unlike adults, young children may not really understand what it means to take care of pets.
They may also be exposed to some level of danger, especially if they are dealing with dangerous pets that can either scratch or bite. It would pose a risk to leave your 10-year-old with an animal that scratches or with sharp claws.
When choosing a pet for your child, there are several factors that you need to have in mind.
Most of these have everything to do with ensuring that your child is safe and that they are enjoying spending time with their pet.
Once you put the measures in place, then a bearded dragon will be a good fit for your 10-year-old.
Why Bearded Dragons Are a Good Fit For Your 10-Year Old
Bearded dragons have several admirable characters that make them a favorite to many 10-year-olds. They are simple and easy to associate with reptiles, which makes bearded dragons easy for young children to desire to hang out with them.
Due to their calm nature, you do not have to keep worrying about your child’s safety while playing with them.
Below are more reasons why a bearded dragon is a good pet for your 10-year old;
1. They Are an Average Size Pet
One of the best things about having a young bearded dragons as a pet is that they are average-sized.
Bearded dragons are not too big to cause harm to your child as compared to other animals like large dogs. Being of average size is crucial for your child’s interaction with the pet.
In addition, a pet reptile that is too big may scare the child, making it hard for them to associate well with the pet.
There must be mutual trust between your pet and your child for them to establish a strong and healthy bond. If either of them fears the other for some reason, their relationship will not be strong and solid.
2. They Are Pretty Docile
Bearded dragons are known to be peaceful and calm. It is rare to see a bearded dragon reacting violently unless it is really scared and in that instance, the best it will do is try to hide.
Bearded dragons are a good match for your child because they will never put your kid’s life in danger. Some pets may at times react aggressively when they feel threatened and may hurt your child.
Pets like kittens can scratch your child when mishandled; the same goes for dogs and turtles. Since it is very common for your kid sometimes to mishandle the pet, you need to be sure that the pet will not harm them.
A bearded dragon will rarely scratch even when mishandled, making it a good fit for your child.
3. They Are Less Demanding
Another advantage when dealing with bearded dragons is that they are less demanding as compared to many other pets. Taking care of a bearded dragon does not demand much.
Provided your bearded dragon is well-fed and in a safe enclosure, there isn’t anything more that will be required from both you and your kids.
Regarding their diets, bearded dragons have a wide range of diets that they can feed on, which makes them a good fit for your kid.
Your kid may quickly lose interest in a pet that takes most of their time, and they may even start resenting them due to the workload.
Beardies are less demanding in nature; other than feeding and cleaning after them, there isn’t much else that you need to worry about.
Beardies are great pets that can help teach your child how to be responsible. By entrusting their care to your child, you will teach your child an important lesson: how to be dependable.
4. It May Help Them Overcome Their Fears
It is natural for kids to fear animals, especially those they are not accustomed to. Reptiles are especially feared as most are known to be dangerous and can cause serious harm to humans.
Getting a bearded dragon for your child will inspire them not to grow up fearing animals and instead teach them to care for the animals.
It may even spark a love interest in your child for animals, which may become something they may even want to dedicate their lives to.
When your child grows up being passionate about animals, there is a small chance they will mistreat them in the future and this, in its small way, helps ensure the well-being of animals, both domestic and wild.
Conclusion
From the above points, it is clear that a bearded dragon is not only a suitable pet for most adults but also for kids.
A bearded dragon does not require much to keep as a pet and, at the same time, has a low chance of hurting your child- a crucial point to consider when looking for a good pet for your child.
Also, since they don’t take much space in terms of their cages, you can quickly put up the terrarium in your child’s room, which will make it easy for them to have a close connection.
Doing so ensures that your child can spend as much time as they wish with their pet which I believe would be the aim of every parent.
Whether you choose to get a juvenile bearded dragons, adult bearded dragons, male bearded dragons or female beardie from the pet stores they can all be a good pets for your child.
So, Can bearded dragons be a good choice for your child? Getting good pets for your 10-year-old is an excellent way of teaching them some valuable life lessons like responsibility and dependability.
By learning how to take care of their bearded dragon, they will understand what it takes to take care of everything that has been entrusted in their care which is a lesson they may never run in school.
So, are bearded dragons good pets? Yes, if you are thinking of getting your child a pet, you may consider getting a bearded dragon from the local pet shop.
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