# Pogona Henrylawsoni / Rankins Dragon / 'Pygmy Bearded Dragon' Documentation and Info!



## ven0mblade (Jul 27, 2011)

Hey there!

I am creating this thread in the hope that I can share knowledge that I have gathered from various forums and other sources. It would be ideal if other people would also share their experiences or give any guidance or suggestions as they see fit. This will be a long post and I will update it as I record progress and my thoughts.


Lets get some *basic info* out of the way.

I have recently adopted my first reptile, a Pogona Henrylawsoni (09/07/11).

My girlfriend and I were interested in obtaining a lizard, so she decided it would be an ideal present for my 22nd birthday. I knew I wanted to get a henrylawsoni as I can remember seeing them and always thinking they were amazing little creatures. I also did a lot of research and they seemed to be an ideal first reptile. This lead to me discovering the little guys can't really be sexed untill they are roughly 6 months old. Thus, we chose the name of our local Woolworths Checkout Transvestite, Troy. For the sake of ease, I will be calling Troy a he untill I know for sure .

_My setup: _
- 2.5ft Fish Tank (made a mesh top)
- UVB Fluro light
- 50W heater bulb + light
- Heat rock
- Water dish
- Thermometer
- Plenty of rocks, a nice array of basking spots (Heights)
- Troy (10 weeks on arrival)

The tank was setup for a few hours before Troy was introduced into his new habitat. I have both lights on a timer with a cycle of 14 hours of light, 10 hours of night. However, the heat rock is always left on and is near where he sleeps. The tanks temperatures reach anywhere from *18c to 40c *(lowest as its winter). The tank is located in my garage, where I have my computer. It may as well be outside, as there is a lot of outside airflow.

I originally bought Crickets and Mealworms to feed Troy. He was brought up on Mealworms and they were one of the items thrown in for free due to us being overcharged previously.
At first, my intention was to breed crickets. However, they can grow quite large and are just a hassle to handle. So I have decided mealworms are the way to go. He is not a fussy eater and really loves peas! I try to feed him 80% meat (roughly 10 mealworms) and 20% greens (normally just a pea split into 4 pieces) 2 times a day. I give the worms a calcium coat every second day to ensure Troy gets his much needed nutrition. He normally does a nice healthy poo every day, sometimes 2.

I am going to state that Troy is a very healthy little fellow... The guys down at the pet store are amazing and one of the employees breeds the lawsons.

That basically sums up my setup and routine.

Next, thoughts and worries of a new owner.

*Forgot to note the Calcium


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## Chris1 (Jul 27, 2011)

awww, what a cutie,..!! 

be careful with heat rocks, they can cause some pretty nasty burns,.....most people recommend u cut the cord off and just use it as a rock,...Ceramic heat emitters are a better choice for night time heating.

feeding mealworms as the only live feeder is like you eating hot chips every day, fulll of fat with very little nutrition, not to mention the chitin (skin) on the mealies can cause impactions (constipation) breeding roaches is really easier and theyre far healthier.
mealies should only be used as treats, i only ever offer freshly shed worms to small lizards.

that meat to veg ration is fine for now, when hes fully grown the percentages should be reversed to prevent liver disease,...

peas dont have a great calcium to phosphorus ratio, youre better off using greens like bok choy, chinese broc, endive, rocket, anything except spinach (spinach is high in oxalic acid which binds the calium and prevents absorption)


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## ven0mblade (Jul 27, 2011)

Thanks for your fast response Chris!

I forgot to mention that I coat his food every second day with calcium powder. Also, the guy that breeds them has been feeding them mealworms. I was informed the chitin is a bit of a myth and really doesn't affect them. Obviously if I notice anything I will get on to it straight away, but I don't forsee it being a problem as I still feed him crickets too .

I'm not concerned about the heating rock as he barely basks on it. He has such an array of options to choose from when basking. It has very low wattage and its what he has also had from birth.

I appreciate your timely response and concern, keep up the good work . 

I'll post again shortly with some more pics .

I forgot to mention, I have been following the forums for a while, I just hadn't got the time to create a profile and transfer my photos to upload anything.


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## Grogshla (Jul 27, 2011)

stick to crickets and woodies for feeding. Meal worms are no good especially for a young dragon.

Get the basking spot up to 45 celcius
Make sure the uvb is a 10.0 minimum and mount it so that the dragon is 6-10inches from it.
I would get rid of the heat mat and replace it with a ceramic heat emitter and just use it at night. 
Also the greens that CHris1 said to feed are great!


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## ven0mblade (Jul 27, 2011)

Hmm, ok... Thanks guys. 

I'll definitely switch back to getting crickets next week (when I get paid). Troy is eating very little at the moment, he is shedding and its very exticing.
The only problem I have with feeding crickets is Troy currently doesn't trust me very much. He is slowly warming up to me. As I have to put my hand in from above, I was told it would take him a little while to adjust. This makes it hard for me to put him in a feeding area where he can go crazy. There are far to many places where the crickets can hide in the tank.

Meaning I have to feed them to him with tweezers, I'm not overly keen on this as he can accidently bite the them.

As Troy can get close to the light the temperature there reaches higher than 40 degrees. The temperatures I stated earlier were just at the bottom of the tank.

Anyway, here are some more pictures .

Thanks again for the advice!

Ugh... pictures to big... I'll be back!


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## ven0mblade (Aug 12, 2011)

Ok, I'm back!

Troy has been doing very well over the last couple of weeks... He has been shedding bits and pieces for a little while, but seems to be very happy.
I took your advice and made myself a cricket enclosure (for future breeding) and I have secured myself a nice source of bulk crickets and other insects online.
He definately prefers the crickets now anyway, so they consist of probably 90% of his diet atm... 
I'll check out some of the plants at bunnings and work out what I can grow for him (Thanki Chris1!)

Basking temp is sitting at 45 on the rock he normally sits on, so I'm happy with that.

*Does anyone have any tips to encourage your dragons to bathe?*
When I got him about 5 weeks ago he seemed to be very comfortable having a nice drink off the side or even in the dish. I offer him fresh water, yet he seems as if he doesn't know what it is. 
He definately enjoys getting some droplets on his nose. However, this is hard as he is quite skittish and afraid of the big hands!! I normally get around this by using a spray bottle and slowly moving it closer to him, untill I can spray it on my fingers and drip to his head.

Thanks again for your previous advice!

Having trouble with these pictures... my images are too large... cbf converting them all right now lol.


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## Sofoula88 (Aug 15, 2011)

Hey ,I have two little pygmys and frommy experience I would agree with the mealies as a treat..I'mactually suprised he was brought up in em and didn't get impacted at some stage..but yeh it's good that you swapped it up to crickets..I find they like em much more..with mealies I tried about a month ago and at first they were very happy but very quickly got bored and hardly ate..then I put crickets in again and oh boy were they happy..lol.. Mine are nearly 2 years now... Lol at the tranny thing!


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## Grogshla (Aug 15, 2011)

Sofoula88 said:


> Hey ,I have two little pygmys and frommy experience I would agree with the mealies as a treat..I'mactually suprised he was brought up in em and didn't get impacted at some stage..but yeh it's good that you swapped it up to crickets..I find they like em much more..with mealies I tried about a month ago and at first they were very happy but very quickly got bored and hardly ate..then I put crickets in again and oh boy were they happy..lol.. Mine are nearly 2 years now... Lol at the tranny thing!



I'm happy with my female. She has never eaten mealworms only crickets and woodies and she loves them! I would not grow any plants for the dragon or have any live plants in his enclosure. If they decay and he consumes that it might not be good. Mine loves to explore around her fake plants and logs. I normally just tickle the water surface with my finger and slowly she came and i dropped some on her nose and she licks it then has a little drink.

p.s here is a link to a few pictures of her. She is nearly 1 year old and a female. Her name is Saphira

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-lizards-5383/pogona-hernylawsoni-157076/


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## Sofoula88 (Aug 16, 2011)

@grogshia mine eat the fake plants -_- lol.. And atm I have newspaper down and my bigger one she's a crazy bitch..she attacks and sometimes misses,so I'm pretty sure she has eaten some newspaper to..god what hasn't she eaten lol

Also by the way venomblade- to breed the crickets u will probz need more than a cricket keeper..u will need some big plastic tubs..stab some holes in the top for ventilation or if you have the tools dowhat I did and cut a whole and then mesh it up..I have a few vids on YouTube I can send ya the links of the set up if ud like but it's pretty easy..also I you can't breed or find it to difiicult goi should check out frogs.org ..they sell feeder insects for reptiles and deliver emto your door..very week if u want and u can pre pay so no hassle..you can bulk buy..and also stock up on newspapers lol..first 6-8 months and pobz bit after too ..they will ear and **** u out of the house lol.. Need any help on anything else feel free to ask as I was where u are now 2 yrs ago =]

Whoopsy daisy.. I must of read it wrong.. Disregard my last lol


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## ven0mblade (Aug 16, 2011)

Hey guys,

Cheers for the advice!

I have actually made a home for the crickets using a large plastic tub, I can out most of the lid and put flyscreen on with cardboard around it on both sides to tidy it up/give stability . I may very well have already watched your video hahaha!

Anyway, I am definitely happy I switched to crickets. The same thing happened to me, he lost interest and only ate a couple per day and when I got some crickets he sprung right up and is eating the occasional mealy still.... I wasn't concerned though, as he was shedding and from what I read their appetite is somewhat lost normally.

I've put some photos below... 
Troy 'hanging out'
The cricket container (I will probably make a 2nd with a larger container)
The new 3 stack enclosure I have started building


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## Sofoula88 (Aug 18, 2011)

Haha Troy is cute! Lol, that cricket container looks almost exactlylike mine except for the cardboard lol..I just used duct tape..they can't get up there anyway


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## Hindy (Sep 22, 2011)

Hi i have jst decided that i am going to get a pygmy bearded dragon. just wanting to know what i need to get set up?


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## leamos (Sep 22, 2011)

Hindy you won't be disappointed they are fantastic little lizards, on the subject of sharing info on these guys come join our group dedicated to pygmy beardie lovers - http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/groups/pygmy-beardies-259/


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