New baby beardie (4 weeks), feeding question

Hi all,

I’m so glad to have discovered this community. Loads of useful tips.

I have a question about whether the feeding habits of my young beardie are healthy. Basically, he will only eat 1-3 dubias / crickets at a time before getting either full or otherwise losing interest in food. Then, an hour or two later he’s good for another few critters. This will repeat pretty much all day.

Critters are all about the distance between his eyes, so fairly substantial. He loves the salad too, no problems there.

I'm mainly asking as I see others saying their baby eats 20-80 (!) crickets per day, whereas mine will top out at maybe 20 tops given the small number per feeding session.

He’s pooping very well (lol) and temps are all good. He spends about 80% of time basking the rest chilling up in a leaf decoration.

His weight looks good, with a rounded belly when basking so I don’t think he has parasites or anything.

It’s his fourth day here. He’s been eating this way since day 1, which I take to be lucky?

It sounds like he is doing well. Just offer him what he wants at each meal. Since he is small, 2-3 meals a day is OK. As he gets older that will drop off but don't worry about that for now. It's great that he is interested in salads. That will help him get even more nutrients. You will find that their appetite varies. Sometimes they will go for a stretch of not being hungry at all. Then other times they will eat a ton (like you've seen reports). The big meals tend to be around growth spurts. Don't worry about the count, just give him as much as he wants at a meal time (within reason - 5-10 min or so).

He has settled into a monstrous appetite now. Just a couple of days after posting and he's up to 30 small dubias a day :shock:

To those reading with a new beardie in a similar situation, just give yours time to adjust!

Just make sure your feeding salads too --- worms as well that will slow him down on the dubia intake and you want him eating his salads now ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
You may haft to order some BSFL and some small super worms or silk worms to lure him to the salad bowl - you can order BSFL or nutri grubs and small supers from here the sooner you get him on salads the better --- it will provide hydration as well www.dubiaroaches.com
small silk worms from here they are available again
www.coastalsilkworms.com order soon - they are another great staple feeder they will come small I dont know if they provide food to feed I cant remember maybe not alot but it would not hurt to order food - try and get it in powder form then you have it on hand for future worms --
Karrie