Why bearded dragons dig

The hot side of the tank should reach degrees Fahrenheit Celsius , and not higher than that. Temperatures above F A cool spot should range between F Temperature at night should reach around F Please note that it can be hard and even impossible to create a temperature gradient in small tanks.

An adult bearded dragon needs a bare minimum of 40 gallons to itself. Stick-on thermometers tend to be very inaccurate, and can be off by 10 degrees or so. Please choose digital stick-on thermometers over analog ones, and ones that have probes, like this. Place one in a hot spot, and one in a cooler spot. Also, invest in an infrared handheld thermometer like this that will allow to measure temperatures in any spot of the tank.

Positioning the lights correctly and distance from light to your bearded dragon is also crucial to reach optimal temperatures.

And to avoid eye injuries or burns. If your bearded dragon is stressed, it will be hiding and trying to escape. There are many reasons for stress, for example bright lights, cage mates, loud noises and many more.

Please never house bearded dragons together because they are solitary and competitive creatures. Housing two or more bearded dragons together will cause fights, injuries and stress. Believe it or not, bearded dragons might be digging to look for food. In any case when you might underfeed your bearded dragon, it might look for food itself by digging and going around.

You should only start worrying about obesity in your dragon after it becomes a sub-adult of around 10 months old. Before that, please feed as many live bugs your dragon can eat in minutes. Especially babies. It can also rarely happen when your dragon tried other bugs that it likes more, but you cut back on them to improve its diet such as fatty worms. Fattier worms are addicting to bearded dragons and they can reject other feeder bugs if they get addicted. If you start fixing the diet, your dragon might reject other bugs and not eat at all.

The following are the possible signs what can be the cause of an obsessive digging habit of your bearded dragons and how can you deal with it:. Fear could be a good reason why these beardies are digging.

Almost all of the bearded dragons who were moved into their new shelter exhibit this kind of behavior for a number of days. It just had to get used to its new environment, and it has to get used to you as its owner as well. On the other hand, this may be that you keep two or more bearded dragons in one tank, and your pet just afraid of this other dragon. Another reason must be you keep two same-gender beardies in one tank.

You should observe your bearded dragons. If it digs all the time, getting extinguish by other beardies? When your bearded dragon feels stressed, this can cause them to hide and escape. Keep in mind that you should prevent housing two bearded dragons together because this kind of pet is introvert, and they are also very competitive creatures. Having two or more beardies in one tank might cause fights, stress, and tension as well as physical injuries.

Another reason might be this bearded dragon dig to look for its food. There are some cases that you may underfeed the beardies that cause them to dig the soil and search for food. It did not often happen when your bearded dragon tried to eat other bugs, and it likes it even more.

Sometimes your dragon might feel that there is no adequate space for them to roam around and do some physical activities. Thus, the dragon feels bored, and it starts to dig. Hiding spot is very important in bearded dragons; it might start digging obsessively to make a hiding place for itself. Make sure that you provide at least one covered spot in its tank.

You can also introduce it in a small blanket with a soft fabric for the dragon to lay during the night, covered in its top with another fabric, or even a cloth to provide a feeling of security. The temperature must be sometimes the reason to very hefty digging behavior of bearded dragon; maybe the temperature was just too high.

Therefore, when your bearded dragon just cannot stop digging for a couple of days continuously, the reason must be temperature. Sometimes your bearded dragon wants to dig into a cave for them to feel cool down a little bit.

You need to choose the right light for your beardies. It is also important on how to get the right temperature as well as how to choose the right UV lightning. You must first need to know what UV lighting that suits your bearded dragon for them to stay healthy. UV lighting is important to beardies; it will have a massive impact on their behavior also on their mental well-being. Providing the right UV light obstruct metabolic bone disease. One such activity is digging.

Digging can seem like a natural thing for a reptile to do, but is it? Does it mean that your beardie is missing something or is ill? Bearded dragon digging is exactly as it sounds. They will scratch at the substrate and bedding to try and get underneath. The activity may occur during the day, or you may only hear it at night. It could be an occasional issue or an ongoing problem. In the wild, bearded dragons are natural diggers. They will dig out tunnels and caves in which to hide, and they can dig under the surface of sand and other substrates to hunt for insects and other natural meals.

In captivity, they may enjoy digging, too, but if your reptile is digging too often, has suddenly taken to digging, or is causing themselves physical harm while digging, then it could be a sign of something negative and that you need to take action on quickly. If your bearded dragon is 12 months old or older and female, she could be getting ready to lay eggs. Even if your female beardie has had no contact with a male, she can lay unfertilized eggs.

Once laying season starts, she will want to find somewhere safe and warm for her eggs. Even if you believe your beardie is a male, it may be worth double-checking. Many of these reptiles are sexed incorrectly, and even though you may think you have a male, you could, in fact, have a gravid female.

If this is the case, you can put down a lay box in the middle of the tank. If you do not provide a decent lay box, your female beardie could become egg-bound and can make her seriously unwell. Not all bearded dragon tanks have a dig box area, but because your beardie would enjoy digging in the wild, you may want to include one in your terrarium.

If you have a female, then you should provide a lay box or dig box so that she has somewhere to safely lay her eggs and prevent her from becoming egg-bound. There are many ways that you need to care for a bearded dragon, and providing the right temperature in a terrarium is one such way.

Beardies like temperatures much higher than we do, but not too high.