Bearded Dragon Scientific Name & Classification
| Scientific name | Pogona vitticeps |
| Family | Agamidae |
| Native range | Central/interior Australia |
Taxonomy
Pogona vitticeps sits in the family Agamidae, commonly called "eyelid dragons" or true dragon lizards — a large family distinct from geckos, skinks, and iguanids, characterised by acrodont teeth (fused to the jaw rather than set in sockets) and, in most species, moveable eyelids.
Native range
Wild Pogona vitticeps is found across the dry woodlands, shrublands, and deserts of central Australia, sheltering in burrows and among rocks and vegetation rather than out on open bare sand.
Wild diet
In the wild, bearded dragons are opportunistic omnivores — eating insects, small vertebrates, and a wide range of native plant matter and flowers, the natural basis for the captive diet's insect-plus-greens balance.
"First domesticated lizard"
Thanks to decades of intensive captive breeding since the late 1980s and 1990s, bearded dragons are sometimes informally described as the first truly domesticated lizard species, though Australia has restricted wild collection and export of its native reptiles since 2000.
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A single adult bearded dragon needs a minimum 4ft x 2ft x 2ft enclosure, with 6ft x 2ft x 2ft increasingly recommended as best practice — plus a linear T5 HO UVB tube, an overhead basking bulb on a thermostat, a real thermal gradient, a sturdy basking platform, and a shallow water dish.
A complete bearded dragon setup needs a 4ft+ enclosure, a linear T5 HO UVB tube, an overhead basking bulb on a thermostat, two thermometers, a basking platform, a hide, a shallow water dish, and age-appropriate substrate — all running and stable for at least 48 hours before the dragon arrives.
Hatchlings can start in a 20-gallon long tub, juveniles need to move to roughly a 40-gallon breeder footprint by a few months old, and adults need a minimum 4ft x 2ft x 2ft enclosure, with 6ft x 2ft x 2ft recommended.
Basking surface temperature should run 95–110°F depending on age (hotter for hatchlings, cooler for adults), with a cool side around 75–85°F, all provided by an overhead basking bulb on a thermostat — not a heat mat or heat rock.
Bearded dragons need a linear T5 HO UVB tube at 10.0 or 12% output, running the length of the basking third of the enclosure with nothing between bulb and dragon, replaced every 6–12 months regardless of whether it still produces visible light.
Bearded dragons should be kept at roughly 30–40% ambient humidity. Sustained humidity above 50% significantly raises the risk of respiratory infection in this dry-climate species — brief daily misting or a shallow soak handles hydration and shedding needs without pushing ambient humidity up long-term.