Ha Ha, even lots of conflicting information within this post!!! Tracie is right, it's very difficult for brand-new Beardie owners to know what to do...It's really not that complicated, but there are a couple of very crucial things that Dragons absolutely must have in order to not only live, but in order to properly grow and thrive.
The
UVB light that you are using is the most important item you will even buy for your Dragon. Being a Desert Reptile, they need strong, adequate
UVB light every single day, and there are so many available UVB lights sold now that it's confusing for everyone. It doesn't help one bit that probably 95% of the UVB lights sold today are totally inadequate for Bearded Dragons, even most of the lights that have a photo of a Bearded Dragon on the box...it's sad. But as Tracie said, the amount of Calcium with Vitamin D3 you give your Dragon is going to be dependent on what
UVB light you have. It's important that you understand that it doesn't matter how much Calcium you give your Dragon if you don't have him under a proper
UVB light, as he'll simply excrete all of that Calcium out in his bowel movements without an adequate
UVB light...
Dragons who are babies/juveniles should be getting at least 2 live insect feeding sessions every single day, 3 live insect feeding sessions is much better up until they are about 8 months old, then you can scale it back to 2 live insect feeding sessions per day. Each live insect feeding session needs to last between 10-15 minutes, where your Dragon is allowed to eat as many live staple insects that they want to eat (if feeding crickets as your Dragon's live staple insect, only drop in 1-2 at a time, let him eat them, then drop in another 1-2, etc., and very important, never ever leave any live crickets that he doesn't eat on the spot inside his tank, as they do and will bite him, especially at nighttime. So remove any live crickets that he doesn't eat immediately on the spot).
The live staple insects that are good for Bearded Dragons include Crickets, several species of roaches, including Dubia Roaches, Silkworms, and Black Soldier Fly Larva (BSFL)/Phoenix Worms/NutriGrubs/Reptiworms/CalciWorms (all the same thing, just different Brand Names). There are also several live insects that are appropriate to give them as very occasional treats, which include Wax Worms, Hornworms, and ButterWorms...They should not be fed any Superworms at all until they are at least 12-14" long, as they have trouble eating and digesting them, and they can cause serious health issues otherwise.
****Mealworms have absolutely no nutritional value to Bearded Dragons, they are very high in fat, low in protein, and mostly all very hard, chitlin shell that Bearded Dragons, ESPECIALLY BABIES AND JUVENILES have a very hard time digesting, often passing them out in whole chunks. Mealworms are fine for other species of reptiles, such as some Geckos, but they are just not an appropriate insect to feed to Dragons at all, not even as an occasional treat in my opinion, simply because there are such better options for occasional treats...Think of it this way: Why would you want to feed your Dragon Mealworms as treats, which are basically nothing but very fatty, hard shells that can potentially cause bowel movement issues, when you can feed him Wax Worms or a nice Hornworm, which is going to provide him with a ton of
hydration and calcium?
Anyway, a good basic supplement schedule for a Bearded Dragon, dumbing it down a bit, is a Reptile-Grade, Phosphorous-Free Calcium Powder 5 days a week, and then a Reptile-Grade Multivitamin Powder 2-3 days a week. That's the basic schedule that I have used for over 15 years with excellent results. For a young baby/juvenile under a year old, it's easiest to dust all of the live insects in one feeding session per day in calcium 5 days a week, and the same 3 days a week for the Multivitamin. So for example, if you do 3 live insect feeding sessions per day, then choose one of the 3 to dust his insect in.
As Tracie also mentioned, it's a much better option to use a Reptile Multivitamin powder that has all of it's vitamins/minerals coming from NATURAL SOURCES rather than them containing synthetic vitamins, as this often results in vitamin toxicity, especially with Vitamin A.
Here's what I do, it's very easy and it's worked forever. There are a million different answers you're going to get about which supplements to use, how often, etc. I think everyone on this forum (the senior, experienced, long-time members who often post) will agree that Dragons should get Calcium 5 days a week and a Multivitamin 2-3 days a week. So here's what I have done forever with great results. My first Dragon lived to be 12 years and 9 months old, and currently I have a huge, healthy female that is a year and 2 months old, and huge, healthy boy who is 8 months old, along with 2 rescue males, one with severe MBD and the other (has only been with me for 3 weeks yesterday) who was released into winter weather/snow for at least weeks, both of which are doing wonderfully well...
I use Repashy Calcium Plus, which is a combination Calcium and Multivitamin supplement that does contain Vitamin D3. There are 3 reasons that i've been using this for a long, long time: #1) All of it's vitamins and minerals come from NATURAL SOURCES, it contains NO SYNTHETIC vitamins at all, for example, all of it's Vitamin A comes from the Beta Carotene it contains...#2) All of my Dragons really, really like the taste of it, and yes, I've tasted it, lol. It has a very nice, fruity, sweet smell to it, not at all like Multivitamins usually smell. It tastes very, very good, fruity and sweet, and I had been using one of the other Reptile Multivitamins years ago, and my adult boy at the time would not eat any of his salad that was dusted in it, so I went through I don't remember how many Multivitamin supplements until I bought the Repashy Calcium Plus, and as soon as I opened it up I could smell it, it smelled wonderful, and within 3 days he was eating his entire salad dusted in it. And all of my other Dragons continue to eat all of their salad/bugs dusted in it...And #3) Because it's a combination Calcium and Multivitamin supplement, which contains Vitamin D3, so this very much simplifies my supplement schedule...
Here's what I do:
-I have only 2 supplements total that i use, the Repashy Calcium Plus w/Vitamin D3, and then RepCal Calcium powder w/out Vitamin D3. That's it, just the 2 supplements.
-Since they only get a Multivitamin 3 days a week, and since I use very strong, T5-strength UVB tubes, then they also only need Vitamin D3 3 days a week as well. This makes this very easy.
#1.) So, 3 days a week I give them the Repashy Calcium Plus w/Vitamin D3, either by dusting all of the live insects from one of their daily feeding sessions in it, or by sprinkling it on their fresh salad (my 8 month-old still gets 2 live insect feeding sessions every day, where he usually eats between 15-20 live insects in each session, so he gets all of the live insects from the morning feeding session dusted, or about 20 live insects total dusted).
#2.) Then 2 other days of the week, I do exactly the same thing but using the RepCal Calcium w/out Vitamin D3. That's it.
So they all get Calcium powder 5 days a week, Multivitamin powder 3 days a week, and Vitamin D3 3 days a week (because I use very strong, 10% T5 UVB Tubes for 13 hours every day). *******If you let us know exactly what
UVB light you are using, we can give you advise about that particular light, how it needs to be mounted/the distance it needs to be from his Basking Spot/Platform, or whether or not you'd be better off using a different
UVB light all-together. This is very important to get straightened out now, as early as possible...
As far as any other supplements that you need to give your Dragon on a daily basis, that's pretty much it. There are some people who give other daily supplements because their Dragons have specific health problems or have to take medications daily that require some other supplements to aid their kidneys, livers, stomach/GI Tracts, etc., but the Calcium and the Multivitamin are it for a new, healthy baby.
