When should your new beardie start eating properly?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I just got my bearded dragon today. I don't know his exact age, but he's a juvenile. We got him from craigslist-- lights, cage, everything included. It's a 20 gallon tank. The old owner had him on a sand substrate, along with a coil UVB(I think) and an orange-ish basking light. We're getting in a mercury vapor bulb and an Exo terra "sand mat" on Friday.

I managed to hand-feed him 2 small bits of kale(which the old owner provided, but then I threw all the kale out because it was 3 days expired.)
We just bought him collard greens today, so they will be in his salad tomorrow morning.

I then managed to hand-feed him about 4 small crickets. They were zoo-med's canned mini crickets.

How long will it take him to start eating his greens and crickets by himself? I don't want him to rely on me to hand feed him everyday. I know he's scared, being in a new place and all. Any tips? He pooped today, so that was good.
 

destiny1998

Extreme Poster
Photo Comp Winner
Hi. Relocation stress can last a week or 2. If you are going to be using a mvb you need a bigger tank. You are going to need a bigger tank eventually if you can I would look on Craigslist or wait until peto has their sale :D
 

kyleena29

Sub-Adult Member
Are you going to be feeding him live food? You can't sustain him long term without live food. You can get live crickets, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches or silkworms. Their instincts will be wanting to hunt for live food.
 

wolfiemorph

Member
Original Poster
Okay, thanks. I know I'll need a bigger tank... but I'll need to earn more money to get a bigger tank.

Also-- no, I cannot feed live food. We can't have any live insects/bugs/feeders in our home...
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
It's good that he's eating on his first day with you, and collard greens are a better staple than kale anyway. But not being able to give him live food may be a problem, especially if he's still young. Some beardies can learn to eat canned crickets or pelleted food so you might be able to get away with that if he eats them already. Repashy Grub Pie is another option -- it's a powder made from insects and other ingredients, including vitamins & minerals, and you make it into a gel so it helps with hydration too, and most beardies seem to like it.

Hand feeding will help him bond with you, so I wouldn't worry too much about it for now. If you eventually want to get him to eat by himself you can work on that later, after you get him settled in.

Just out of curiosity, what's the issue with live bugs in your home? Do you have a landlord who's worried about an infestation or a family member who gets creeped out by them maybe? Either way, you might be able to convince them that certain things aren't so bad. For example, silkworms are completely domesticated -- they only eat mulberry leaves and the moths can't fly, and black soldier flies don't become pests and can actually be beneficial for agriculture and composting (according to some recent googling I've been doing about them, but I'm no expert), so if you've got someone who's squeamish or skeptical, there might be something they'd be willing to tolerate. I'm afraid that it really is going to be difficult to keep a juvenile beardie well fed without the option of live feeders, as kyleena29 already said, but maybe not impossible.
 

wolfiemorph

Member
Original Poster
Thanks!

My mom doesn't want live feeders in our apartment. And we can't really have any live feeders shipped to us, because we live in an apartment, and packages usually get dropped off at the office. If any bugs came out of the package, we'd be in trouble :/ soooo...

He seems to enjoy the canned mini crickets.. he ate 20 this morning in his salad of collard greens and carrots. I put 25 more in his bowl(I cleaned the left over salad out first) just now for dinner; hopefully he'll take some interest.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
You're getting him off to a good start by mixing the "protein" with the greens and veggies.

BTW, live bugs are usually packaged up pretty tight for shipping, so it would be rare that they'd get out of the package, but I can understand the worry. Meanwhile, you're lucky he likes the canned crickets.
 

wolfiemorph

Member
Original Poster
Alright, thanks!

Yeah, he loves them. He ate about 40 today, I think. I mixed most of them in with his salad because he doesn't eat them in the bowl unless they're in his salad. He also ate about 5 from my hand today.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,898
Messages
1,255,672
Members
75,965
Latest member
williamyoung
Top Bottom