HELP WITH FEEDERS please :)

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hello all;
even after having my bearded dragon for 6 months, i am still struggling with the feeding situation. I need to know how much of each insect to feed how often with other factors.. here's important things to know :)

-in the last 2-3 weeks i've had to give him a prune babyfood/ vegetable oil/ applesauce mix to get him to poop- he was up to 13 days or so at one point, almost to the vet (just to check on him, he wasn't showing signs of sickness at all, eating fine) and this time about 10- I think it's because of his parasites he just cleared, he's probably working everything through his system... I want to steer clear of superworms right now because of this.

-pretty much done with crickets, they all die, they stink, and they're loud.

-his favorites are dubia (HE LOVES DUBIA) and hornworms.

-i want dubia roaches to be his staple, but i really need guidance on what else to feed, and how much

- I looked up how many dubia roaches to feed him (large roaches as a sub adult) and found 8 to 10 large roaches twice a day is good, and if that is true i would be spending like 150 bucks a month MINIMUM. Is that number per day accurate?

my question is- what to feed, how much? here:
- i am unsure of his exact age but the space between his eyes is just under 1 inch.
-i use rainbowmealworms.com
- his favorites are large (around 1 inch) dubia roaches, and medium hornworms. totally open to phoenix worms :)

the question:
for a sub adult beardie, using hornworms, large roaches, and phoenix worms, how many of each should i feed 2x a day?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi M.P., He won't need that many of the 1" dubia, just half of that is fine but I WOULD include superworms every other day along with his regular amount of dubias. Just 4-5 medium superworms or 2 -3 large supers along with a few hornworms every other week. One thing to get started on is salads. Don't give up on offering salads, use greens like turnip, mustard, collards, kale, dandelion along with a few other veg like squash + green bean. He is old enough to get started on staple greens as part of his diet. I don't bother with calcium worms for large dragons , they are too small to fill up your dragon and you'll spend as much on your beardie's food as you will your own groceries. :) Superworms are cheap, get 500 set up in a plastic tub with oatmeal or bran, a piece of carrot + sweet potato. , no lid needed. They will live for months like that.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You said nothing about salads- he should of been eating salads first thing in the morning- then feeding your staple feeder-- go to the feeding board find the nutrition website link - you need to feed him a salad everyday variety is key-- mixing your greens using different squashes- this will slow down the insects- you may have a hard time getting him to eat salads at this point but you you really need to try- you can use butterworms- horn worms super worms as lures to the salad bowl along w/ bsfl or Phoenix worms- you can use the dubias to add to the salad after he's eaten from the glass bowl you will need to keep the worms in- silk worms are another good staple feeder- here is the website for roaches and worms-- http://www.dubiaroaches.com - I would use 8-10 roaches after feeding the salad and worms- and I only feeding my 9 month old once a day he fills up in the morning and I leave his bowl in the tank till around 3 - they are both fed around 8 or so gives them plenty of time to eat-- I can post more websites for you tomorrow
Karrie
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
MiniPancake":g9yjw173 said:
hello all;
even after having my bearded dragon for 6 months, i am still struggling with the feeding situation. I need to know how much of each insect to feed how often with other factors..
It sounds to me like you're stressing way too much over this. I understand; there are a lot of opinions out t/here--some seemingly conflicting, but not so much if you take a step back and look to underlying intent & common sense. :wink:

If your dragon has recently fought off parasites, depending on the type and meds involved, his gut may have been cleared of beneficial bacteria as well as the parasites, so I would expect digestion to take a bit longer than when his gut is working properly. IDK exactly how much longer; this would be a good question (by phone/email) for the vet.

I don't think there's any need to steer clear of superworms; they're an excellent feeder, and IMO concerns about chiten are somewhat overblown; BDs are built to handle chiten.

Dubias:
For comparison/scale, my dragon is going on 7 months; he is 17½" and 310 grams. While he could certainly handle larger dubias, I'm sticking with ½" (med) because they cost about half of what ¾" cost from my current vendor. :shock: I order 1000 at a time (about every 6 weeks), so it runs about $75/month. (Supers are much cheaper), and when he matures, he'll be eating more veggies, so the feeder cost should be considerably less; it's these growing months that cost a lot (It always costs a lot to raise kids! :lol: ) He eats 15-20± of this size in a typical meal, depending on how hungry he is, and whether or not they're dusted. He hates both calcium and his vitamins, and has made that known! :laughing6:

I'm also feeding large (1½"-2") superworms, usually 5 or 6 for a meal.

IME, mixing feeders in a single meal is not necessary for a varied diet. In the wild, BDs are opportunity hunters. If they come across a nest/supply of feeders, they're likely to pig out on that one insect until they've had their fill, because they don't know when their next meal is coming. Next meal, they may find more of the same, or something different. So generally, I feed one or the other in a meal--not necessarily both.

Typical daily menu is:
Salad/veggies in the morning, left throughout the day--he's a grazer.
Dubias (med) for lunch
Superworms for supper

I used to dust mid-day, but he hates it so much he'd pass up dusted dubias, so now I'm dusting the supers. He's less picky about them. :wink:

On occasions when I do mix feeders (like when one is running short, or awaiting a new shipment), I'll adjust the above numbers, for example, 10 med. dubias plus 2 or 3 supers.

If you want to add other feeders into the mix, I'd just make a meal--or occasional meal--of that feeder, and not worry about mixing with other insects in that meal. Different insects aren't usually found together in the wild unless one species is preying upon the other.

I agree not bothering with BSFL/Phoenix worms at this point--they're too small. It's like giving hamburger crumbs to a guy who craves steak! Speaking of steak, my dragon is picky about his greens, but if/when mixed with insects throughout the day, we call it, "steak with his salad" or verse-vica.
When he lunges for a bug, he usually comes up with a mouthful of greens as well. :wink:
 

MiniPancake

Member
Original Poster
thank you all for your help! I definitely do my best to get his greens in him- i have mustard+ collard in my fridge, but he's picky so i need to be more strict haha.

i'll try feeding the veggies first thing in the morning, waiting a bit, then the 10 to 20 roaches a day, and if he still seems hungry, the superworms.
 
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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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