The 10 Best Bearded Dragon Toys And Activities

bearded dragon toys

Keeping your bearded dragon busy and entertained with toys and activities is very important and easy to do.

The best bearded dragon toy is the beardie ball. This transparent plastic ball has a small lid which allows you to fill in crickets or hoppers. As soon as you put the ball on the floor, your beardie will chase it, to get the food inside.

This article will show you 9 further inexpensive and easy to do activities and toys for your bearded dragon. Further, you will learn, why it is so important that your bearded dragon is busy during the day.

Why Your Bearded Dragon Needs Exercise

Since I am running this website here, I am always up for something new, I am always up for some experiments so I can share my new impressions with you, my reader. Besides that, I also got two beardies, and of course, I want to entertain them. Bearded dragons really need something to do.

They need a little bit of exercise every day. Not only for their physical health (most bearded dragons get too fat in a terrarium because of overfeeding) but also for their mental health.

Out in the wild, they are doing stuff the whole day – like hunting or keeping other dragons away from their territory. What do they do in a terrarium? Right! Almost nothing. Here is a list for you of the 10 best toys and activities for bearded dragons.

Hope you enjoy!

No. 1 – Get a ball for your bearded dragon – A great bearded dragon toy!

Kaytee Run-About 7 Hamster Exercise Ball, Moon Glow Assorted colors

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I know it sounds simple and somehow unbelievable. Bearded dragons playing with balls? Well, looks like someone thinks that beardies are dogs, right? Well, maybe they aren´t that different from dogs as we thought, lol.

In fact, most bearded dragons really play with a ball. Do they enjoy it? I do not know, I don´t speak dragon language, but the dragon in the video below seems to enjoy showing the ball who´s the boss.

So you see, dragons seem to like playing with balls, which is excellent. It is not only a great physical exercise for beardies, but it also keeps them busy, which prevents them from getting depressed from sitting bored in the tank all day.

Are you ready for my pro tip?

Get this ball from Amazon and put some crickets, or roaches in it and close the ball. Now put the ball on the floor and watch your bearded dragon chase the ball like a maniac! This is an awesome exercise for your dragon, just don´t overdo it.

No. 2 – Buy or build a swing or a hammock for your bearded dragon

zoo-med-mesh-reptile-hammock-small

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Come on, who does not love swings or hammocks? All humans on earth love swings, and it seems like many animals also do. The bearded dragon is no exception here. They love to climb on it or just lie on it, looking around judging everybody, haha.

This is also an excellent physical exercise for your bearded dragon. Since the swing moves when your dragon climbs on it a lot of different muscles will be activated and trained. It is a better exercise for them then just climbing on a rock.

If you want to buy a swing, you should make sure that it is made of good and safe material. Swings of bad quality could hurt your bearded dragon.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of swings you could buy which are made for bearded dragons. If you do not want to build a swing yourself, you could also do something similar with a hammock for your bearded dragon. I recommend to get this hammock right here.

Have a look at this article where I review one of the best bearded dragon hammocks and explain what fun stuff you can do for your dragon with a hammock.

No. 3 Get A Bearded Dragon Leash

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I was skeptical when it comes to leashes for bearded dragons. I was always afraid that my dragons might not like the leash and hurt themselves when I put on the leash.

However, there is no need to worry about that. My dragons got used to seeing the leash a couple of days, and then I could put it on without any problems.

Just think about the possibilities here.

You can take your bearded dragon for a walk, which is a tremendous physical and mental exercise for your dragon. It prevents depression, and the sunlight is sooo good for your bearded dragon.

You can even let your bearded dragon hunt wild insects as long as you visit the vet regularly. Please make sure that the grass where your dragon hunts was not treated with pesticide.

Get an awesome leash here!

The dragon leash is really one of my favorite bearded dragon toy/ activity. Besides that, you can get a leash for your beardie for just a few bucks. Have a look at this article, where I show you one of the best leashes for not even $10! Click here!

bearded dragon activities

No. 4 – Get Long Tweezers!

Yeah I know, most of you guys probably don´t need tweezers or don´t want tweezers, since you enjoy feeding your bearded dragons without that stuff.

bearded dragon tweezers
However, it is not really about feeding. Tweezers are fantastic to play chase with your bearded dragon. Simply grab a cricket or a dubia or something like that and show it to your dragon. Of course, as you already know, your dragon most probably will freak out and try to catch the food.

Let your dragon run, climb and jump and you will have a healthy bearded dragon. This is a great exercise for your bearded dragon because you simulate nature here. In the wild bearded dragon hunt their food all day.

Further, this is not only good for your bearded dragon. I bet you are also going to have a lot of fun playing with your bearded dragon. 🙂

Get long tweezers here!

Note: Please make sure that you don´t overdo it here. Play chase with your bearded dragon, but do not do it too long as it could be too much for your dragon at some point.

VORCOOL Stainless Steel Straight and Curved Nippers Tweezers Feeding Tongs for Reptile Snakes Lizards Spider 2 Pcs Silver

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No. 5 – Food in a package equals an awesome bearded dragon activity

Have you ever left your bearded dragon together with a transparent box full of crickets on the floor? If not, you should try it out. Your dragon will hunt the box like crazy to get the food inside.

It is the same as letting your dragon hunt food with tweezers, but just for lazy people, haha.

No. 6 – Get A Mirror

Sounds weird, but is one of the best and most natural things you can do for your bearded dragon. Place a mirror near the tank of your bearded dragon, so that the dragon can see its reflection.

Observe your dragon. It will start to bob its head, or it will do the bearded dragon wave. That´s because the beardie thinks that there is an intruder. Bearded dragons are territorial, and they want to scare away potential competitors, or they even show submissiveness by waving.

I would not place the mirror near your tank all day. Maybe 15 minutes each day, so your bearded dragon is busy but does not get stressed out.

The rest of the day you can just cover the mirror with something like a towel for example.

This also works with two bearded dragons in two separate tanks. If you place the tanks so that the bearded dragons can see each other, you will see their awesome territorial behavior. Just don´t place them too near to each other.

No. 7 – Can Bearded Dragons Swim? They are great swimmers!

You might not believe it, but bearded dragons are great swimmers, and they love it! Have a look at the video below of a German guy who lets their dragons swim in his pond.

Awesome, isn´t it?
You can let your dragon swim in your pool if you just use normal water. You can also fill your bathtub with water and let it swim in there. Or you use clothes hampers for that, as long as it has no holes it should work. If you have a pond, that probably would be the best!

Let it swim in your pond 🙂

Please make sure that you always keep an eye on your beardies while they swim. They are good swimmers, and most probably nothing bad will happen, but you never know.

If you need to know if you can let your bearded dragon swim in chlorine water, or if you have further questions about bearded dragons and swimming, have a look at this article!

No. 8 – Build caves for your dragon

Zoo Med Excavator Clay Burrowing Substrate

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I have found this amazing substrate for bearded dragons on Amazon. It is not dangerous and awesome for creating an extremely good looking bearded dragon habitat.

With this substrate, you can form hills and even caves in your bearded dragon tank. This way your bearded dragon can explore its habitat, and it can even dig its own caves and tunnels. The video below shows you exactly what you can build for your bearded dragon and how to do it.

The great thing about this substrate is that it is very cheap, it is very easy to clean, and you can remodel it over and over again. So you can create a completely new habitat for your bearded dragon without spending money over and over again.

You can get the clay substrate here, and you can get the cavern kit to create caves here.

Zoo Med Excavator Cavern Kit

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With this, your bearded dragon can explore, climb, dig and it does not get too bored in its tank. However, do not change the habitat too often in a short period of time. That could stress your dragon. You could do it every 4 – 6 months for example 🙂

No. 9 – Climbing on your body

Most probably you are doing it already anyway, but it is worth mentioning it in this list.

Letting you bearded dragon climb on your body is not only fun for you, but it is also a good exercise for your beardie. Just make sure, that you do not overdo it here.

I know, I could also do that all day, but we really should give our dragons a rest from time to time, lol.

No. 10 – Get out in the rain

If you live in a warm country, you can also get outside with your bearded dragon when it rains and find out how it reacts to rain. Have a look at the video below.

The dragon in the video went to the balcony when it started to rain. It was not forced to do that. By the movements it makes you can see that it tries to swim a little bit. :)It is having a good time, and it is not distracted at all.

Always make sure that your bearded dragon likes it. It could also be distracted by the rain and try to get away. Just keep an eye on your beardie and you will be fine.

So that´s it, this is my top ten list of the best bearded dragon toys and bearded dragon activities.


Before you leave!

Since I receive many comments and emails from bearded dragon owners that tell me that their bearded dragon is refusing to eat greens, I decided to help with this issue.

What most bearded dragon owners do not know is that a bearded dragon that does not eat greens might be sick or is on the best way to getting sick.

Bearded dragons are omnivores, which means that they eat anything they can find in the wild. The problem that most bearded dragons are picky when it comes to food only arouses due to bad husbandry.

If your bearded dragon is refusing to eat greens, and maybe even only accepts mealworms as food, I highly recommend that you get my ebook: How To Make Your Bearded Dragon Eat Greens Within 7 Days!

After going through the steps outlined in the ebook I will personally check on you and your beardie via email and will support you if needed.

Keep your beardie healthy!

8 Comments

  1. Mae La Rocque July 13, 2016
    • Pierre July 16, 2016
  2. Debbie October 2, 2016
    • Pierre October 3, 2016
  3. Kyl June 29, 2017
    • Pierre July 2, 2017
  4. Kaylee November 25, 2018
    • Pierre December 9, 2018

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