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Raising Bearded Dragons: The Ultimate Care Guide to Raising a Healthy Bearded Dragon Review by Kathy Balman

Raising Reptiles
Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Valo
http://www.raisingbeardeddragons.com

Raising Bearded Dragons: The Ultimate Care Guide to Raising a Healthy Bearded Dragon, is a complete care course for Beardie owners. This comprehensive course is an 11 module video series created by Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Valo, and is presented by Bay Guthrie. The course teaches you all of the do’s and don’ts of raising a healthy Beardie. Also included are a Bearded Dragon Food list PDF, Care Sheet PDF and access to the Raising Bearded Dragons exclusive Facebook community. If you prefer to read through the course rather than watch the videos an eBook version is included as well. You get all of this for just $27.00. And the course even comes with a money back guarantee.

Some of the things you will learn include:

  • How to avoid fatal selection mistakes when buying your first Bearded Dragons.
  • The proper types of enclosures to use.
  • The primary cause of death in domestic Bearded Dragons.
  • The proper types of lighting that should be used.
  • How to prepare bugs and vegetables correctly.
  • And more . . .

Bay is an expert on Bearded Dragons and does a great job presenting the video modules. She is a fun, upbeat and very passionate. She even introduces you to her own Beardie friends in the videos! The video quality is great and the sound quality is loud and clear. To make sure specific details are clearly understood demonstrations and visual aids are utilized throughout the videos. The videos can easily be viewed on a PC or mobile device. The 11 modules are broken down into topic categories and are approximately 3-9 minutes in length. If you choose to watch all 11 models in one sitting it will take you a little over an hour. Models do not have to be watched in order and you can jump around if you choose. You can also watch the videos as many times as you need to.

Raising Bearded Dragons is perfect for current Beardie owners or pet lovers that are considering purchasing or adopting a Beardie. Both experienced and novice pet owners will learn something new from this course.

We adopted a Beardie from a friend and really had no clue what we were getting into. My initial thought was, "It's a lizard, how hard can it be"? Well boy was that an incorrect thought. Beardies are great pets, but they require lots of care and there is tons of misinformation out there. When we first got our Beardie, Spike, we checked out some books from the library and talked with a pet store employee. We thought we were prepared and ready to care for Spike. That was until Spike got sick. After a countless hours of research we discovered the problem! But had I watched these video months ago when we brought him home, I would have known what we were doing wrong and could have prevented the problems. Every mistake we were making was covered in the Raising Bearded Dragons videos.

This video course was great for my husband and I as well as the children. We watched all 11 videos straight through and immediately implemented the additional changes we needed to make. Now we all know how to properly care for our reptilian pet. The e-guides are extremely helpful and we refer back to them often, especially the food list.

I highly recommend Raising Bearded Dragons to all Beardie owners or anyone who is planning to bring a Beardie into their family. Beardies are considered exotic pets and vet bills can add up quickly if your Beardie gets sick. This course is just a tiny fraction of what you’ll save on vet bills alone.

I truly wish we would have utilized this course sooner. The day we watched and become informed we recommended the course to about five of our Beardie owner friends. This course is great for anyone who owns or plans to own a Bearded Dragon in the future.

Product review by Kathy Balman, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2014

Another reviewer’s experience with the product:

We recently became the owners of two bearded dragons so I was really excited to get to review Raising Bearded Dragons: The Ultimate Care Guide to Raising a Healthy Bearded Dragon, by Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Valo.

When you login you are shown the eleven different Modules along with an Introduction and Conclusion. Most of the modules are three to eight minutes in length but a few are longer or shorter. The entire program consists of about an hour and fifteen minutes of video. These videos would be appropriate for all ages except for Module 10 which is on Health Concerns. There are some pictures in this one that you may not want your younger children to see (although there isn't any really bad, just not very pretty).

When we became interested in possibly getting a bearded dragon, we did a lot of investigation—a couple of months’ worth actually. What we found out in that time is all right here in these videos! If you want to learn pretty much everything you need to know in an easy to find and learn format—this is for you! If you want to spend a couple months searching and reading and chatting with beardie owners then don't get this. (My point is save yourself the trouble and GET THIS!)

Raising Bearded Dragons' founders are Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Valo, and Bay Guthrie is the presenter in all the videos. The videos are extremely informational, easy to watch, keep your attention and there is even some humor in them! We really enjoyed the way Bay shared in the videos; she is very easy to understand and her punctuation of important ideas is clearly understood through her words and her actions. There are also keywords shared on the videos to help make sure important points are gotten across to the viewer.

Honestly, as we started watching these I thought we wouldn't have much to learn from watching this video series because it was covering all the things we already knew. I was wrong! As we were watching Module 7 on Hydration we realized one of our beardies was suffering from dehydration! I had been wondering why his skin looked the way it did, which wasn't like our other beardie, but I didn't really put much more thought in to it. After watching this video we immediately got him out and gave him a bath. Immediately. Seriously.

These video modules can be watched in any order and as many times as you would like. We only ran in to one buffering issue so we aren't sure if it was just our slow internet at that moment (we assume it was). All other videos played without any issues.

Along with the video lessons you get a 32-page ebook that is the same as the videos just in print form. A 32-page care sheet which is detailed information about the care of beardies (just one detailed step further than the videos) and a 10-page food list explaining what is avoided in feeding, what is rarely fed, occasionally fed, and what are staples. The food list covers veggies, fruits, plants, and insects. We have printed a few of these pages and plan to laminate them. They are easy to read for quick reference.

This is definitely a product we would recommend to both new and old Bearded Dragon owners. One thing we found while doing our beardie investigations is that quite a few of those who had owned them for years didn't know some very important details about their necessary care.

The regular price of the course is $67 but it is currently on sale for $27. They also offer a no questions asked 30-day money back guarantee. How can you go wrong with that? I feel the $27 price is extremely reasonable; not sure about the $67.

Product Review by Dawn Winters, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2014

And a third perspective from a reviewer that is contemplating the purchase of a Bearded Dragon:

Raising Bearded Dragons: The Ultimate Care Guide to Raising a Healthy Bearded Dragon, is a new online product available to reptile lovers everywhere by Abigail Kessler and Gabriel Valo. This online product has three components consisting of eleven video modules, three downloadable ebooks, and access to an exclusive Facebook community. Currently you can purchase all three components as a package for $27.00.

The eleven video modules are fresh and hip so that young and old alike will find them informative but also very entertaining. Bay Guthrie is the presenter in all eleven videos where she brings you so much information about raising bearded dragons that you will definitely need to watch the videos multiple times to remember everything discussed and taught. The videos cover: how to purchase a healthy bearded dragon, what type of enclosure to buy, correct bedding and flooring, how to keep your bearded dragon warm and what type of heat source to use, special lighting, proper décor, keeping your bearded dragon hydrated, proper feeding techniques and what to actually feed, vitamins and supplements, health concerns to watch for, and interactions with your bearded dragon.

Before watching the videos we had no idea how much of a financial and time commitment it takes to raise a healthy happy bearded dragon. Of course my daughter was not daunted by all the information and is currently saving to purchase her very own bearded dragon and all the recommended products that she learned about through this valuable program. If you do miss some of the information explained in the videos there is no need to worry. The author also makes available to you three downloadable ebooks including: A Complete List of Food to Feed Your Bearded Dragon, A Care Sheet, and How to Raise Happy Bearded Dragons. Last but certainly not least is a valuable tool to use throughout the years of raising your bearded dragon, an online exclusive Facebook community. This community will have available to you the owner, experts and experienced beardie owners to answer any questions that may pop up as you start your adventure of owning one of these very unique creatures.

This online program is really great for just about any age—young and old—that is interested in purchasing and raising a bearded dragon. I was able to hand this off to my high school daughter and she ran with it. She loved the videos; especially Bay’s fun way of presenting the information. From a parent’s perspective I would also like to add that Bay seemed to really know what she was talking about and had a wealth of knowledge to share. In my opinion I believe any child 10 years old and up could go through this program on their own or with a little help from the parent. The website is put together well and is very easy to navigate. This program is great for audio/visual learners, but also has everything in writing for those learners that would prefer to read the material. Plus by printing off the ebooks you always have the information at your fingertips if a problem should arise. My daughter watched a couple of videos a day until all eleven were completed, then professed she was ready to purchase her new pet. We still have a little time before that actually takes place. We honestly were not aware until going through all the videos just how much time and money is involved with raising a bearded dragon responsibly and correctly. I would recommend this product to anyone thinking of purchasing a bearded dragon. Going through this program before purchasing the bearded dragon will save you even more money, by doing it correctly the first time, and may even save you a little heartache if one were to get sick on your watch. The author even offers a refund of your money if you are not totally satisfied with the product after using it, which I don’t think will happen. Raising Bearded Dragons opened our eyes, minds, and hearts to the possibility of raising our first reptile in a responsible and caring way. We are looking forward to this new adventure.



Product Review by Diane Knecht, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2014

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