Newbie feeding. Handfeeding and amounts.

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D4saken1

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Hello my beardies came home Tuesday. They are male female siblings. She is 12 in he is 8.5 and they are 2.5 months old.

Right now I have fed them dubias, Turkish roaches, and superworms.

I have run out of dubias and need to get more. I decided to try Turkish roaches due to them being better than supers and high calcium compared to them as well.

I give them cilantro for greens for now.

I am not sure if I should do a mix of Turkish, dubia, super, and Black soldiers.

I didn't realize until later I needed to not use supers but sparingly.

Right after the day I picked them up I had a large unexpected bill and now I am broke for the next two weeks. I was able to find some cash today and get some Turkish vs dubia or supers.

Once I get my money back I was planning on doing the mix mentioned above.

I have been feeding them as much as they want to eat and they have so far gone through 16 dubia, 12/14 turkish, and about 50 worms. The greens are negligible but they eat a good bit every time I lay fresh cilantro down for them so I am not trying to overdo it.

The roaches (both) are too agile to use my hand to feed them but I have been able to feed the female supers by holding them pinched softly between my thumb and forefinger. They all move way too fast in my hand.

So I am getting some feeding in and I know they are already associating me with food based on their behavior.

They are new new but used to handling from the shop so I have been able to handle them some vs none but I am limiting it to once maybe twice a day for maybe about a minute.

(If they decide to glass surf I have noticed calming them by a gentle hold and soft stroke for a few seconds helps. I could be wrong.)

So after all that I was wondering if the diet they have should be okay for a few weeks and if the planned diet seems sound.

As for the feeding by hand is doing it with pinching okay? I figure I may have to cradle them to let them eat directly out of my hand because I cannot get the food to stay still long enough x.x

Should I relegate this to just treat foods so they will be more apt to run over before the food escapes?

Sorry about the sloppiness I am have a hard time formulating what I want to say today.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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That bug variety sounds very good to me. I'd keep that going. The more variety you can offer the better in my opinion. I like to offer bugs in small batches (i dust a few at a time in a yogurt cup) so I can track them but still allow my dragon to hunt them down. I think allowing their hunting instinct to kick in at least a little bit during meal time is beneficial and enriching.

As far as the veges go, cilantro is OK when mixed in a salad with some variety but I wouldn't use it as a staple. I suggest referencing this list to get some ideas for salads http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html As with bugs, the more variety the better. Find some staples that they enjoy and just rotate the accessory veges around depending on what looks fresh at the store. I try to put 2-3 items in each salad depending on what I have on hand.
 

D4saken1

Member
Original Poster
Yeah ^_^; it was the best okay thing I could get right now with my pocket change so to speak. I plan to make a good salad mix along with the big changes.

They had just been fed cilantro as it was in the shop as well so I figured it would be easy to keep them on that before I spread it out and adjust that along with their bugs.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
D4saken1":bcq07ejx said:
Hello my beardies came home Tuesday. They are male female siblings. She is 12 in he is 8.5 and they are 2.5 months old. <<< Since there is already a size difference , I STRONGLY RECOMMEND housing them and feeding them separately , else the less voracious feeder will be dominated by it's sibling and will fail to grow / thrive and will be continuously stressed. I recommend housing them in separate rearing tubs (I use 100L tubs) or in separate tanks or partitioning your existing tank so the can not see / interfer with each other be done as a matter of urgency.

Right now I have fed them dubias, Turkish roaches, and superworms. <<< they are too young to eat superworms at 2.5 months old. ONLY suitable worms are BSF maggots, blowfly maggots and silkworms.

I have run out of dubias and need to get more. I decided to try Turkish roaches due to them being better than supers and high calcium compared to them as well.

I give them cilantro for greens for now.

I am not sure if I should do a mix of Turkish, dubia, super, and Black soldiers. <<<< roaches and BSF maggots are an excellent mix for STAPLE feeder insects.

I didn't realize until later I needed to not use supers but sparingly.

Right after the day I picked them up I had a large unexpected bill and now I am broke for the next two weeks. I was able to find some cash today and get some Turkish vs dubia or supers. <<< 1/4 to 1/3 size crickets bought in bulk (maybe 800 at a time) is a very economic way of getting bugs for 3 hatchlings and will likely last you 2 to 3 weeks (based on three live insect meals EACH per day and maybe 20 bugs each per day, the insects will grow but so will the hatchlings.

Once I get my money back I was planning on doing the mix mentioned above.

I have been feeding them as much as they want to eat and they have so far gone through 16 dubia, 12/14 turkish, and about 50 worms. <<< TOO MANY WORMS - risking impaction , and they are low nutritional value and high fat. The greens are negligible but they eat a good bit every time I lay fresh cilantro down for them so I am not trying to overdo it. <<< don't stress over such young hatchlings eating their greens and salad, provide it daily, if they nibble on some that's a bonus at this stage.

The roaches (both) are too agile to use my hand to feed them but I have been able to feed the female supers by holding them pinched softly between my thumb and forefinger. They all move way too fast in my hand. <<< I handfeed my lizards live crickets , so you can handle live roaches, the trick is to crush the bug's heads between the finger tips and off this end of the bug to the hatchling (gently pressing against the side of it's lips).

So I am getting some feeding in and I know they are already associating me with food based on their behavior.

They are new new but used to handling from the shop so I have been able to handle them some vs none but I am limiting it to once maybe twice a day for maybe about a minute.

(If they decide to glass surf I have noticed calming them by a gentle hold and soft stroke for a few seconds helps. I could be wrong.)

So after all that I was wondering if the diet they have should be okay for a few weeks and if the planned diet seems sound. <<< see my comments above

As for the feeding by hand is doing it with pinching okay? I figure I may have to cradle them to let them eat directly out of my hand because I cannot get the food to stay still long enough x.x

Should I relegate this to just treat foods so they will be more apt to run over before the food escapes?

Sorry about the sloppiness I am have a hard time formulating what I want to say today.
 

D4saken1

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for some reason partitioning the tank for a period didn't even cross my mind as a quick fix until I can do a second setup.

I noticed and found about 20 hiding worms in the tank that had escaped so it was less then I thought.

The greens isn't a big deal I'm just glad they eat them. I see many people here with seemingly non green eating guys.

Yeah sadly when I was sold these guys I was under the impression they mainly eat supers until I dug into the forums and past just the food lists and into actual nutrition values.

Once these worms are gone I think I will skip doing worms for some time even as a treat until a more balanced diet has been in rotation for a while.

If I have to or maybe best for the dragon I might let a friend who is a huge herp owner (multidragons) take my male. Just due to the setup materials ready.

I love the little guy but with my experience I am wondering if I should stick to one until I get more experience with beardies.

I would be able to visit him when I want. I just feel like a copout jerk... I dunno I love the little guy I'm just wondering if for his long term if it might be better. (Not to make it easier on me, that's not the issue I can adapt and do better.)
 
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