Bearded Dragon feeding

[paulaandnorbert]

Hi!

Just a quick question about our little beardies.

We've had the two dragons for about a month now. They are roughly 3 months of age. They're both in the same enclosure and are growing really well. They're about 23cm long.

Our question is about how much to feed them.

Every morning they get their greens with mealworms mixed though. They polish off the mealworms in no time, and pick at the greens for the rest of the day. At lunch time, they're given 10 medium crickets each, with another round of crickets given again at 3pm.

However, as soon as they've eaten their crickets, they're looking at me wanting more! And I am tempted to give them more but don't want to over feed them in case it will harm them.

What is a good amount of food to give them?

Your advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Paula

 

[Lovemydragons]

Each individual dragon is different. Kind of depends on how active they are. My new little man only eats crickets maybe 4-8 crickets a day 2-3 times a week. It's not that I don't offer, he just doesn't eat them. He also gets his greens, but once again doesn't eat heaps of it. Saying this my little man isn't very active either. Doesn't spend much time running up and down his enclosure. I think he just prefers to sleep in a semi warm area and relax.

Then on the other hand my two girls when they were younger I would have to add new vegies every day and would always eat heaps of crickets all day long if they could. But they were both little nutters running up and down all over their enclosure.

I would say in crickets give them as many as they can eat in a few minutes. If you notice them getting fat, maybe reduce, or if they aren't putting on as much weight add more. So just keep and eye on on their progress and work from there.

 

[merdelhuck]

try and give them as little mealworms as possible!
for young beardies this can be a death sentance as the hard shell can cause impactation

 

[Freeloader]

If they don't crush the head it could cause trouble for your dragon.

 

[adz83]

iv always fed my dragons mealworms........

 

[paulaandnorbert]

Thanks for the advice so far.

We've always given our dragons mealworms, but have been careful and cut their heads off first! It's a lot worse than it sounds!!!!

Our main question was really regarding the number of crickets to give them. They currently receive about 15 medium crickets per day each.

Is that a reasonable amount?
Should we be offering more?


Thanks again!

 

[JKretzs613]

Hello

Hello,

Well, how are they growing, are you happy with their growth rates?
I would say that 15 crickets per day for growing dragons more than likely is not enough. On average, most dragons under 8 months of age when they are growing the most rapidly put away 50+ crickets per day. They need the protein for musculoskeletal growth so be sure to use calcium supplementation as well.
The mealies are "ok" but are not the greatest. It is not necessary to crush the heads before they eat them. However, the reason they are not the most recommended feeder is that they are fatty, & don't have a good protein to shell ratio, & they can cause impaction if fed in too large of amounts.

So I think it is a fair assumption that I can recommend you should try to feed them a little bit more on the crickets. Continue feeding the greens & veggies daily too, even if they don't eat a whole lot of them yet, they should begin to soon.

I hope that helps out.
Tracie

 

[paulaandnorbert]

Thank you all for your advice.

We have begun giving our pair more crickets and they seem to be enjoying it!

And they're not staring at us with longing desire anymore...

Thanks again!

Paula and Norbert

 

[snakehandler]

We offer our young beardies a variety of food, this includes vegies daily, crickets and roaches 4 times a week, meal worms occasionally. They will eat when they are ready to, by giving them the greens and a variety of food they can select when and what to eat.

We also ensure that there are more insects than they can eat as it will provide food for later on when they are hungry, for this reason it is imperative that we keep fresh greens available for the insects too.

 

[Chris1]

young beardies can eat between 50 and 100 crickets a day,...

the main reason fro not feeding mealworms to young dragons is impaction from the hard shell not being digested, nothing to do with their heads.

have u tried roaches?

 

[paulaandnorbert]

hi.
no i have not done the roaches as i ( paula) do the feeding and have not wanted to go near roaches but will soon as variety is important . They are happy and eatting well including there veg no worries.
the mealworms are about 3 to 4 in bottom of veg plate but that is only evey 2nd day. (a little sugar always helps the medicine go down).
paula

 

[Chris1]

you'll be surprised, i was really hesitant to try roaches cos of the ewwww factor, but now i pr3efer tehm to those pesky bouncy crickets,....lol,..!

i tried the mealworm trick fro a while, they'd clear out the worms, spit out what ever salad they may accidentally have grabbed and look at me fro more sugar, lol,...!

 

[paulaandnorbert]

This is just a quick update.

Following the suggestion made by Chris1 and others, we have introduced woodies to our two dragons.

And boy, do they love them!

It takes an awful lot of chewing to get through them, but they are both much happier and more satisfied now.


Thanks again,

Paula and Norbert

 

[Chris1]

good to hear! roaches will make them grow like weeeeds,...!