New baby beardie needs to eat

Hi everyone, I'm a new beardie owner and just got my little guy yesterday. Got him set up and some better equipment on the way for him cage (using basic starter kit things for now) and I know better UV access will help his appetite.

How do you guys usually feed them? The pet store gave us meal worms but I'm hearing they arent really good for them so I'm ordering some pinhead crickets. Do you kinda just put a few crickets in the tank and see how many he eats and wait until he's had his full? How many times do you recommend feeding him? I have some collard and dandelion greens in a dish for him too. Should I start portion controlling?

Thanks in advance for any help I can get!

Welcome to the forum! I'm glad you're upgrading the kit. Unfortunately they range from not useful to outright harmful in some cases. Having high quality lighting is absolutely worth the investment. If you have any questions or want recommendations for what to get please let me know.

As far as eating goes, small crickets are a good option as a staple feeder. Small dubia roaches are also a good staple. A young dragon should get a couple of meals offered per day. I have a small cup that I put some calcium powder into and just add a few crickets at a time, shake them gently to coat them then offer them a few at a time and repeat until my dragon loses interest. It's easier to track just a few at a time so any leftovers can be removed from the tank after meal time. Silk worms and black soldier fly larvae make excellent supplemental feeders so I like to have those on hand as well. A nice varied diet is the best way to go. The crickets or roaches are a good staple option though. Just be sure they're small so he can chew them completely.

It's a good idea to offer a salad as well to get him used to having veges available. He may ignore them until he's older, but i'd offer a daily salad. Just leave it in his tank and replace it daily. The leftovers can go to the crickets or roaches at the end of the day. I like to offer 2-3 items from this list depending on what looks fresh at the store each week. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I've also found it works really well to cut the greens after rinsing them and put them in a quart sized ziploc with a piece of paper towel. Push the air out and put it in the fridge. The greens will stay nice and fresh for at least a week or two.