Bearded dragons originate in Australia and this is still the only place they live wildly and it should stay that way as there are now strict laws in Australia that restrict any removal of wildlife. Bearded dragons live all over Australia so they can live in semi desert environments, sandy and rocky plains, short grasses and brushland. As they live in very hot areas they usually spend most of the day in underground sand burrows and come out in the cool nights to eat, etc. All pet dragons are captive bred and actually originate from europe. Bearded dragons were taken to europe before the strict laws in Australia and were captive bred there. Germany seemed to be the main country to breed them and there are actually now german giant dragons who were bred to be extra big. The bearded dragons then were brought over to the USA and are now captive bred over most of the world.
Captive Habitat:
The most difficult requirement for captive bearded dragons is space. They require a very large space and a single dragon should be kept in a cage no smaller than 75 gallons but obviously the bigger the better. Males should also be housed seperatly as they are territorial and will fight over females too. But 1 male and 2 or 3 females can be kept together if the cage is big enough. A glass tank is fine if there is a mesh top for ventilation and as long as there is not direct sunlight entering the cage because glass does not let the heat back out of the tank and this will cause the dragon to overheat and die. Heat and light should be provided with heat lamps, night lamps, heat pads and UVA/UVB strip lights but heat rocks are not suggested as the dragons can lie on them for too long and burn and blister. Our cage is hand built. It is 1'' thick wood on 3 sides and the bottom, the front is glass and the top is a wooden frame with wire mesh stapled over the holes. We have a heat/light setup of one 100W heat lamp on the left side of the cage along with a 75W night lamp and a UVA/UVB strip light. We use a night lamp instead of a heat pad because the bottom of the cage is wood but with a couple of our other tanks we have heat pads instead of a night lamp. The basking spot under the 100W lamp should be between 90-100 degrees F, the rest of the cage should be between 80-85 degrees F and at night the cage can drop down to 75 degrees F. All the lamps are on the left side of the cage so that the dragon can bask there and then when he wants to cool down he can go to the right of the cage and hide under his log. It is important to have the hot/cool sides to the cage because this is how lizards regulate their body temperature. You should also provide the dragons cage with a shelter in the cool side so they may hide from the light to cool down and something to climb on as they do like to climb. But the cage should be longer rather than taller as they run a lot more than they climb. This what else we have in the cage, a half log in the cool side, a fake branch/tree under the basking spot, a log section in the hot side, 3 rock bowls - a large water one, a medium veggie one and a small pellet one and 2 fake cacti for decoration. He sleeps under the log section at night and if he gets too hot he sits on the half log, he basks on the branch/tree under his basking lamp during the day and he occasionaly sits in the water to cool down too. The substrate in the cage is sand, we recomend sand as its natural but there are alternatives.