Every-other-day crickets for 4-5 mo old beardie?

Hi folks! I'm a new Bearded Dragon owner and have had our beardie for about a month now. He's (at least we think he's a he) awesome and a big part of our family already!

We took him to a vet a few days ago to meet the vet and for a preliminary checkup. He said some things about feeding him that really surprised me, though. He said for a 4-5 month old dragon, that we need to start weaning him off of crickets and other live food. He suggested we feed him only 8-10 crickets every other day, and to always feed him greens. In fact, the greens should be his only food source on the other odd days.

This really surprises me for a growing dragon who is not yet 5 months old. On the days where he is allowed crickets, he eats ravenously. On the days when he is allowed salad, he does eat, but grudgingly and much of his greens are left over in his dish. Is he just being grumpy about his new regimen, or is he legitimately starving?

I have always heard stories about feeding TONS of crickets to beardies as they are growing, so this advice to really wean him off the crickets really surprised me. Do you folks agree?

Thanks!

Hi. I would ignore the vet about bugs. He should be fed 2x to 3x a day for as much as he'll eat in 15 minutes. He also needs his feeders dusted with calcium 5x a week.

Obviously this vet knows very little about Dragons. That throws up a red flag on any diagnosis he might come up with for me. Is this vet just your "run-of-the-mill" vet or is he/she a certified Herp vet?
At 5 months your dragon should have two cricket meals a day (as many as he is interested in eating in a 15 minute period), Your dragon needs the protein and, calcium because he is still growing rapidly.

Thank you for the replies! That was my thought too. This is not an ordinary vet, but a vet in an avian and exotic animal office. I was really surprised to hear he should only be eating feeders every other day.

I have some other exotic vets in the area, perhaps I will call around for a second opinion. It's distressing to me that new dragon owners may be starving their dragons by bad vet advice.

Can you describe how to determine if your vet is a "certified Herp vet"? Thanks!

nonlinearist":2w9lasrh said:

Thank you for the replies! That was my thought too. This is not an ordinary vet, but a vet in an avian and exotic animal office. I was really surprised to hear he should only be eating feeders every other day.

I have some other exotic vets in the area, perhaps I will call around for a second opinion. It's distressing to me that new dragon owners may be starving their dragons by bad vet advice.

Can you describe how to determine if your vet is a "certified Herp vet"? Thanks!

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Ask them, lol!!!
They will know. That is the only way to make sure.