Why Is My Baby Bearded Dragon Sleeping So Much? Answered!

Are you a new baby bearded dragon owner?

Does your baby beardy seem lazy and sleep all the time? 

It’s alarming when your pet behaves in a way you’re not used to.

As a caring owner, you want to know:

Why is my baby bearded dragon sleeping so much?

A baby bearded dragon sleeps more often than an adult does. This is natural for babies, but it could be because they’re more sensitive to environmental changes or imbalances.

Read on for more details on why your bearded dragon may be sleeping so much.

Reasons Your Baby Bearded Dragon May Be Sleeping A Lot

There are many reasons a baby beardy may be sleeping a lot.

Most of these reasons are nothing to worry about and are fixed with time or a simple adjustment.

Relocation Stress

Stress can cause a bearded dragon to sleep a lot.

This is more prevalent in baby bearded dragons.

In most cases of stress, all you need to do is calm it down, and then it’ll be just fine.

But the stress which comes from relocation, such as when you first get the baby beardy, can last a while longer.

Being in a new environment is stressful for the reptile.

In some cases, this stress can last for up to two weeks.

As long as your baby lizard is still eating, pooping, and urinating, this can resolve itself in time.

If you’re worried about the level of stress your beardy may experience, there are a few tricks to help them feel better:

• Remove anything which causes loud noises
• Keep the light level stable (no moving shadows)
• Remove any other animals in the enclosure
• Handle the bearded dragon gently and briefly
• Rub the top of its head and belly
• Give it a bath

For more details on how to lower stress, check out our methods for calming a bearded dragon. 

Growth Spurt

When human children go through a growth spurt, it affects their sleep and eating cycle.

The same is true for baby bearded dragons.

Baby beardies grow rapidly, so their growth spurts may come more frequently.

When they are preparing to grow like this, it’s normal for them to rest more often.

If your baby bearded dragon has been a great eater and mover up until this point, a growth spurt could be what’s making them tired.

There’s nothing you need to do if this is the case; give them time.

Make sure they’re still eating and defecating regularly.

Baby bearded dragons should drop between 3-4 times per day or at least once per day.

Low Temperature

Bearded dragons are cold-blooded creatures.

As the air temperature goes higher, the more active they become.

On the flip side, when the air temperature drops, the reptiles slow down.

If the temperature is low enough for long enough, the bearded dragon will be forced into brumation.

Brumation is similar to hibernation.

During brumation, the beardy slows down and sleeps a lot to save energy.

It should still move around occasionally to drink, but it may go for days without eating.

To avoid this problem, make sure your temperature is in the right setting.

Note: Temperatures for baby bearded dragons need to be different from those for adult beardies.

There needs to be a specific temperature range for the basking area, cool/hide spot, overall temp for the enclosure, and these need to change at night.

The basking temperature should be from 100° – 110° degrees Fahrenheit (38° – 43­° C) for babies and 105° degrees Fahrenheit (41° C) for adults.

For the rest, it should be the same for adults and babies.

The overall temperature of the enclosure should be around 90° degrees Fahrenheit (32° C).

The cool spot or hiding spot is between 70° – 85° degrees Fahrenheit (21° – 29° C).

At night, you should switch off your lamp, but check to make sure it ends up in the 65° – 70° degrees Fahrenheit (18° – 21° C) range for temperature.

All of this is typically achieved by having a warming light on one side of the enclosure only.

This naturally gets the gradient temperature you need.

Low UVB

The bearded dragons’ natural habitat is often the dry, hot deserts and woodlands of Australia.

These sunny environments have affected the beardy’s evolution to the point where they need higher amounts of direct UVB rays to survive.

In captivity, you can’t get this by simply putting your tank near a window.

The glass blocks the needed rays and also makes the temperature fluctuate too much.

Without the UVB to help absorb Vitamin D, which, in turn, helps absorb minerals like calcium, the bearded dragon may lose energy and begin to sleep a lot.

Some new owners don’t realize in addition to a heat lamp, they also need to install and specialized UVB bulb, which needs to be on during the day.

We recommend a UVB bulb like this one on Amazon.

Keep it on for 16 hours, and then turn it off for 8.

If you use a timed on-off switch, set it and forget it.

Impaction

Impaction is another word for constipation.

Bearded dragons tend to have impacted food in their system when they eat food, which is too large or too much high in fat foods. 

If you notice your baby beardy isn’t pooping at least once per day (3-4 times per day is better), this may be what’s causing it to be sleepy.

When impacted, the bearded dragon is uncomfortable and loses the desire to move.

Help move this along by rubbing its belly gently or giving it a warm bath.

If you notice it hasn’t defecated in a while and your help isn’t working, take the bearded dragon to the vet.

They can help with a laxative and check to see if anything else is wrong.

Read our post on how to tell if a bearded dragon is impacted to catch impaction early.

Food Too Large

Whenever you feed your baby bearded dragon, you need to take extra care not to provide it large live food.

The piece of food should not be larger than the distance between the bearded dragon’s eyes. 

The reptile’s digestive system doesn’t work the same as ours.

If a piece of food is too large, it can get stuck in the system and press on the spinal cord.

This pressure can result in paralysis, which some may confuse with sleeping.

This paralysis can even lead to death in some cases.

If you suspect this to be the case, or you can’t get your bearded dragon to move at all, take it to the vet right away.

Dehydration

Baby bearded dragons are usually quite active and have small bodies.

Both of these combine to have them get dehydrated relatively quickly.

A dehydrated beardy doesn’t feel well and begins to sleep a lot.

This is especially true when they’re very young (0-3 months).

You may notice their urine, which is white to be harder like chalk.

This means the lizard is dehydrated.

There are three main ways bearded dragons get their water:

• Drinking
• Food
• Through their skin

To help them, make sure you always have a shallow dish of water in the tank.

Don’t forget to feed them fruits and vegetables as well (these are higher in moisture).

You can also up the frequency of its baths to help them get more water.

Read more about bathing a bearded dragon.

Poor Substrate/Flooring

Some pet stores may try to sell you substrate or flooring not appropriate for bearded dragons.

Sand and wood chips should not be used as flooring.

You could get away with a newspaper or paper towel if you needed to.

The point is, find flooring they can’t eat and don’t contain any chemicals.

Sand and wood chips (which may be too small) are sometimes eaten by the baby and cause impaction or, worse, poisoning.

This may cause them to be sleepy.

You can see our review of substrates for bearded dragons here.

Illness

If you’ve checked all the above reasons and your baby beardy is still sleeping a lot, it may be sick.

Bearded dragons can catch diseases and parasites, especially if you just got them from a pet store.

The illness may cause them to be sleepy and have low energy.

If you suspect this is the case, take them to the vet right away.

Other signs of illness include:

• Mucus around nose or eyes
• Lack of appetite
• Lack of energy
• No defecating
• Stress behaviors (excessive gaping, heavy breathing, hissing, puffing of beard, head bobbing)

If you see these signs along with a lot of sleeping, take it to the vet.

Pro-tip: Whenever you get a new baby bearded dragon from a breeder or store, take it to the vet right away to get checked out.

Many parasites and diseases cause no problems if treated right away.

Our post on how to tell if bearded dragons are sick will help you catch an illness early.

Conclusion

We hope you know why your baby bearded dragon is sleeping so much now.

It’s nothing to be alarmed about and is fixed with minor adjustments.

Just make sure to check the environment, feed it a healthy diet, and keep it hydrated.

Worse comes to worst, don’t feel ashamed in taking it to the vet.