While both bearded dragons and leopard geckos make amazing pets, you might need to choose only one. So which pet is better and more suitable for you – a bearded dragon or leopard gecko? In this post, we will discuss bearded dragon or leopard gecko as pets – full comparison and pros and cons of each.
#1: Lifespan
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons can live for up to 10-15 years with good care. Depending on care, expect your bearded dragon to live for 7-12 years on average.
Leopard gecko: Lifespan of a leopard gecko can vary greatly, from 10-20 years. Depending on care, your leopard gecko can live as little as 7 years, especially females or ones that are cared for poorly. With good care, expect your leopard gecko to live at least 10 years, and up to 15-20.
Verdict: Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons have a similar lifespan. Leopard geckos can live longer with exceptional care, but this varies very greatly.
#2: Size
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are medium sized lizards – an adult bearded dragon will reach 17-24 inches (43-61cm) long. A newly hatched bearded dragon will be 3.5-4 inches (9-10cm) long, and will grow until it reaches maturity at maximum 2 years old.
However, there are also dwarf bearded dragons, which only reach 10-14 inches (25-35.6cm) long. German giant bearded dragons get bigger – 22-24 inches (56-61cm) long.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos are smaller than bearded dragons. A new born leopard gecko will be 3-3.5″ (7.6-9cm) long. Adult leopard geckos reach – 7-10 inches (17.8-25.4cm) long.
Verdict: Bearded dragons get much bigger in size, unless it is a dwarf bearded dragon. Will not make a big difference, but bearded dragons are easier to handle and are less fragile.
#3: Weight
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons will weigh around 2-3 grams at hatching. An adult bearded dragon has to weigh minimum 250 grams, but can reach up to 750 grams. Some big bearded dragons can even reach up to 850 grams, but anything above that is obesity.
Leopard gecko: An adult leopard gecko is likely to weigh around 45-65 grams, but can reach up to 100 grams (males tend to be heavier than females).
Verdict: Bearded dragon get much heavier than leopard geckos. Some will prefer this for a more comfortable handling (less fragile). Leopard geckos can be more fragile to handle for inexperienced owners or children.
#4: Looks
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons look like small dragons, have a bearded that they can puff up when feeling threatened. Have small spikes on the body, but they are not sharp. There are many various morphs – white, gold, red, yellow, striped and more. You can read about morphs in this post (new tab).
Leopard geckos: leopard geckos are truly beautiful. They have dots on their body, a thick tail and beautiful eyes. There are many leopard gecko morphs, even with different color of the eyes. You can find out about leopard gecko morphs in this post (new tab).
Verdict: Both bearded dragons and leopard geckos are beautiful, and it will be a matter of personal preference only.
#5: Active time of day
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are diurnal. This means that they are active during the day and sleep at night. That will be a positive point for people who have children or who also don’t stay up at night.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos are crepuscular, which means that they get active mostly during twilight. This is a time of day when the sun goes down, and before it rises again.
Verdict: Depending on your lifestyle, either a leopard gecko or bearded dragon will be more suitable for you. Some owners that are active at night even shift their bearded dragon’s sleep to nights. They make their room dark during the day and have lights on during the night. This is not recommended, though.
#6: Diet
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are omnivores, which means that they will need to eat both live food (insects) and veggies/greens/fruit. Young bearded dragons will mainly eat live insects. But with age (after around 10-12 months old), they need to eat mainly vegetables and greens and bugs only 2 times/week.
Baby bearded dragons need to eat 2-4 times a day, which will go down to once a day after reaching maturity at around 12 months old. Bearded dragons can go for up to few weeks to a month without food if required.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos are strictly insectivores, which means that they need to eat only live food. You might feed your leopard gecko a big range of live foods. Also, you can rarely top the diet with freeze dried insects, but live bugs should be the main source of food.
Young leopard geckos will need to eat once a day, and adults over 12-18 months old – once in two days. To compare, you have to feed your dragon every day. However, leopard geckos can go one week without food if required.
Verdict: Leopard geckos only eat insects, so you might need to spend more on live food. On the other hand, bearded dragon mainly eat greens after reaching maturity. Adult leopard geckos need to eat every other day, while bearded dragons – every day. Baby bearded dragons eat quite a lot.
#7: Brumation
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons start brumating after they reach 12-18 months old. Most bearded dragons brumate during winter, when temperatures drop lower and the days become shorter.
Not all bearded dragons will brumate, though. Brumation in bearded dragons can last from few weeks to up for few months (generally 2-3 months, but can be more than that). Most bearded dragons don’t lose any weight at all during brumation.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos often don’t brumate by themselves at all. If you keep the temperatures and lights the same, your leopard gecko isn’t likely to start brumating. But some will, regardless of the setup. Leopard geckos can become generally slower, eat only a little and mostly sleep during winter time as well.
You should not induce any brumation in your leopard geckos if you don’t have any intention of breeding them. Or, if you don’t have any experience. Leopard geckos that start brumating can brumate for few weeks to few months. Most won’t lose more than 5-10 grams, depending on brumation length.
Verdict: Bearded dragons are more likely to brumate than leopard geckos. Brumation is often induced to help pet lizards breed after winter shutdown. Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons can go for up to few months without losing much if any weight at all.
#8: Personality
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are truly fun and amusing pet lizards. They all have unique personalities, love spending time with their owners after bonding and love snuggling or sitting on their owner’s shoulder!
You can even take your bearded dragon outside in summer, or do different activities. Bearded dragons are truly fun to watch and bond with. Most bearded dragons are docile.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos also have unique personalities, and are interesting to watch and bond with. Most leopard geckos are docile, but not all will become fans of handling. They also tend to be shy. You can also do various activities with your leopard geckos, though.
Verdict: Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons have fun personalities, but bearded dragons tend to be more sociable and interested in contact with their owner. That doesn’t sum up all pet lizards though, as each will have its own personality.
#9: Handling tolerance and tail dropping
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons that are tame and settled often enjoy handling and some will even ask to get out to have some contact with the owner. Others will be tolerant of handling, which is also great.
Leopard gecko: Most leopard geckos are docile and tolerant of handling. However, leopard geckos are not very suitable for children, especially those that get easily scared. Leopard geckos are delicate and can drop their tail if handled incorrectly.
Verdict: Bearded dragons won’t drop its tail if you handle it, even if you make a small mistake. Leopard gecko can drop its tail if it gets scared or threatened. Its tail will grow back, but won’t be the same.
Both pet lizards are often tolerant of handling, but bearded dragons are easier to handle because they are larger. Leopard geckos need more confident or older people, because they are small and delicate.
#10: Required tank size
Bearded dragon: Young bearded dragons can live in a small 15 gallon terrarium for up to 1-2 months only. An adult bearded dragon will require a 55-70 gallon tank that is at least 36 inches long, such as this large tall Exo Terra tank. A 40 gallon breeder tank is a bare minimum, so at least 55 gallons is important for a stimulating environment.
Leopard gecko: Young leopard geckos can live in a small 10-15 gallon tank. Adult leopard geckos will require preferably a 25-30 gallon wide terrarium like this. 20 gallons is a bare minimum, but 30 gallon or more will help to create a stimulating environment.
Verdict: Leopard geckos definitely require less space than bearded dragons. Both need wide horizontal tanks, and not vertical ones.
#11: Lighting, heating, humidity requirements
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons require a hot basking spot with constant temperatures of 92-110 degrees Fahrenheit (33-43 Celsius). Also, they need a high output UVB tube like this, that runs 50-80% of the tank. You will need to replace UVB tubes every 6 months. Heat is very important to stay healthy and digest food.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos don’t specific heating and lighting requirements. As long as the room with the tank is warm, you might skip heating the tank. They require a hot spot temperature of 83-90 degrees Fahrenheit (28-32.2 Celsius).
However, they don’t require a UVB lamp or heat lamp, even though you can have a low 5.0 UVB bulb. Leopard geckos require belly heat to digest food, which you can provide with an under tank heater or a heat cable.
Verdict: It’s much easier to setup heating and lighting for leopard geckos. Bearded dragons require a high temperature basking spot and UVB bulbs to stay healthy. Leopard geckos will only require a warm tank to digest food and stay warm. Also, both need low humidity levels of around 30-40%.
#12: Health
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are hardy, but can suffer from different health problems. These can include Metabolic bone disease, skin and internal infections, broken bones, mouth rot, yellow fungus, impaction/constipation and more.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos are also hardy. Can suffer from infections, Metabolic bone disease, skin and internal infections, mouth rot, broken bones, tail drop, impaction/constipation and more.
Verdict: Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons are hardy pet lizards. If you provide good care and keep the tank clean, they are more likely to stay healthy.
#13: Cleanliness
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons tend to poop in different spots of the tank. You will have to pick up the poop as soon as you see it. Bearded dragon’s poop also tends to smell bad. To make it more manageable, you can take your bearded dragon to poop in a bath on some days.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos often pick a spot where they poop, making cleaning easier. Their poop also smells, but it will depend on what your leo has eaten.
Verdict: Leopard geckos tend to poop in one spot, and bearded dragons often don’t.
#14: Suitability for beginners
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons are suitable for beginners.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos are suitable for beginners too.
Verdict: Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons are amazing beginner pets, but bearded dragons will require some more work to setup lighting and heating. But after that, it gets much easier.
#15: Costs
Bearded dragon: Apart from an initial setup, bearded dragon will cost few dollars in electricity a month. You will also need to replace UVB tube every 6 months.
On top of that, food will cost around 5-30$ a week depending on age. Baby bearded dragons eat 2-4 times a day, and can consume around 100 small crickets/day. But after the age of 10-12 months, your bearded dragon will eat bugs only 2 times a week. So this cost will become a monthly spending.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos don’t require UVB lighting, so electricity bill can be lower by few dollars. But they still need a heat source such as an under tank heater or cable. They will also need bugs.
Verdict: Bearded dragons and leopard geckos both need to eat bugs throughout their lives. Breeding your own feeder bugs will lower food costs. Vet bills might be required for both pets, so saving up for this might be a good idea. Or, getting a lizard pet insurance that will help cover vet costs.
#16: Ability to live in groups
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons must live on their own. Cohabitation of any genders almost always causes problems and injuries. Bearded dragons really enjoy having their own space and get territorial. Your bearded dragon can live a happy life on its own and will not get lonely.
Leopard gecko: You should avoid housing leopard geckos together. While it might be easier to house leopard geckos together rather than bearded dragons together, it’s still not worth the risk. Leopard geckos living together will fight for food, space and can generally attach each other.
Verdict: You should house each leopard gecko or bearded dragon separately.
#17: Breeding and egg-laying
Bearded dragon: Bearded dragons become mature for breeding when reaching 8-12 months old. But however, you should not try breeding bearded dragons before they reach around 18-24 months old and weigh at least 400 grams. Bearded dragons can lay eggs without mating with a male, but eggs will be infertile.
Leopard gecko: Leopard geckos become sexually mature at the age of around 12 months. Your leopard geckos should weigh minimum 50 grams before you start breeding them. Leopard geckos can also can lay eggs without mating with a male, and eggs will be infertile.
Verdict: It’s not hard to breed bearded dragons or leopard geckos. Both can lay infertile eggs. Can start breeding at similar age.
Summary: Is a bearded dragon or leopard gecko more suitable for me?
Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons make amazing pets! Depending on what you prefer, you can choose either of them.
While bearded dragons are better for young people and children, and can show more personality, leopard geckos are better for much easier maintenance and can make amazing display pets.
Leopard geckos are much easier to care for than bearded dragons, due to lack of need for special light, frequent feeding and so on. Also, leopard geckos take less space than bearded dragons.
Both leopard geckos and bearded dragons are great for beginners, but bearded dragons will require more of your time. Especially in the beginning, when you are still learning about the care.
However, bearded dragons tend to be more sociable and active during the day. Leopard geckos get active towards the end of the day, and are often shy and not fans of handling.
If you would like to read other comparisons, please click on links below: