Bearded Dragon Care Calculator (Tank Size, Basking & UVB Setup, Insects per Day)
Set up and feed a bearded dragon by age: enclosure size from hatchling to adult (40 to 120+ gallons), basking spot and cool-side temperatures with the wattage to reach them, UVB tube strength, length and mounting distance, the insects per day and the greens-to-insects ratio that changes as they grow, calcium and vitamin dusting schedule, and monthly feeder costs.
How it works
enclosure: hatchling ≥ 75 × 45 cm, juvenile ≥ 100 × 60, adult ≥ 120 × 60 × 60 cm (150+ recommended) · basking 38–40 °C, cool 24–26 °C, night ≥ 18 °C; halogen watts ≈ 3.5 W per °C of rise + volume term · UVB: T5 HO 10–12% over ⅔ of the length at 25–40 cm (UVI 4–6) · insects/day: 40 hatchling → 25 → 15 juvenile → 8 sub-adult → 6 adult (2–3 days/week); greens 20% → 80%
A bearded dragon is a desert sun-basker whose health depends on three settings — a hot basking surface, a strong ultraviolet-B gradient over it, and room to move between hot and cool — and on a diet that flips from mostly insects in fast-growing juveniles to mostly greens in adults, with calcium dusting to build bone under the UVB that lets it be absorbed. The enclosure a hatchling fits is outgrown within a year, so keepers buy the adult size, and the insect count that seems enormous for a juvenile shrinks to a few per feeding day for an adult whose salad should now be the meal. Heat and UVB are also the running costs, alongside feeders bought by the hundred.
Worked example
A 6-month-old, 35 cm juvenile in a 120 × 60 × 60 cm enclosure (≈ 114 gal) is well housed: a 40 °C basking rock needs roughly a 90 W halogen flood in a 21 °C room, and a 10% T5 HO tube about 70 cm long over the warm side at 30–40 cm. It should get about 25 sized dubia a day, every day, with 40% of the diet as daily greens, calcium five days a week — around $91 a month in roaches plus $16 of greens and about $10 of electricity — roughly $117 all in.
Frequently asked questions
How many crickets should a baby beardie eat?
As many appropriately sized insects as it eats in 10–15 minutes, two or three times a day — often 30–60 pinhead/small crickets daily for hatchlings, falling to 15–30 for juveniles. Offer greens every day from the start so the adult switch to an 80% plant diet is not a fight.
Coil UVB bulb or tube?
A linear T5 HO tube (10–12%, or 6% if mounted very close) spanning most of the enclosure. Compact coils give a narrow, weak cone and were linked to eye problems in early versions; they are not adequate as the sole UVB source for a basking species.
Related calculators
Husbandry guidelines drawn from veterinary and keeper references (RSPCA, ARAV, species care sheets). Individual animals, breeds and climates vary — use these as starting points and confirm with an exotics veterinarian, especially for diet changes, temperatures and health concerns.