Freeze dried food vs live/fresh

over my many years I have had many reptile species, lizards, snakes which included California Sidewinders and other rattle snakes, all of which were Native to the US. Being from California I spent a lot of time in the Mojave Desert collecting critters, collecting blood samples for parasites, bacteria, fungi and temperature reading at different time of the day.
This bearded dragon (he or she is my first, about 9" long. 2-3 months?
All creatures are similar to humans, we all have different personalities, likes and dis-likes. My dragon does not like to eat live (moving crickets) so I stun them so he/she will eat them. I have found however, that my dragon really prefers dead crickets and is partial to greens. So, with this being said I bought a bag of Zilla Reptile Munchies Omnivore Mix and there was no hesitation gobbling it up. I also bought a container of Fluker's Freeze Dried Crickets and add a few to the rest of the mix. The dragon is very happy. I also add a sprinkle of REP-CAL Phosphorus free Calcium with VIT.D3.
My Grand kids have had dragons since they were knee high to a grasshopper.
As far as greens, I dry them out add to the mixture, add water as required. I am I 100% sure that my dragon is getting everything that is required for healthy long life.
Dave

Live and fresh food will always be better than freeze dried food. Feeding freeze dried crickets is basically just feeding a dried out exoskeleton of a dead cricket with little to no protein and nutrition, and basically no water at all. Beardies get almost all their water from their food.

It's possible you either put too many in all at once which then scares your bearded dragon or she just doesn't like crickets. Try black soldier fly larva, silkworms, dubia roaches, turkish roaches and possibly grasshoppers if you can get them (not wild caught grasshoppers).

At her age she definitely needs live, fresh foods. Live/fresh food is essential for bearded dragons. Especially when beardies are young and doing most of their growing.

Try to get her on a better more proper diet, anything really packaged like the foods your feeding her is not going to make her thrive and live a healthy 15-20 years.
Also get a multivitamin supplement to go along with the calcium supplement.


Here is a feeding guide for you, this should help.
All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded ... ta.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.

Generally beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 1-4x a week with
multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This depends on how your adult beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.

Thanks. I only put in 6 live crickets at a time. I am always open to suggestions.
Dave