#bioactivebeardies

I was very happy to see him digging away like that. He came up with a face covered in dirt, it was brilliant. I moved him from tile onto bioactive about two months ago now and as yet I had not seen a great deal of changed behaviours. The fact he suddenly seemed to realize today that digging and sculpting his own environment is a thing he can do now, makes me very happy :)

Plant your lizard in direct sunlight for best results.

Here is my bioactive setup for Eldrick. In providing enrichment for your animals it’s really important to give them the freedom of choice in how and where they spend their time. The more complexity and imaginative use of space you can add to the enclosure..... the more varied their sensory experience you can offer, the better your Beardie’s life experience. Please don’t be brainwashed by all those Beardie groups on facebook who make out a sheet of lino, a hide, a basking spot and a food bowl is good enough. It’s really really not. Your animals mental stimulation is a crucial part of its care. Simple, sterile and easy to clean is for mass production breeders who are looking for efficiency. NOT general pet keepers. We owe it to them to give them more. In my set up I have a range of hides incorporated into the cool end, middle and hot end. I have branches both on the floor and spanning the depth of the viv off the floor so he can take advantage of a more 3D use of space. He has a range of substrates....a rockery, the bioactive soil, leaves and wood, so his little feet and belly can experience a range of textures and he can dig, burrow and forage as he chooses and as nature intended. It also means he can access a humidity gradient we deny them in “minimal risk” set ups, which aids to help shedding. I have a colony of Dubia roaches living in there who also aid the clean up crew and I have a wide range of species in my clean up crew. There are so many myths we are brainwashed to believe unquestioningly in the Beardie community. But since learning about bio I have realized most of it is rubbish and Bearded Dragon keeping can be a lot more interesting than keeping the poor thing in a featureless, boring box.

Here is Eldrick perching up on the new branch I put in his bioactive enclosure yesterday. Many people are led to believe Beardies are purely terrestrial species and don’t need any arboreal component to their enclosures, but this is quite untrue. In the wild you will often find them climbing trees and chilling in branches and they love to sit atop fence posts and watch the world. Adding different levels of surface also uses up all that wasted vertical space in your standard 4x2x2 enclosure. I would love to give him 3-4 foot of height had I the room. Eldrick, like many Beardies loves watching his kingdom and given a choice will always choose the highest vantage points to perch on. He spends very little time on the floor.

This face is my favourite

“You can’t see me!” Eldrick, I really can see you.  This is one of the reasons bioactive is great. He wouldn’t be able to use his own initiative in hiding himself whilst stuck on the great lino plains of sterile boredom.