Basic Needs of Reptiles

There are a few basic needs all reptiles have. Food, water and heat are the first three. I'm just going to talk about these in this blog post and I'll talk about more advanced needs in another.
There is a wide variety of diets for reptiles from herbivore to carnivores to omnivores to insectivores. Depending on which one your reptile is there are a variety of prepared reptile diets for them. For example bearded dragons eat just about anything they can fit in their mouths. They like dragon pellets as well as freeze dried crickets or meal worms. They'll also eat fresh fruit, veggies and lettuces. I give mine all of these and sometimes pinkies or live crickets, meal worms or cockroaches as a treat. The best thing to do is read a book about the reptile you have or are going to get to find out what is the best for him or her.
Everything needs water of coarse but depending on what kind of reptile you have will determine how much. Some species of desert reptile will get all their water from the food they eat. It still is a good idea to keep fresh water in with your reptile just in case it gets thirsty. I will soak mine weekly so they can drink and get dirt and shed off. Some turtles and amphibians will need to be able to completely submerge themselves but will also need to be able to dry completely when they want to. It's good to have a basking light on one end where your pet will be able to climb out of the water and get close to.
Which brings me to my next topic of heat. There are many different ways of heating a cage. The easiest of course is a basking light as I mentioned before. Under tank heaters, Heat tape, aquarium heaters are also good sources. It's best if your reptile can get in and out of the heated side of the terrarium so he or she can thermoregulate.

bearded dragon breeders

Reptile Terrariums

If you want to create an artificial environment for a pet reptile there are a few things you should think about.

• Where is it found in the wild?
• What does it eat?
• How big will it get?
• Will you be housing more than one together?

The first of these points is the most important, in order to replicate your pet's natural habitat. When you're designing the terrarium think about eases of cleaning as well as what looks nice. Plastic plants are easier to keep especially of your pet would eat live ones. Some substrates are also easier to clean than others. You will also need to know what temperature to have the terrarium at. You can adjust this with heat rocks, heat tape or basking lights. A timer on your light would help regulate your reptiles day cycle. You will also need to determine your pet's need for UVB. You can provide this with lighting or supplements.
What it eats will determine what you can put in with it as far as live or plastic plants or another companion. You will also need to think about availability and expense of food like crickets, meal worms, lettuce, rodents or even other reptiles.
How big it will get will help you decide how much time and money to spend on a cage that your reptile might outgrow. Also if you will be housing more than one you will need to know how much space each one will need. Here is a good book about building reptile vivaria.
bearded dragon breeders