Clean Up Crew For Bearded Dragons

Bearded dragons, the often misunderstood, but wonderfully interactive reptile. But when you look at keeping isopods as a clean-up crew for Beardies, then you run into an issue of humidity and the risk of the beardies hunting and eating them.

 

Humidity and Temperature in Bearded Dragon Enclosures

 

Humidity doesn't need to be as low as you might read in some older textbooks, or some parts of the web. You want a temperature gradient along the viv, so you will get a humidity gradient.

 

Ideally, you want the surface temps to be in the region of 42-45°C (108-113°F) at the basking surface, and dropping to 25-29°C (77-85°F) at the cool end. These are the surface temperatures where your isopods will be, although they can burrow down into the substrate to avoid the highs and lows. The other thing to take into account is nighttime temps 12-24°C (55-75°F).

 

This will give you a humidity gradient from about 30% to 60% depending on where in the enclosure you are. Now that might seem high in terms of Bearded Dragons, but in Central Australia, there are a variety of weather conditions. Uluru the famous landmark in the middle of the desert area has humidity from 10-80% depending on the time of the year. The microclimate for bearded dragons leans towards cooler and more humid than the climate as they have been observed going into burrows and into bush scrub during the hotter parts of the day.

 

Substrate for Bearded Dragons

 

So often Beardies are kept on just sand, or worse, something like carpet or newspapers. In the wild they might be spotted out basking on sand, or more often on a fencepost or rock outcrop, but that's what the basking spot is for. They spend more time under bushes and in semi-arid woodland. This means there is sandy soil, leaves, and other things for them to dig through looking for treats. Don't forget their diet in the wild contains a lot of green leaves. That's not possible if there aren't any leaves to munch on.

 

Provide a sandy soil substrate at the warm end, but there is nothing wrong with some leaf litter at the cool end. You can always alter thing to keep it in the ideal humidity range for the Bearded Dragon.

 

Will My Bearded Dragon Eat Isopods

 

Yes, so choose a species that is both suitable to eat, but also will breed fast enough to keep up with your beardie having the occasional snack. I'll also add that I wouldn't keep a very expensive species in there. As much as I'd love to sell you the more expensive isopods, but that wouldn't be fair to you. We have a number of species that are a great food source for your Bearded Dragon, will breed if you give them the opportunity, and won't hurt your wallet too much if a few end up being munched on.

 

Suitable Isopods

 

Porcellionides Pruinosus are the first isopod we will recommend for Bearded Dragon enclosures. Native to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean then are comfortable at the same temperatures as Bearded Dragons although they will tend to live towards the cooler end. That also means they will be at the end that has the higher humidity.

 

They have a softer body and when gut-loaded are nutritionally a fantastic part of their diet, and are often bred as a food source for smaller reptiles, so if your dragon manages to catch some it won't be an issue. In fact, this is a fantastic source of enrichment for them.

 

Even better they come in a huge range of colours. From orange to blue, white, and orange spots. More commonly known as Powder Blue, and Powder Orange isopods, as well as other types, these are well known for being adaptable to a variety of conditions.

 

Be careful if you buy more than one colour that they might not breed true, but equally you might some new interesting morph.

 

Bioactive Vivarium

 

You might be wondering if you need a fully bioactive vivarium to keep isopods. No, as long as there is a suitable environment for all the inhabitants, you can keep them how you want. Fully bioactive involves a variety of inhabitants to form the clean up crew, various microbes in the substrate, and often fully planted areas. But isopods are a great first step in that journey.

 

Clean Up Crew

 

What actually is a clean-up crew? The idea was that you would have a full clean-up crew that would get rid of any and all waste produced by the main inhabitant. It's a great idea in theory, but that would mean that you'd need a similar bioload of clean-up crew to your main reptile, and that's a lot of isopods or springtails, or other critters.

 

In reality you should still plan on cleaning out any larger waste, but even a small amount of isopods will be able to help clean up the smaller bits that you might miss. That gives bad bacteria and pathogens less of a chance to proliferate, keeping your enclosure healthier and less of a risk of smelling bad.

 

Why Add Isopods to Your Bearded Dragons Vivarium?

 

Enrichment for your Beardie, a source of food, and as a clean-up crew, those are three great reasons, but I'm going to add a fourth. Because isopods are great all on their own, start as a clean-up crew, then you'll have a separate colony to breed, and then you're looking at a new species.

 

There’s nothing to lose, and a lot of real positives in terms of the welfare of your Bearded Dragon, and your enjoyment of their enclosure.