Bearded Dragons Aren’t Pets, They’re Prisoners

Bearded dragons are one of the most commonly kept reptiles in the United Kingdom, with over a million reptiles in households as of 2024. They are sold as starter pets, marketed as “easy to care for” lizards that can supposedly thrive in small glass boxes. But the evidence now emerging from science paints a very different picture.

These animals are not ornaments, not teaching tools, not commodities. They are complex, sentient individuals who should never have been turned into products in the first place.

What the Research Shows

A major new study on bearded dragon welfare has confirmed what abolitionists have always argued: confinement in barren enclosures causes measurable stress, while complexity, space, and naturalistic conditions reduce signs of anxiety and frustration.

When given a choice, bearded dragons overwhelmingly preferred enriched environments, particularly those that mimicked aspects of the natural world, with bioactive soil, plants, and invertebrates. In these environments, they moved more, displayed a broader repertoire of behaviours, scratched less at the glass walls that confine them, and even showed reduced anxiety when presented with unfamiliar objects.

The opposite was true in standard pet-industry housing: minimal space, newspaper on the floor, a single rock, a water bowl. In such conditions, these lizards rested excessively, engaged in barrier scratching, and exhibited higher levels of anxiety as measured by tongue touches, a recognised stress signal in reptiles.

The results are unambiguous. Standard reptile housing is not neutral; it is actively harmful.

Beyond Welfare: Sentience and Mood

The evidence is also stacking up against the myth that reptiles are “primitive” and emotionally flat. Cognitive bias studies, the same kind used to measure moods in mammals and birds, show that tortoises, and by extension reptiles more broadly, experience persistent affective states. They can be optimistic or pessimistic. They can show confidence in novel situations or withdraw in anxiety, depending on their underlying mood.

This means reptiles are not only capable of suffering in the moment but can also experience enduring negative states when deprived, confined, or neglected. It also means they can experience enduring positive moods when allowed to engage in natural, stimulating behaviours.

In other words: reptiles are sentient. They have inner lives that matter to them, whether humans recognise it or not.

The Captivity Problem

Given this knowledge, the idea of deliberately breeding and selling bearded dragons becomes indefensible. It doesn’t matter whether they are wild-caught or captive-bred. Both scenarios begin with the same principle: turning someone into property.

And like all property, they are then subject to neglect, abandonment, and disposal when humans tire of them. Rescue centres across the UK are filled with unwanted reptiles, many of them bearded dragons bought on impulse.

The pet industry will point to “better care standards” or encourage people to buy specialist equipment, but this does nothing to address the root problem. No matter how enriched a vivarium is, it is still a cage. It is still captivity.

The Only Justifiable Exception

There is only one circumstance in which a bearded dragon should ever be in a human home: if they have been rescued from the pet trade or from someone who bought them and then discarded them. To provide sanctuary for an animal already exploited is not the same as breeding, buying, and selling them into further cycles of captivity.

Rescue is an act of restitution. The pet trade is an act of exploitation.

Reframing Responsibility

For too long, reptiles have been excluded from meaningful welfare protections. In the UK, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 recognises their capacity to feel, yet they continue to be bought and sold like fashion accessories. In the United States, reptiles are excluded from federal animal welfare laws altogether.

The science now makes clear what justice requires: recognition of reptile sentience, rejection of their commodification, and ultimately the end of their exploitation as pets.

Bearded dragons are not “starter pets” or “easy lizards.” They are sentient beings capable of mood, preference, and agency. Studies confirm they not only benefit from enriched environments but actively choose them when given the chance. That preference alone should be enough to end the lie that glass boxes and heat lamps are adequate substitutes for freedom.

Bearded dragons, like all animals, deserve emancipation, not ownership.