Hi, relatively new to reptiles

[Caters]

Hi. I am relatively new to reptiles and I am saying that because I don't have any reptiles at the moment and never have had reptiles before. But I did do a lot of research before I even told my momma that I wanted a lizard.

My dad built a big cage for my future bearded dragon. And my momma has designed and is building a castle for him/her. I have gotten the bowls and the lights for the bearded dragon as well as a temp gun so that I can know exactly what the surface temperature is(which is important because too hot or too cold can be disastrous).

My momma also got some sand. I was like no on using sand as a substrate because I know what happens when sand gets wet. It expands. And because I would be starting with a hatchling(which I have done research on and what I could find for feeding is 100% insects 5 times a day and making sure the insects are no bigger than the space between their eyes), sand expanding in its digestive tract could and most likely would cause impaction which can be fatal. So instead she will use the sand on the last layer of grout for the castle to add roughness and thus traction.

So basically I have the lizard side of things all taken care of and am concentrating more on the insect side of things.