Bearded Dragon Gotcha Day: Celebrating the Day Your Beardie Came Home
How to celebrate a bearded dragon's Gotcha Day or adoption anniversary: the enrichment feast format, and why many beardies don't have known hatch dates from their breeders.
Many bearded dragons don’t come with known hatch dates. Breeders sometimes provide hatch dates for individually tracked clutches; pet store beardies rarely have this documentation; rescues almost never do. The Gotcha Day, the day you brought them home or adopted them, is the date you know, and it’s worth celebrating.
A bearded dragon Gotcha Day is the same format as the birthday: a better-than-usual feeding day with variety insects and a fresh salad, plus a new enclosure enrichment item.
The Gotcha Day Feast
The same food rules as the birthday apply. See what bearded dragons can eat at a birthday party for the complete safe and unsafe list.
The Gotcha Day feast format:
- A fresh salad of high-Vitamin A greens (collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens)
- Birthday protein: 3–5 extra dubia roaches or BSFL beyond the usual serving, or a hornworm as the special treat
- A few pieces of safe fruit as the dessert course (blueberries or mango pieces)
The Gotcha Day Gift
Best gifts for bearded dragons:
- A new hide, most beardies use additional hides immediately REPTI ZOO Bearded Dragon Hide Cave
- A new basking spot accessory, a new piece of slate or a cork bark basking platform Reptile Cork Bark Platform
- A bulk dubia roach order, practically speaking, this is the gift that serves the beardie best over time Dubia Roach Feeder Insects
Sources
- VCA Hospitals, Bearded Dragon Feeding, vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/bearded-dragons-feeding
- You
- Your pets
- Confirm