Can My Bearded Dragon Cuddling Sleep With Me? Pros And Cons
Those who own a bearded dragon know that the best part is their handheld nature and social inclination. Especially in this era of many work-at-home pet parents, bearded dragons love to chill on their shoulder during the work day. If that’s still not enough bonding time together, you may consider wanting to sleep with your bearded dragon.
Ultimately sleeping with your bearded dragon is a personal choice. Some negative aspects include their bladder releasing in your bed and disease transfer from licking your face. Positive impacts include the benefit of increased bonding time and having a fun sleeping partner.
The pro and con list about sleeping with your bearded dragon has many parts. Keep reading to dive a bit deeper into each of these arguments about this decision.
Contents
Cons of Sleeping with a Bearded Dragon
The cons of sleeping with your bearded dragon mostly affect your pet dragon. Becuase they are smaller than you, it’s important to be very careful if you choose to sleep with them in your bed. Bearded dragons are animals and not physically meant for sleeping in beds. You risk having pee and poo in your bed if you sleep with them.
Easily Squashed
Bearded dragons are small. They average 16-24 inches as a full grown specimen, which may seem large but when compared to the size of a bed, they can easily get lost in the covers. Especially for people who roll in their sleep they need to be very careful to not squash their pet.
Because of their small stature bearded dragons are easily suffocated. If they get lost in the covers or covered by your large body their air supply is cut off and they will die from it.
You might think that giving your bearded dragon its own space or pillow will stop the risk of rolling over on them or them being suffocated. This is not the case. Bearded dragons will seek out the warmest and most comfortable place on the bed with no regard to their own safety. This might be under the covers without you knowing, leading to crushing them accidentally.
No Bladder Control
Bearded dragons are animals. For the most part they are not house or potty trained because they live and pee in their tanks or cages. The same goes for when they sleep. They pee and poo when they need to, no matter if they are in your bed or not.
In the same vein, bearded dragons pee and poo throughout the night. They wake up and release their bladder and then go back to sleep. They will not get out of your bed to go to the bathroom so sleeping with them will dirty your sheets and could lead to some diseases being transferred through scat.
Diseases
Animals carry diseases. Along with finding poop that might contain bacteria in your bed, if you bearded dragon climbs on your face or licks you throughout the night they can transfer diseases to you.
The most common disease that bearded dragons carry is salmonella. Salmonella is regularly transmitted from reptiles like bearded dragons to humans, especially through their saliva and poop. When humans contract salmonella humans get very sick, even if they look healthy. Diarrhea and vomiting makes it a very uncomfy time for owners.
As mentioned, bearded dragons seek the warmest and comfiest place to sleep at night. In general they find this snuggled up against your neck or on your face. Even if you give them their own space with a pillow and a blanket, they will still come up to you and lick or lay on your face.
Pros of Sleeping with a Bearded Dragon
However, all pet owners enjoy cuddling with their pets and there are some good things to go along with that decision. Aside from it being fun and nice for the owner, it can help strengthen the special bond between pet and owner.
It’s Fun and Feels Good
Sleeping with your bearded dragon is a fun time. The cuddling and playtime in the bed can be a nice stress reliever for both owner and pet. At the end of the day it’s nice to snuggle up with a non-verbal buddy and just relax in bed.
Since bearded dragons are social creatures they need the fun time of socializing with their owners. Sleeping next to each other is great for both participants.
Helps Pet and Person Bonding
Just like partners sleeping together creates a stronger bond between the two people, sleeping next to each other as a pet and person strengthens the bond as well. The bond between person and pet is a necessary one when taking care of a living being.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately sleeping with your bearded dragon is not a great idea. It is a risk not only to their safety but also your own. You could suffocate them during the night, or they could give you a disease from their poop or saliva. Other dangers include them falling off your bed or jumping off in the middle of the night.
Even if you give your bearded dragon its own space or pillow, they will seek out the warmest and comfiest place on the bed which will usually be near your face or body. However, there are some benefits such as strengthening the bond between owner and pet, but there are many other ways to do this that are safer for both participants.
