Housing a bearded dragon can become expensive, but it’s worth it to make your little friend happy! My recommendation is to outright buy a 40 gallon fish tank, buying a reptile terrarium is more expensive, plus tanks are more durable. When bearded dragons are young, the minimum would be a 20-30 gallon tank, but if you do, however, buy a 20-30 gallon tank, you would need to buy another tank that’s 40 gallons when they are fully grown. Just a terrarium won’t due however.
The next thing to buy would be something with texture that you can put on the bottom of the tank. This would provide easier mobility of your dragon. I recommend reptile carpet, and for the bearded dragon, I think the sand/desert flooring. Make sure the carpet fits your tank size. Most people, however, put sand on the bottom of there terrarium, but DO NOT DO THIS! If you put sand or another loose substrate it can damage your bearded dragon. This happens because when the dragon is eating their live food (more detail in Diet section) they could also pick up the loose substance and if they eat enough of it, it’ll build up inside the dragon's body, which can really harm your bearded dragon by causing impaction, it might possibly even cause death.
Almost done, you’ll now need light fixtures and bulbs. A T5HO 22 Reptile Lighting Fluorescent Tube 10.0 UVB UV light bulb should work very nicely if ran across the top across a corner. The Exo Terra Sun-Glo Basking Tight Beam Bulb is a pretty well used heating lamp, just find the right height to keep it at to give your bearded the perfect place to bask.
Finally, you’ll need at least two rocks. One for directly below the heating lamp so the bearded dragon can properly bask and digest their food. Don’t buy a self-heating rock, as this could result in the bearded dragon’s underside to become burnt and tender, it won’t kill the dragon but it will really hurt it for some time. For young juveniles and adults you’ll want 90-93 degrees on the basking rock. You need to have a digital thermometer to check the temperature. On the other side of your terrarium, have the other rock for shade, this could also. Also, put the bearded dragons food dishes (one dish for vegetables and another for insects or other bugs) and the water dish.
By: Tim (Timothy) Pearce Flickr.com CC-BY