Bearded agama in your terrarium

The bearded agama is the inhabitant of dry forests and semi-deserts of central Australia. These lizards are quite large, they can reach a length of 40-55 cm. Their color can vary from gray and dark brown to brick or straw-yellow.

Bearded Agama got its name due to leathery outgrowths on the throat pouch. In case of danger or during breeding, these outgrowths swell, resembling a beard. Male "beard" is black or dark brown in color, females are pale orange or beige.

Bearded Agama is a thermophilic lizard, leading a daily life. If the ambient temperature is too low or too high, the bearded agama is buried in the sand and falls into anabiosis.

What should you know if you are going to keep agama at home? To begin with, note that bearded agama - a fairly large lizard, for a comfortable stay, it needs about 80 liters of the volume of the terrarium. The area of ​​the terrarium has morevalue than the height, and should be about 0.4-0.6 sq.m. for one adult. Ideally, you need a horizontal terrarium, whose height is approximately equal to its width. The optimal size of the terrarium is 60x40x40 cm for 2 newborn lizards, 90x60x60 cm for two teenagers (up to 25 cm long) and 120x60x60 for two adult lizards.

The optimum temperature in the terrarium during the day is 26-30 ° C (plus local heating to 35-43 ° C), at night - notless than 16 ° C. For heating it is possible to use incandescent lamps, IR lamps, thermocouples and ceramic heat elements. It is desirable that the heating is uneven, and your bearded agama could move around the terrarium, choosing the optimum temperature.

Be sure to place stones, snags or branches in the terrarium, on which the bearded agama can climb,to warm up, and also to assert their position in the hierarchy (in agam dominant individuals try to get as high as possible). You can additionally mount the shelter, but in such a way that the fodder insects can not hide in its slots.

In summer, the duration of the light day for Agam should be 14 hoursIn spring and autumn - 10 hours, in winter - 8 hours. But if you do not plan to get offspring from your pets, it's perfectly possible to maintain a 14-hour light-day all year round.

Like all desert reptiles, bearded agama needs ultraviolet radiation, so a UV lamp should be installed in the terrarium. In the warm season, you can take a lizard under direct sunlight, but it is important not to overdo it to prevent overheating.

As a bedding for adult agamas, you can use pure sand or vermiculite. While the lizard is young and has not reached a length of 30cm, instead of sand they use newsprint: young agamas can swallow sand along with food, and this leads to problems with digestion. It should be ensured that the litter is clean, and that feces and fodder remains are cleaned daily.

Bearded agama needs a water tank with fresh water. Every day we need to wash the drinker and change the water. Adults need agamas bathe in warm water or sprinkle every three days, adolescents aged 3 to 9 months - every other day, and young animals up to 3 months - every day. Note that young lizards may not be able to drink, so you need to teach them to drink while bathing.

The bearded agama is an omnivorous lizard, it can eat both vegetable food (grass, flowers, fruits) and animal (insects and even small vertebrates). At 85% of their diet consists of plant foods, 15% - of animal. Every morning, let's boast of agame vegetables, fruitsand greenery. You can give salad, carrots (roots and tops), pumpkin, apples, cabbage, dandelion leaves, grass of wild cereals. Spinach and zucchini to give is undesirable.

Animal food (insects) is given twice a week. Crickets are most preferable, it is possible to givealso zofobas, flour worm, locusts or cockroaches, but not too often. Along with insects, you can give calcium top dressing (without phosphorus, but with vitamin D3), 1-2 times a week - vitamin supplementation with beta-carotene instead of vitamin A. Young lizards under the age of one year give slightly more animal food than adults.

Bearded Agama is a fairly simple lizard in content, but beginners are not recommended to start young agam at the age of up to 3 months, it is better to purchase a more adult specimen to avoid possible problems.