Bearded dragons are amazing pet lizards – they are extremely friendly, mellow and rather easy to keep. However, everybody’s situation is different and it might happen that you don’t want your bearded dragon anymore. How can you give away a bearded dragon if you cannot care for it anymore?
I don’t want my bearded dragon anymore
If you don’t want your bearded dragon anymore, it’s fine. Maybe you had your bearded dragon for some time but now need to move to another city or country, and can’t take it with you. Or maybe you cannot provide for it anymore, so you decide to give it away.
Whatever the reason, please make sure to give your bearded dragon away correctly. This will help prevent it from going to wrong hands or even dying.
It is actually very wise and brave to give away your dragon when you know that you cannot take care of it anymore. Some owners lose interest in their dragon. Then they neglect it, instead of making a decision to give it a better life.
Is it possible to fix things?
Some owners decide to give away their bearded dragon because it’s not as friendly as they expected or maybe because they don’t want to feed it live bugs anymore.
Regarding feeding, there are a wide range of live bugs that you can offer to your dragon. If you don’t want to keep roaches or crickets, you can turn to hornworms, Calciworms or silkworms which might be less invasive and not as unpleasant to you.
Most bearded dragons are mellow and docile, and if your bearded dragon is mean or aggressive, there would be a reason or few. Improving your bearded dragon’s quality of life and taming will help improve things dramatically pretty quick. Even an aggressive bearded dragon can become tame with some work.
How to give away a bearded dragon?
If you don’t want your bearded dragon anymore, please consider about where you will give it away. Please never let your bearded dragon out in a street, as it won’t survive and will be terrified until it dies.
First of all, temperatures are likely to kill your bearded dragon because they need high temperatures to stay warm. Bearded dragons are cold-blooded and need constant heat from outside to stay warm.
Secondly, your bearded dragon will be scared of everything and everyone around it. Your bearded dragon will suffer from extreme stress and won’t be able to feed itself. Generally speaking, your bearded dragon won’t survive more than few days in the wild because it’s not adapted to this lifestyle anymore.
You must give away your bearded dragon to someone that will be able to take care of it and is at least somewhat knowledgeable and responsible.
Where to give away a bearded dragon?
- You can give away your bearded dragon to a local rescue or animal shelter. In these places, your bearded dragon is likely to be taken care of properly.
- Herpetology society
- A zoo
- You can also post an advertisement on forums
- Another option includes giving away your bearded dragon to a pet store (try local ones instead of chain stores)
- Vet offices often have a bulletin board, so you can post your advert there too
Also, you can also post an advertisement online. Or, in a newspaper offering your bearded dragon for a small fee or for free. If you don’t plan to keep another reptile anytime soon, you can even give away other accessories and its tank. In this case, the chances of someone reaching out will be bigger.
If a person reached out and agrees to take your bearded dragon, please check if the person has suitable conditions. Also, make sure that he/she knows how to take care of bearded dragons.
You can even tell the person all about bearded dragon care. Provide tips on feeding, heating and lighting and more. Make sure to tell about changing UVB lights every 6 months, staple foods, supplementation and more.
You can find a bearded dragon care resource page here.
Be careful when giving your bearded dragon away!
As scary as it might sound, some people might pretend to be rescuing bearded dragons. Instead, they might be buying bearded dragons for cheap or even getting them for free. Then, they are breeding them and reselling them and their babies.
Shelters and rescue homes often check whether an adopter is prepared for a new pet and has suitable conditions for it.
So when giving away your bearded dragon, make sure that the person or rescue shelter is indeed who they claim to be. You can Google their phone numbers, check if they have a website and address (for shelters) and so on.
If it’s the person who is trying to take your bearded dragon, make sure that they are not resellers or breeders. To do this, you can also search their number or email address and check on social media channels. This might bring up their profile or a breeders/resellers page if they are one.
Summary:
Whether the situation, please never let your bearded dragon loose on streets. In this case, your bearded dragon will die very quickly and will suffer a lot.
You can always find a place that will accept your bearded dragon and potentially find a good home for it. Or, you can find a good home for it yourself.
If giving away to a person, please make sure the person is ready to care for your dragon and has all the suitable tools, space and knowledge for this. Otherwise, constant rehoming is very stressful for your bearded dragon.