When should Bearded Dragons diet start to change?

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Bweiser18

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I have a 4 and a half month old Bearded Dragon and he somewhat eats his greens.. probably not as much as he should. Rarely eats them at all. I put strawberries and fruits and squash but he doesn’t bother all that much. I feed him insects 3 times a day Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Anyways should I be maybe skipping lunch so he will be digging in his salads? Also. He’s been feeding on roaches for a solid few months and he’s been bored with them so he’s just putting his nose up to them. I’ve got him crickets but he’s iffy on them. What else should I feed him? As a staple? He’s about 15 inches long and I’ve been feeding him some super worms just a few here and there and he loves them. Can I staple those?
 

VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
Superworms cannot be as a staple, and should not be fed at his age at all. Not until he's at least 12 months old as your risking impaction, prolapses and death right now as they have quite a lot of chitin which is hard for a beardie to digest, especially a young one. Your beardie also needs tons of protein, not fat. And superworms are full of fat.


At his age salads don't really matter much, if he eats them that's good but if he doesn't that's fine. Just keep offering them though or he'll never eat them when the time comes.

I'd suggest looking at this feeding guide.
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-dragon-diet.php
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 2-4x 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.
 

Bweiser18

Member
Original Poster
I have a 4 and a half month old Bearded Dragon and he somewhat eats his greens.. probably not as much as he should. Rarely eats them at all. I put strawberries and fruits and squash but he doesn’t bother all that much. I feed him insects 3 times a day Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Anyways should I be maybe skipping lunch so he will be digging in his salads? Also. He’s been feeding on roaches for a solid few months and he’s been bored with them so he’s just putting his nose up to them. I’ve got him crickets but he’s iffy on them. What else should I feed him? As a staple? He’s about 15 inches long and I’ve been feeding him some super worms just a few here and there and he loves them. Can I staple those?
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Superworms are good to use as a regular feeder, but, in combination with other feeders, also.
They are high in protein & have fat too, which is why other insects should be used too.
At 9 months, most of them tend to start eating a little more greens & vegetation. You can go
from 2-3 feedings per day, down to 2, but at 9 months they are still growing, just not quite as
fast.
By 1 year & into their 2nd year, they should be eating about 80% greens & 20% protein, ideally.
It's not an exact science but estimated though for optimal health.

Tracie
 

Bweiser18

Member
Original Poster
i actually have BSFL at the house now. This is the second time I’ve purchased them and he doesn’t eat them at all. All he ever ate were Dubai Roaches and now I’ve been tossing in Superworns. He will not eat anything else. So he’s been turning his nose up at the roaches so what am I suppose to do now since he won’t eat anything besides the Superworms?
 

jongupeu

Member
Bweiser18":1fwwj9q3 said:
i actually have BSFL at the house now. This is the second time I’ve purchased them and he doesn’t eat them at all. All he ever ate were Dubai Roaches and now I’ve been tossing in Superworns. He will not eat anything else. So he’s been turning his nose up at the roaches so what am I suppose to do now since he won’t eat anything besides the Superworms?

I had this problem with my bearded dragon too. What I did was I gradually gave him less and less superworms, along with BSFL and veggies. So I would put in his salad and his BSFL into his food bowl, and then I would add two or three superworms just to get his attention to the food bowl, and eventually he would eat the rest when he got hungry enough. A bit of tough love might be needed, friend!
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Bweiser18":1jh4mcr0 said:
i actually have BSFL at the house now. This is the second time I’ve purchased them and he doesn’t eat them at all. All he ever ate were Dubai Roaches and now I’ve been tossing in Superworns. He will not eat anything else. So he’s been turning his nose up at the roaches so what am I suppose to do now since he won’t eat anything besides the Superworms?

snip the heads off the BSFL , and give them a bit of a squeeze to get some of the good stuff coming out …. it's the only way I can get my bluetongue skinks, water skinks and bearded dragons to eat them.
I find handfeeding is the best way when giving BSFL. My little water skink Fluffy can happily polish off 30 in a sitting (guts only …. 10 if I can coax her to eat the bodies too).
A hatchling dragon up to 3 months old should be able to polish of a similar number. Bigger , juveniles …. 50 or more in a sitting.

I keep to 3 meals of insects per day + offer greens in pm up til about 6 months old, ==> 2 meals of insects + greens til about 12months, ==> 1 meal of insects + offer salad from then on , adults I follow this : viewtopic.php?f=18&t=236074
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
This is what I do for my 4 month old- feed vegies first----------- add 1-3 super worms on top of salad along w the BSFL I know you said he wont eat them but try to get him to that bowl /w the movement of the bugs - he needs to be enticed - I would not feed him anymore super worms after that --- have you tried crickets? You can disable them by pulling a leg off and adding to the vegies bowl - use a bowl the bugs cant get out of --- mine is eating vegies along w/ the bugs as well I add the roaches to the vegie bowl after about 30 or 45 minutes - and hes eating around 5-6 5/8 inch roaches --
Karrie
 
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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.

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