Identity and life history: the basics on paper
A rehomed bearded dragon should ideally arrive with the paperwork equivalent of an introduction. Start with the facts that frame everything else: the dragon's age or hatch date, its sex, and its morph if known, because feeding quantities, calcium needs and expected behaviour all shift between a growing juvenile and a settled adult. Ask how long the previous keeper had the animal and why it is being rehomed — the answer is usually innocent, and it tells you how much of the history you are hearing is firsthand. A weight and length record, even a rough series of dates and numbers jotted in a notebook, is gold: it shows whether this dragon has been growing, holding steady or quietly losing condition before it reached you. If the dragon came from a breeder originally, any receipt or breeder details help you trace its early care and, where relevant, its lineage.
Feeding history: the routine you are inheriting
More rehomes stumble over food than anything else, so get the feeding story in detail. Which staple insects does this dragon actually eat — black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, locusts, crickets — and which does it refuse? What salad mix is it used to, how often are insects and greens offered at its age, and how were calcium and vitamin powders used: dusted on every insect feed, offered on salad, or barely used at all? Ask about appetite honestly. A dragon described as a keen feeder that arrives and refuses food for two days while it settles is normal; a dragon described as always picky may be telling you about a long-standing problem with temperatures, lighting or health. Write down the previous routine and follow it at first, even if you plan to improve it — change one thing at a time over the following weeks, so you can see what the dragon thinks of each change.
Health records and the enclosure it lived in
Ask for any vet history: visit dates, what was treated, and above all whether a faecal test has ever been done, since parasites such as pinworms and coccidia are common in bearded dragons and easily missed without one. Ask about shedding problems, any past soft or rubbery jaw, tremors, blackened tail tips or retained shed on toes, and any periods of not eating. Then document the enclosure it has been living in: the type and age of its ultraviolet tube, because UVB output fades invisibly over months; the basking and cool-end temperatures; the substrate; and the size of the vivarium. A dragon rehomed with elderly lighting and a cool basking spot may need nothing more than correct equipment to transform, and knowing the old setup tells you exactly what to fix first.
When the paperwork is thin, build the file yourself
Many good dragons change hands with almost nothing written down, and that is a gap to close rather than a reason to refuse the animal. Book a vet visit in the first weeks, take a fresh faecal sample for a parasite check, weigh and measure the dragon, and start your own baseline: appetite, droppings, sheds and behaviour, dated as you go. Keep the previous keeper's contact details if they are willing, because the odd follow-up question — did he always sleep through winter, has she ever laid eggs — can save a worried month. Gathering the dragon's documents and your new records into KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles means its history, records and routines now live with the animal itself, ready to travel intact to any future keeper.