Newbie - feeding schedule help!

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Simba2018

New member
Hi,

I am picking up my bearded dragon tomorrow! He is 3 years old and I’ve done lots of research into his care. His current diet seems a bit vague so I want to make sure he’s on a proper feeding schedule with me. I work 9am - 5pm so I’ll need to fit in his feeds around that. I’ve got his salad and insects sorted, but I just need to plan which is best to feed when! Does he need to be fed once a day or twice a day? I know the 15 minutes trick with the insects, will he need insects daily or just salad daily? Also what timings do your recommend I should have his lights on for so they fit in with his feeds? These are the answers I’ve struggled to find or they contradict each other! Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
 

VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
Preferably you want lights on at the very least 14 hours a day. And only going below that during the winter time.
I turn my lights on at about 8 AM and off at around 10 PM normally.

As far as diet goes this feeding guide should help. However, you do need to note that this varies between beardies and their current health. A beardie that just laid eggs or is gravid will need more calcium and food compared to a beardie that isn't gravid or laid eggs.

An example being two of my adult beardies. The 2 year old female began laying eggs, so I had to up her calcium and food intake. So rather than feeding her insects twice a week and only about 30-40 insects for that feeding day I had to feed her every single day and at least 60-80 bugs each feeding to keep her weight in check as she lost at least 80-100 grams each time she laid, I also had to give liquid calcium to make sure she had enough calcium in her so that the eggs wouldnt take from her bones. Her appetite also grew quite a lot during this time so she was eating almost anything you put in front of her which included salads, meanwhile beforehand she wasn't very big on salads and would mainly ignore them and opt for just bugs.

However, during this time my 2 year old male still ate twice a week for insects, needed no liquid calcium or extra feedings, his appetite didn't change too much other them him being a picky brat and wanting superworms as his staple.

The 10-20 bugs is also a minimum, I'd suggest doing how many they want in a 10-15 minute time frame each feeding instead.

All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-diet.php
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Supplementation -

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.
I recommend the Repti-cal brand but zoomed is also good.

The supplements should be lightly dusted on all bugs.

Generally, beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However, beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 2-4x a week with multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This does depend on how your beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.
 

Beardeddtagonlover

Hatchling Member
symba i work crazy hours 6pm to 6am i do not have time to feed my beardie when he wants to eat crickets did not work out for us also my beardie does not like to be hand fed he rather pick the insect from the floor lol so i went with dubia roaches i just put them in a plastic container and my beardie eats when she wants to i have not been able to get my dragon to eat greens but i will make him soon lol i keep lights on from 8am to 8pm some days he will go to bed early so 12 hours is enough for mine just have to get to know your lizard every animal is diferent if you have time to feed him crickets then great,just feed your beardie as much as he can eat he will stop when hes full try that twice a day thats should be enough,i would recommend to get your beardie on fruits and greens asap like i said my beardie is almost 8 months old and he wont eat but he starting to look at it and sometimes he will eat a piece of greens.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Beardeddtagonlover":20znkndm said:
symba i work crazy hours 6pm to 6am i do not have time to feed my beardie when he wants to eat crickets did not work out for us also my beardie does not like to be hand fed he rather pick the insect from the floor lol so i went with dubia roaches i just put them in a plastic container and my beardie eats when she wants to i have not been able to get my dragon to eat greens but i will make him soon lol i keep lights on from 8am to 8pm some days he will go to bed early so 12 hours is enough for mine just have to get to know your lizard every animal is diferent if you have time to feed him crickets then great,just feed your beardie as much as he can eat he will stop when hes full try that twice a day thats should be enough,i would recommend to get your beardie on fruits and greens asap like i said my beardie is almost 8 months old and he wont eat but he starting to look at it and sometimes he will eat a piece of greens.

>> a 8 month old juvenile bearded dragon needs 2 meals of live insects per day. It's way too young to not have mostly live insect protein as most of it's diet (more than 75%). OK to offer Offer greens , no biggy if he has no interest in salads at this point - make sure has had one good meal of insects before putting the salad stuff down for him to nibble on.
Gut load the insects with the same salad stuff.

>> 12 hour photoperiod is too short - bump up to 15 to 16 hours per day . I'd invest in a household table lamp timer.
A 16 hour photo period will help you with fitting in the feeding schedule with your permanent night shifts …. if you leave to go to work at 6pm, feed at 5pm , let the lights stay on. When you get home at 6am , feed again
ie
Your work schedule = 6pm to 6am

Lighting schedule = 5am to 9pm

Feeding schedule for 8 month old = bugs / worms at 6am and at 5pm if they are insects you can't leave in the tank, if you are offering silkworms or BSFL as a meal, they can be left all day and remaining uneaten worms removed next day when when you get home.
 

Beardeddtagonlover

Hatchling Member
Thanks for the input i.leave the roaches overnight on her tank and there is always left over i ussually go to bed by 7am and get up at 2pm i leave food insects and veggies before bed when i get up if bowl is empty i give more roaches i have lot of roaches to the point im going to have to give away some
 
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