Feeding Schedule for a Picky Juvenile

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tarntg

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I'm a new bearded dragon owner and am a bit loss on our feeding plan.
My beardie is 9 months now and he stops eating his greens daily for around 2 months now.
He never really eats his salad much when he's younger but I did try to offer him greens since he's a baby. He did eat every now and then, and when he's turning 6 months his appetite has gradually slowed down. He ate only around 1 or 2 small pieces of leafy green every day and I tricked him to eat by letting him chase it around. Then around 8 months he stopped getting interest in greens, no matter how many varieties I offered. He won't even touch any bell pepper, squash (he used to love it :( ), and fruits, which he used to like them as well. Is this change of appetite normal as they become juveniles?

I also offer him gut-loaded crickets besides greens. A month ago he can eat over 50 crickets a day and now his appetite has dropped to around 10-30 crickets a day. I still offer greens to him every morning and leave it in there till noon. Occasionally he'll grab a piece but that's it. His husbandry and condition is all good.

I don't know what to do to get him eat more greens. Should I stop feeding him bugs at all until he starts eating greens?
For a beardie this age, I wonder how many bugs you guys offer per day and any advices can be helpful!

His size also concerns me a bit. He's only 1.3 feet at this age, which I guess it's a bit small as dragons tend to grow around 2 feet(?). I wonder if he's gonna grow anymore later and I do hope he will. If someone can share your bearded dragon's growth rate, I'd highly appreciated!
 

CooperDragon

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Their appetites do fluctuate. At 9 months I'd keep offering him a bug meal every day. Keep trying with the salads, but don't worry about it too much yet. He may start eating more bugs again if he hits another growth spurt, but 10-30 crickets per day is still quite a lot. Their tastes do change but if he once enjoyed squash, keep offering it and he may show interest again after a while. He probably isn't quite fully grown but may not grow to 24'' which would be quite a large dragon. They are often around 18'' or so nose to tail as adults and anywhere between 400-600g or so. He should reach full size between around 18-24 months old and at that point his diet should be mainly veges. That's when if he's still ignoring them you can hold off on feeding bugs until he digs into his salads. Don't worry about that quite yet but do make salads available to him daily.
 

tarntg

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CooperDragon":3164ab8o said:
Their appetites do fluctuate. At 9 months I'd keep offering him a bug meal every day. Keep trying with the salads, but don't worry about it too much yet. He may start eating more bugs again if he hits another growth spurt, but 10-30 crickets per day is still quite a lot. Their tastes do change but if he once enjoyed squash, keep offering it and he may show interest again after a while. He probably isn't quite fully grown but may not grow to 24'' which would be quite a large dragon. They are often around 18'' or so nose to tail as adults and anywhere between 400-600g or so. He should reach full size between around 18-24 months old and at that point his diet should be mainly veges. That's when if he's still ignoring them you can hold off on feeding bugs until he digs into his salads. Don't worry about that quite yet but do make salads available to him daily.

Thank you that's a relief to hear! So should I restrict his cricket intake?
 

CooperDragon

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Not yet. I'd start that more around 12 months and slowly reducing frequency of bug meals in place of salads. For now, just keep offering 1 bug meal per day and let him have as much as he wants during the meal.
 

tarntg

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CooperDragon":jmdgftuv said:
Not yet. I'd start that more around 12 months and slowly reducing frequency of bug meals in place of salads. For now, just keep offering 1 bug meal per day and let him have as much as he wants during the meal.

Sounds like a good plan thanks :blob5:
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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