Hey guys! I recently purchased my bearded dragon and have had her for three days. I was told she was 4 months old. The employee recommended us not to feed crickets, and so we purchased super worms and horn worms. I am thinking about purchasing Dubia roaches as well. The first day we got her she ate collard greens and ignored the super worms. The second day she was really hungry and ate a horn worm and around 4-5 supers.
>>> typical of know nothing petshop employees . They gave you a lot of very bad advice.
Superworms are not suitable for a hatchling. Only suitable for the beardies older than 12 months old and only then as an occasional treat , never as a staple feeder insect, never more than 2 or 3 supers at a time.
Very hard to digest exoskeleton is know to cause serious impactions if eaten too often, and very high fat content.
Hornworms are also only suitable to use as a treat.
See viewtopic.php?f=76&t=234999&p=1807834#p1807834
Crickets are one of the best feeder insects to give to any lizard, so long as
>> they are appropriately sized (for a 4 month old I'd recommend 1/4 to 1/3 size)
>> they are gut loaded with calcium rich greens
>> they are LIGHTLY dusted with calcium powder.
Roaches are also very good feeders.
Other suitable feeders for your wee baby beardie are :
>> BSF maggots aka phoenix worms (excellent naturally rich in calcium and slow moving)
>> blowfly gents
>> silkworms (he can handle small (1 - 1.5 inch long) and medium (1.5 -2 inch long)
>> crickets , roaches and locusts.
I was making sure to pick the smallest ones I could find. This morning she ate only two and some greens. She mainly just chills in her basking area and doesn't move all too much. I was curious on how many super worms / other greens and such I should feed her daily.
<<< is a bonus if your wee hatchling is eating some greens , offer fresh greens daily .
NOTE a 4 month old NEEDS loads of HIGH QUALITY LIVE INSECT PROTEIN and to be fed THREE times per day (as many insects per session as it wants)
And if she was receiving enough
UVB light. Currently her tank is quite Barren but we will be purchasing more things for her tank soon. The reason I'm doubting if she is getting enough
UVB light is my lighting fixture is the duel one. And my bearded dragon normally basks on the far right side of the tank, and it seems to be pretty far away from the
UVB light, (will provide a picture if asked). And I also have a question about dusting calcium.
<<< dusting , I use 4oz tubs with lids , I put 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of calcium dust in , add the bugs (crickets in my case) , shakey shakey , and then fish a few crickets out at a time and drop these where the hatchling can see them ( they soon learn to watch you ) , and continue feeding until the hatchling looses interest.
Only need enough calcium powder to LIGHTLY coat the insects , you don't need to cake it onto them.
Should I pour some calcium into a bowl and drop a few worms in there and mix it around? Thanks again for all the help!
<<< don't use the worms you have.
<<< if you have silkworms or gents or BSF maggots , dusting is not necessary.