Rankins Dragon Caresheet  
Rankins Dragons (Pogona henrylawsoni) are a dwarf member of the pogona family. They grow to around 10 inches, making them very much like a minature bearded dragon. They come from Australia and live for about 8 years, unlike bearded dragons they are a very sociable species and do very well in groups. They become very tame and tolerate human interaction making them great pets. This caresheet will guide you through their care requirements, covering all topics required for you to keep them successfully.

Housing
A pair of rankins dragons will live happily in a 3ft vivarium, adding more space for more dragons. These animals are very social and do well in groups, and several breeders have even said that multiple males have been ok when housing in larger groups, however we would stick with only one male per group. Rankins dragons like to climb, so logs and branches will be appreciated, along with rocks to bask on. We would not suggest putting in a hide for Rankins as they are known to over use them spending most their time hidden away, this means they arnt getting the UV exposure they require and can lead to a poorly dragon. Rankins dragons love water and will regularly make use of a shallow pool to soak in.

Substrate
Like with all reptiles, you have a huge choice when it comes to what subsrate to use, and they all have their good and bad points. Below are several options you have.  

Sand  - Advantages: easy to spot clean, looks natural. Disadvantages: can cause impaction if ingested.
Paper Towels  - Advantages: no risk of impaction, easy to change. Disadvantages: looks unnatural, hard to spot clean.  
Newspaper  - Advantages: no risk of impaction, easy to change. Disadvantages: looks unnatural, hard to spot clean.
Tiles  - Advantages: no risk of impaction, easy to wipe clean, hard wearing. Disadvantages: takes time to install.
Repti-carpet  - Advantages: no risk of impaction, easy to change and wash. Disadvantages: looks unnatural, hard to spot clean, claws sometimes get stuck in fibers.

Heating
Rankins Dragons are cold blooded and therefore need the correct temperature provided for them so they can thermoregulate. They like a basking temperature of around 95 ºF, with an ambient temperature of about 80 ºF , and a cool end at about 75 ºF. At night temperatures can drop in to the high 60 ºF's with no problems, so unless your house gets very cold you will not need night time heating. If you do need night time heating make sure you use a ceramic heater as rankins dragons can see all light and any light will disturb their sleep. To provide a basking temperature of 95 ºF you can use a clear spot lamp of about 60/100 watts, there is no need to buy specialist reptiles spot lamps as these are the same as regular household bulbs with a higher price tag. Make sure all lamps are controlled by a dimmer thermostat (bulbs) or a pulse proportional thermostat (ceramic heaters). You must not use heat mats to heat their vivarium as Rankins only sense heat from above and need the bright light given off by bulbs to know thats where they need to bask.

Lighting
UV light for your dragon is something you must NOT cut corners on. A decent UV light is critical to the survival of your dragon. Rankins need a UV bulb with an output of 10.00% or higher, bulbs such as the Exo-Terra Repti-Glow 10.0, Zoo Med Reptisun 10.00 or Arcadia D3+ 12.00% (these are slightly more pricey but with a higher UV output we think its worth the extra bit of cash). You should use a bulb that covers the entire length of your vivarium so your dragon gets as much UV exposure as possible. Something a lot of people do wrong is positioning the UV bulb too high in the enclosure, your Rankins dragon must be able to get within 6 inches of the bulb to fully benefit from it. You must also make sure your UV light is replaced every 8-10 months as after this time the amount of UV light given out is not high enough even thought the bulb will still light (packaging of the bulbs will often say they have 12 months or so light in them but its best to change it before the output gets too low in our opinion).

Another option you have is to use one of the reptile mercury vapour bulbs, these will provide you with both heat and UV. The amount of UV these bulbs provide is much higher than the UV tubes listed above. One problem with these bulbs is that they are only suitable for larger enclosures due to: 1 - only being available in high wattages, 2 - they are not dimmable and 3 - you must have a distance of at least 12 inches between the bulb and your dragon (this distance may be different for each bulb, so follow your bulbs instructions.)

Feeding / Supplements
Rankins dragons are not fussy eaters and will eat all of the common livefood insects, including: crickets, locusts, mealworms, waxworms (only give these as a treat as they are fatty) and roaches. You can use any of the above as a staple diet, other than waxworms. They must also have fruit and vegetables in their diet, good dark leaved greens are best along with a mixture of fruit. You must not feed iceberg lettuce as it has no nutritional value, also stay away from citrus fruits. As babies and youngsters they will eat livefood daily, most adults will eat livefood every two days, all ages of rankins should be offered fresh vegetables daily. It is important to make sure you gutload any insects before feeding them to your rankins, this ensures they are full of the nutrition your rankins needs. You can buy insect food from most of the livefood suppliers, which do this for you. If you feed crickets make sure you do not leave any left over crickets in the vivarium for too long as they can munch on your rankins while its sleeping, not something you want to happen.  

Along with gutloading, correct supplementation is important, for this you need to dust your feeder insects with a calcium / vitamin powder before feeding them. How often you need to do this depends on the age of your rankins. For babies, dust with calcium 5 days of the week, and with a multi-vitamin 2 days of the week. For adults you can cut down to calcium 2 times a week and a multi-vitamin just once a week. An easy way to dust your insects is to put some dust in a bag, drop the insects in, shake the bag and then tip the insects into the vivarium. I have recently added a bowl of crushed cuttlefish bone to our rankins vivariums to provide extra calcium, this is something you may wish to try.  

Cleaning
You should spot clean your vivarium daily to prevent any build up of bacteria which may cause problems. If you do this you should be able to give your vivarium a full clean out every other week with no problems. For a full clean out you should remove and disinfect everything using a reptile safe disinfectant. Keeping your cage clean will help keep your animals happy and healthy!  

Breeding / Sexing
Rankins dragons are quite easy to breed, the first thing you need to do is make sure you have a male and a female. If you look at the vent, you will either see, a line of pores and 2 bulges - a male, or no / very slight pores and no bulges - a female. You should also ensure that your dragons are both old enough (12-18 months) and of good health.  

Your dragons should begin to breed from around February time until September, so introducing a male to a female between these months should result in your female becoming pregnant. Once your male has successfully bred with the female eggs should arrive in around 30 days. While you are waiting for the eggs you need to give your female somewhere to lay, a large plastic box filled with damp sand / eco earth etc works well. Once your female has laid her eggs you can remove them and incubate them at around 85ºF, they should hatch within 6-8 weeks at this temperature.

Once your eggs have hatched you can move your babies into a similar setup to the adults and offer food after a few days. It also helps to spray young rankins several times a day to begin with to ensure they stay hydrated. We feed our hatchlings on mini mealworms / veg from birth and find they grow well on this diet. They are fed multiple times per day. Once they are 6-8 weeks old they will have grown a considerable amount and any you are not keeping are ready for their new homes.