New Owner, Some worries and questions

snakepeople":2caf7boj said:

I just got my bearded dragon a few days ago, and I'm worried about her. I made a separate forum post about my enclosure so you can see all those details here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=226031

She isn't eating or going after her crickets. We only put a few in her cage but she doesn't even look at them and we had to scoop them out later. All shes eaten are a few mealworms and nibbled on a pepper from her salad.

<<<< if you only just brought her home this may just be relocation stress and this can last a few days to a week, keep on offering the live crickets , other good feeders are roaches, silkworms , phoenix (calci) worms.

(I know she shouldn't eat mealworms, I learnt that later on sadly and she will not eat them again! We had some on-hand and wanted to see if she'll eat SOMETHING!) <<< mealworms are a last resort as a live feeder for young dragons, best reserved for use as occasional bribes/treats.

I was considering switching to Phoenix Worms considering the aforementioned worm eating, and I was wondering a few things:
1. Should they still be dusted with a multivitamin once a week, even though they don't need to be calcium dusted? <<<< phoenix worms will not require dusting , but can be dusted with reptile vitamin powder to boost the nutrition.
2. Can she switch back to crickets once she settles in as an adult and doesnt have a problem chasing them / is less scared from rehoming, or is starting her young on phoenix worms going to make her only want phoenix worms. <<<< yes .... best tack is to offer a two or three quality feeder insect species as the staples , give variety and keeps things interesting for the little dragon.
3. What's a range of how many phoenix worms a baby beardie would eat in a feeding? I'm going to give her as many as she needs for 15 minutes, but I need to know for ordering/planning, is the range of critters eaten by a baby in a feeding in the 4-10 range, the 10-40 range, or the 40-100 range, since that drastically changes how many we have to order. <<<< how old is the dragon, the number of feeds per day , and number of insects per day and each feed are dependent on
--- it's size (mass) and distance between it's eyes
---the size of the insects
Can't get phoenix worms here (Australia , commercially breed ones are impossible to find) , so can't really suggest how many your beardie will need per meal.

4. If we don't need to dust the phoenix worms, should we dust her veggies with calcium/multivitamins? <<< no need to dust the vegs if giving phoenix worms as staple live insect. You can but , it wont really hurt. (Note that lizards often detest the taste of the reptile vitamins , but love the taste of calcium dust on their food , some will literally lick the bowl clean.)

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