Western Bearded Dragon
(Pogona vitticeps)

Range: Southwestern Australia.

Habitat: Bearded dragons live in grassy deserts. They stay in their burrows during the hottest parts of the day.

Diet: In the wild: Insects such as crickets, vegetable matter, small animals.
In Captivity: Crickets, baby mice(pinkies), mealworms, peaches, mango, kiwi, apples, bean sprouts, squashes,  grapes and vitamin supplements.

Identification: Green-tinted khaki, medium-sized(14-16 inch long-much of that length is the tail)- broad-headed, flattened lizards with spiky faces. Males have darker beards and broader heads.

Notes: Baby bearded dragons are around three inches long. Bearded dragons hail from Australia but most are captive bred. They live in grassy deserts. Dragons stay in their burrows during the hottest parts of the day and bask in the mornings and evenings. Bearded dragons flare their throats out in order to look bigger and scare off potential predators. Male bearded dragons -develop black “beards” at breeding time. Bearded dragons have exposed eardrums. Like many reptiles bearded dragons gain vitamins from the sun and require full-spectrum, fluorescent light in captivity. Bearded dragons interact relatively well with people, which makes them very popular. Pet dragons enjoy exploring their enclosures. Bearded dragon females lay several white eggs that hatch between 60-80 days. Western bearded dragons live on the southwestern border of Australia. Often you will see the Common Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata) or Inland Bearded Dragon(Pogona vitticeps) for sale. They range over much more of Australia. There are seven -species of bearded dragons. Bearded dragons are not capable of autotomy, meaning they cannot grow back their tail if they lose it.

At The Children’s Museum: The Children’s Museum has Bearded dragons in the UTC Wildlife Sanctuary.