Good or a Bad Pet For Your Child? Bearded Dragon.

So as anyone who knows me knows, I LOVE animals of all kinds. Yes, even the ones that would make the normal person squirm. I think the only animal that makes me squirm is grasshoppers (YUCK!) But, I've noticed that a lot of people have never heard of different animals, that would make amazing first pets, besides dogs and cats. My first animals were fish and dogs (I'm allergic to cats) and I love them both, but I wish I would have know about these different animals sooner.

The first, and my favorite so far is a Bearded Dragon.

Best Child Age: Best for ages 10 and older.
Lifespan: 8-10 years
Size- 18-24 in. (Fully grown)

Pros-
-If you decided to start out with a baby one, your child can grow with them. (They live up to 10 years!)

-Feeding is pretty easy (Although, it might make you squirm, your children will love it.) You put live crickets into there cage and watch them run around eating them. Other than that, fruits and veggies. (Mine older one loves his greens, whereas my younger one only eats crickets right now)

-They are usually very tame. I'm not going to say they're all tame (Because some of them you have to train to be tame, which is most of the time as simple as setting your hand down in the cage to let them get used to your hand). I chose an older one as my first one that was already tame. He automatically lets me pick him up, and he lays in my hand while I pet his back.

-They aren't hard to clean up after. Besides the poop pick up, (Their poop is tiny, and you can scoop it up with a tiny shovel, or like I do with a fish net.) the daily changing of their water bowl, and once or twice changing their bedding a month, there's not much else in the cleaning department they need.

-Especially when they're older, they are so much fun! They are pretty much the dog of the reptile world. Need proof?

Cons-

- The start up price for one of these amazing animals can be a bit pricey, as they need special heating lights, and housing and logs. As they get bigger they will also need a bigger tank, which can also be pricy, depending on where you get the tank and supplies. For me, I got mine at Petsmart. (Which if you have a better pet store, or someone you can find on amazon that has things cheaper, I would recommend doing it that way. We don't have many options out here.)

- Although if you have patience, this will be fun for you, but for kids (or grown ups) who have little patience, training, especially with a smaller baby bearded dragon can be time consuming. SO BE PREPARED. I have a 2 week old baby bearded dragon right now, and at first he was very afraid of any kind of human contact. But with a lot of patience, he is becoming a very sweet bearded dragon.
(I'll be posting how to calm an untrained bearded dragon in a different post)

- The bugs. If you and your child doesn't care for crickets, this is the wrong animal for you, their diet consists of 80% crickets (that's what I use, other people use super worms, and meal worms) and 20% fruits and vegetables. For vegetables, I usually use things like Kale or spinach, and for fruit I give them bananas and strawberries, but they also love things like mangoes and green beans.
Here is a link telling more about what they can and can't eat:
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/what-do-bearded-dragons-eat.php

- Finding a healthy one.
I bought my second one as I mentioned before, at Petsmart in Lexington, KY. It was my first really little baby one, and they told me that he would always be small and quieter than normal ones, and at first I bought it. (I mean, there supposed to be the experts, right?) Well after about a week, things had gotten worse. He wasn't eating or drinking at all, and he stopped opening his eyes. Well, I took him to the local Petsmart (Richmond, KY) where the the reptile expert told me he wouldn't make another night. So they ended up giving me a new one, and the secret to finding a good one, is finding one that's alert and running around. Don't get one that is just laying there and looks like he's in a deep sleep (Probably should have been obvious to me, but it wasn't). This may sound weird, but it's even a good sign once you bring your baby beardie home, if he puffs out and opens his mouth. It means he is very alert, and protective of his new environment.

Other warnings?
-Don't grab them by the tail, they can fall off.
-Wash your hands after use (It's always possible with any reptile, that they could
  carry salmonella) 
-Always be gentle, they are one of the sturdier reptiles, but always remember to use caution when handling.

I can't say enough about these guys, but if your child is in the market for his first real pet, (That's not a goldfish) this is a great option.

Here is my babies. The lighter colored (Fancy Bearded Dragon) is Nessie (4 months old), and the darker colored one (Ridgeback) is turbo (2 weeks old).

 If you have any more questions, please feel free to comment on here, or email me.
anonymousmom92@gmail.com

-anonymousmom