Entry #1 - My favorite hobby

  My name is Gabrielle Wolf, and as for hobbies; mine are pretty limited. I would have to say my biggest hobbies has to be caring for my bearded dragon, Butters. I bought Butters from a pet store just about a year ago, and I had no idea what I was in for. I came prepared to buy a leopard gecko, but when I saw Butters face for the first time I knew I would do everything in my power to give this adorable lizard the best life I could, and it sure has been a lot of work. 

 Bearded Dragons need a lot of special care and they are pretty high maintenance, but 100% worth it. Setting up the cage was probably the most difficult, and expensive. Bearded Dragons need certain UVB and UVA lights, and they need certain amounts of exposure to these lights to mimic natural sunlight. Advanced lizard tanks usually have bars of these lights wired on the ceiling on the tank, with UVA on the hottest side and the UVB on the colder side. Lizard tanks need to have a granite of 100°F on one side to around 85° on the other side, depending on the age of the dragon. Baby Bearded Dragons need their hot side to be around 115°F, as it helps them grow. They need a hot side to bask and absorb the light. The lighting situation itself is quite a lot, and one of the most important factors to perfect in order for a Bearded Dragon to be healthy and happy.

                         

Another important factor of a happy and healthy Bearded Dragon is the size of the tank. An ideal tank size is a 4x2x2 or a 120 gallon tank, or a 50 gallon tank for a baby dragon. These tanks can be the most expensive part. My bearded dragon just reached full grown and i have him in a 70 gallon tank; therefore I’ve been saving up around $400 to upgrade him into a 120 gallon or bigger. The bigger the tank, the more room there is to decorate; which is my favorite part. A lot of people prefer to use slate tile as a flooring because it’s not as much work as a dirt based substrate, and slate absorbs heat which allows the tank to stay hotter. I am a big fan of plants, so when I bought Butters and started planning to create a good tank, I leaned toward dirt and moss substrate for a flooring, allowing me to plant live plants in Butters tank. It looks amazing! The big spots of green spread around his tank look beautiful and it adds so much life into his home. The plants also a good source of nutrition for Butters. As for his diet, thats a lot easier to handle. I give him about a handful of kale, a couple blueberries chopped into small pieces and a sprinkle of worms for him to eat. I give him this combination about 4 out of 7 days of the week, and the other days i leave freeze dried crickets covered in calcium in a bowl and the live plants for him to graze on. I definitely overfeed him but he’s very healthy and happy so I think I’ll stick with this meal plan for now.

 Bearded Dragons require more work than i expected, but I am so grateful I decided to go for it. Now, I have gotten super into learning as much as I can and I am always trying to evolve his housing for him. I genuinely enjoy taking care of him and putting work and love into his tank, it really has developed into a hobby for me, one that I am extremely passionate about it and it also comes with a good friend, Butters. Maintaining the plants, substrate, lighting, temperature and diet has been a lot to learn but I wouldn’t change it for the world!