How old for one live feed a day?

sallycinnamon · Apr 1, 2016

HI Gizmo is 4 months old and has 2 live feeds a day morning and evening. We put veggies in too which he takes or leaves depending on how the mood takes him! What age should beardies be when you go to one live feed a day and give them more veggies? Thanks

lovesbeardies23 · Apr 1, 2016

You should start feeding them one live feed a day around a year old.

sallycinnamon · Apr 1, 2016

Thanks

mommacude · May 26, 2016

lovesbeardies23":3ueb0vns said:
You should start feeding them one live feed a day around a year old.

I know this is old, but I thought one live feed was at six months. Guess it's good I just started that a week ago. Our guy just hit about the 6 month mark. We got him at Christmas and don't know his exact birthday but we are guessing he was about 6 weeks when he came home. His body was only size of hubby's finger.

sallycinnamon · May 27, 2016

Hi I'd love to know the answer to this. Our Gizmo has 2 live feeds a day at 6 months. The store where we got him were surprised and said we should have upped the veggies and cut back crickets by now. Who is right? What's the protein:veggie recommendation at his age please?

He is going to lizard boarding this weekend at the store - first time ever away from home. Am pretty nervous! How have you found it if you have ever had to board your beardie ?
Thanks all x

mommacude · May 27, 2016

This lady I talked to at a show from Carolina Designer Dragons and bought some stuff from has this care sheet which says six months. http://chi12.stablehost.com/~caroli...delines-Carolina-Designer-Dragons-0726141.pdf

kingofnobbys · May 28, 2016

mommacude":xcuxhgmz said:
This lady I talked to at a show from Carolina Designer Dragons and bought some stuff from has this care sheet which says six months. http://chi12.stablehost.com/~caroli...delines-Carolina-Designer-Dragons-0726141.pdf

Toothless and Peppa are 7 months old and get 2 live feeds per day. I have no intention of cutting them back for at least another 18 months.

It's a worry when even "expert" breeders get such basic husbandry wrong.

My 5c : at least 12 months old , I waited until after Rex and Puff 's growth tapered off at about 2 yr old to cut back to one live feed per day.
While they are growing, they need the extra insect protein.

mommacude · May 28, 2016

kingofnobbys":2wzzpgbk said:
mommacude":2wzzpgbk said:

This lady I talked to at a show from Carolina Designer Dragons and bought some stuff from has this care sheet which says six months. http://chi12.stablehost.com/~caroli...delines-Carolina-Designer-Dragons-0726141.pdf

Click to expand...

Toothless and Peppa are 7 months old and get 2 live feeds per day. I have no intention of cutting them back for at least another 18 months.

It's a worry when even "expert" breeders get such basic husbandry wrong.

My 5c : at least 12 months old , I waited until after Rex and Puff 's growth tapered off at about 2 yr old to cut back to one live feed per day.
While they are growing, they need the extra insect protein.

Thank you! I'm going to switch back to twice a day!! He hasn't been eating as well the past week. I think he may be getting ready to shed. Either that or because he's had more hornworms they're filling him up. He hasn't touched his Dubia in a couple weeks. He's eating salad hornworms and superworms now, and has had a few of the silkworms I just got. He's about 6-7 months old and weighs just over a pound now. He looks healthy to those I've shown him to. Nice and plump lol

kingofnobbys · May 28, 2016

I think he's a bit too young to tackle superworms , same reasons as for mealworms .

I only give supers to my big girl Rex (3.5yrs old) and the big bluetongues and only as treats.

I'm not so sure about Hornworms either. Silkworms however are a superb feeder and great as a staple if you can get them cheap enough or farm your own silkworms.

mommacude · May 28, 2016

kingofnobbys":2fxl7lwv said:
I think he's a bit too young to tackle superworms , same reasons as for mealworms .

I only give supers to my big girl Rex (3.5yrs old) and the big bluetongues and only as treats.

It's amazing how much conflicting information there is out there! He's about 17 inches nose to tip of tail and I'd read something like 14 inches is fine. He seems fine with them but if it's a concern I'll have to stop. Maybe I'll feed the rest to my hedgehog. I need to squish the head though because they try and bite the hedgie since he's not very fast.

I wish he'd just eat his darned Dubia again. My son forgot to feed him tonight and his light went out for the day, so maybe in the morning when he's super hungry he'd be willing to take a Dubia. On the other hand I have way too many hornworms because they were on sale. I have too many insects in my house right now!

sallycinnamon · May 29, 2016

You are so right about conflicting info! So you guys say twice a day but the staff at the store say once at his age. I picked gizmo up today - he stayed at the store where we got him. We had to go away and they do reptile boarding. We were a bit nervous as he's never been away from home but he looked great when we picked him up, very well looked after, but they all kept going on about how big he is for his age and how he should be on one feed and more veggies now. Think we are looking after him well and he looks very healthy - just don't want to do the wrong thing?

DaisyDragon123 · May 29, 2016

Here is a good food chart that color codes the best feeders and vegetables. At 17 inches your dragon is big enough to have the occasional superworm as a treat.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I start feeding my dragons live feeders only once a day around 5 months but they have access to salads and veggies all day.

Body condition will also play a role in when a dragon is switched to the adult diet, not just age. Daisy was switched to an adult diet around 10 months, per vet instructions.

DaisyDragon from Carolina Designer Dragons

The above picture is Daisy at 10 months when the vet told me to switch her to the adult diet, which is 80% plant/veggies and 20% protein feeders with very limited fruit occasionally. She gets salad with veggies every day and one or two crickets (or other suitable feeder) every other day. She basically gets about 7 crickets a week.

AHBD · May 29, 2016

I agree with Daisy, and having raised many dragons over 20 years I can speak from long time experience. It all depends on how quickly + the size the dragon grows to. It is best to slow down as they approach the 1 year mark in general, [ the exception being with a slow grower, or one who has not been cared for properly ] maybe two feedings every other day and then down to 1 live feeding and lots of greens + veggies daily. They slow down in their growing and the emphasis then on veggies can keep them from becoming obese.

mommacude · May 29, 2016

DaisyDragon123":3ibviq7h said:
Here is a good food chart that color codes the best feeders and vegetables. At 17 inches your dragon is big enough to have the occasional superworm as a treat.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I start feeding my dragons live feeders only once a day around 5 months but they have access to salads and veggies all day.

Body condition will also play a role in when a dragon is switched to the adult diet, not just age. Daisy was switched to an adult diet around 10 months, per vet instructions.

DaisyDragon from Carolina Designer Dragons

The above picture is Daisy at 10 months when the vet told me to switch her to the adult diet, which is 80% plant/veggies and 20% protein feeders with very limited fruit occasionally. She gets salad with veggies every day and one or two crickets (or other suitable feeder) every other day. She basically gets about 7 crickets a week.

Thank you! I guess I'll have to check with the vet. I know that when I went to the reptile store in Dallas I showed a picture of Zeus and said he was brought home at Christmas, they said "this Christmas?" He said he certainly looked well fed. Your dragons certainly looked fabulous at the show and I've used your care sheets since I saw your booth in Arlington

mommacude · May 29, 2016

AHBD":zqb7dvtu said:
I agree with Daisy, and having raised many dragons over 20 years I can speak from long time experience. It all depends on how quickly + the size the dragon grows to. It is best to slow down as they approach the 1 year mark in general, [ the exception being with a slow grower, or one who has not been cared for properly ] maybe two feedings every other day and then down to 1 live feeding and lots of greens + veggies daily. They slow down in their growing and the emphasis then on veggies can keep them from becoming obese.

Thanks for chiming in. It's all new to me but he seems to be thriving. He's getting a bit lazier about going after his bugs the past couple months but he has his salad available all day. I have a wide variety of proteins here Dubia, hornworms, superworms and silkworms. I've not done crickets since he was itty bitty because they were stinky to me and kept dying.

How old for one live feed a day?

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