scotty":1eaf9 said:
We still do not know if our little one is a boy or a girl, it is only a few weeks old. Not sure what the actual age is. It is about 6" from the tip of the nose to the end of its tail.
Thanks for the info on the squash, we will start doing some experimenting. Is there anything that I should avoid feeding it? I will also get rid of the meal worms.
I have found that a lot of the information that we have received from the folks at our local Pet store has been wrong. :shock: It is nice to have this site so I can get some correct information.
My son has officially named our little one "Wolverine". I asked what if it was a girl, he said maybe "Storm". Either way it looks like we have a mini x-man!
Yes, you'll find a lot of information pet stores give out is wrong....especially a lot of the larger chain stores. Sometimes you can find one with a manager that changes some opinions, but it doesn't seem to be common.
I copied the feeding section from the
care sheet and will paste it here. Also, this is a very good link
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html. It has some great salad ideas, as well as, tells you what not to feed your beardie.
Most important, if you take your beardie outside, never let him/her eat lightning bugs....they can kill your pet. Rhubarb is highly toxic. Also, I believe avacados are supposed to be toxic.
Some common mistakes are feeding regular lettuce (low nutritional value that causes runny stool and dehydration) and fresh spinach (high in oxalates which inhibits calcium absorbtion and can possibly cause MBD - metabolic bone disease).
Good things to feed your beardie would be collard, turnip or mustard greens, squash, endive, escarole, dandelion greens.
Anyway here's the
care sheet info from this site:
Feeding and diet
Bearded Dragons are omnivorous, meaning that they eat both animal and plant matter. Any and all food items that your Bearded Dragons eat should be no bigger than the space between their eyes. If the food items are bigger than the space between their eyes it can cause impaction and/or hind leg paralysis. Either way your Beardie will suffer horribly.
Baby and juvenile Beardies should be offered appropriately sized crickets two-three times a day. Offer as many as your Beardie will eat in a 5-10 minute time frame. When your Beardie stops eating, stop offering. Young Bearded Dragons can eat anywhere from 20-60 small crickets a day. Your Beardie should also be given fresh greens daily. Spraying the greens with water will help them last longer and will also help keep your Beardie hydrated.
Sub-adult to adult Beardies only need to eat prey items once a day along with fresh greens. Once they are this age you can also offer them Locusts, Cockroaches, Mealworms, Waxworms, Zophobas worms, Silkworms, Butterworms, Red worms, Earthworms and just about any other worm available. All these should be used as treats though with crickets and greens being the stable part of your Dragons diet. DO NOT feed your Beardie insects that you have caught in your backyard. These bugs could have parasites that could be passed on to your Beardie or they could have been exposed to poisons that could kill your Beardie. Lightning bugs can also kill your Beardie so it is much safer to stay away from wild caught insects.
Prey items should be dusted once a day with a calcium/vitamin D3 supplement such as Rep-cal makes. All prey items should be dusted once a week with a multivitamin supplement such as Herptivite, also made by Rep-cal.
I hope this helps you out. It's the same stuff the posters on the site gave me about a month ago......I still refer to it often.
Wolverine or Storm.....both very good beardie names. I hope it's a girl, I like Storm....hehehe
