7 crickets a day is not enough??

[YamaDan]

Hi Karan,
I just got my dragon today and obviously did research visiting various pet shops. each shop assured that dragons around 4 months old should eat 3-4 small meal worms a day and then develop slowly as they grow. so for your 7 month old dragon i would say 7 crickets a day should be making your dragon a little overweight! hope this has helped

Um, meal worms are not good for them as they are very difficult to digest. You will starve your Dragon if you only feed him 3-4 worms a day.. Check out a few more area's of "expertise" before you trust the person being told what to say with out the experience. As I said, I made a lot of mistakes, most due to trusting what the local pet stores had to say.

Check out this post... very informative. http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/caresheet/

 

[Slave2Scarlett]

Hi Karan,
I just got my dragon today and obviously did research visiting various pet shops. each shop assured that dragons around 4 months old should eat 3-4 small meal worms a day and then develop slowly as they grow. so for your 7 month old dragon i would say 7 crickets a day should be making your dragon a little overweight! hope this has helped

Mealworms and superworms are actually not good for the babies and shouldn't be fed unless they are 16" or longer.. Their hard shells are hard for them to digest and can cause impaction.. A lot of times the pet stores will give misleading info regarding feeding the beardies.. Most of the members of this forum will tell you that their babies eat anywhere from 40-70 crickets a day.. Mine unfortunately hates crickets so I started feeding her reptiworms and she usually eats about 25 of those a day plus her greens.. Not trying to overrun what u said just sharing some info that u will find most anywhere in the forum

 

[runningguy]

The bulb I am using costs $75.00. I hate to think that I might need to replace it with a larger one. Yikes!

I use the cheap incadecent bulbs for heat plus the UVB reptisun bulb in the middle. All three bulbs on my cage sell for less than $25 total. Also if you just got the dragon yesterday. it may take some time for it to get used to the new home and start eating. Don't worry about it just yet.

 

[fez09]

Hi Karan,
I just got my dragon today and obviously did research visiting various pet shops. each shop assured that dragons around 4 months old should eat 3-4 small meal worms a day and then develop slowly as they grow. so for your 7 month old dragon i would say 7 crickets a day should be making your dragon a little overweight! hope this has helped

WRONG WRONG WRONG! They need to be fed twice per day and allowed to eat as much as they want for 10 minutes, plus fresh daily greens!!! Mine are going through about 30-70 small dubia per day and I can guarantee that they are not "overweight" Do not take beardie care tips from pet stores.

 

[definitions]

My daughtr just picked up a baby beardie yesterday and she eats about 25 lobster roaches a feeding. We feed twice a day.I have tons of lobster roach babies. it's great she gets to motor through them all lol.

 

[Shakti75]

If you just got him/her, it needs time to adjust to it's new surroundings. Give it a few days to a week to get to eating normally. Also, as has already been mentioned, AVOID mealworms, especially for a young one like that. The risk of impaction is too great to make it worthwhile. I'd suggest checking into getting some phoenix worms. When mine was little, she would eat nothing else, and they are a good staple diet food. Put them in a bowl and you won't have to worry about hunting strays down in the viv, as they can't climb out of their dish as long as the dish is dry.

 

[Karan]

OK. Changed to a 160 watt bulb. It's now 100 degrees in his basking spot but only about 85 degrees in the warm part of the tank. She had her first bath and drank a bit of water. She has NEVER ventured over to the cool part of his tank. She spends most of her day cuddled in the back corner - doesn't spend time in her basking spot unless I put her there. I have another heating mat that I could put on the back side (not right where she hangs out so it won't burn her). I think that would heat things up a bit. Thoughts?
She is eating 10 -12 crickets twice a day and also greens which makes me very happy!

Thank you to everyone for the help and advice!

 

[Shakti75]

85 degrees for an ambient temp throughout the tank is fine, as long as the basking spot is around 100-110 degrees. Do you have UVB lighting in the tank? This is an absolute MUST.

 

[Karan]

uote="Shakti75"]85 degrees for an ambient temp throughout the tank is fine, as long as the basking spot is around 100-110 degrees. Do you have UVB lighting in the tank? This is an absolute MUST.[/quote]

I do have UVB lighting. I think I have everything I need thanks to all the great help here and my local pet shop with repitle experts. She seems to be happy and just ate 14 crickets! Go Lilly! She also seems to enjoy collard greens!

Thanks again to everyone for all the help. This is certainly more complicated than I thought it would be.

 

[YamaDan]

This is certainly more complicated than I thought it would be.

Ain't that the Truth!!! lol

 

[Shakti75]

I do have UVB lighting. I think I have everything I need thanks to all the great help here and my local pet shop with repitle experts. She seems to be happy and just ate 14 crickets! Go Lilly! She also seems to enjoy collard greens!

Thanks again to everyone for all the help. This is certainly more complicated than I thought it would be.

What are you using for UVB, if I may ask?

 

[Deemac6]

I noticed in an earlier post you mentioned a black light, please tell me you threw it out?

I will just restate a few VERY important points.

Superworms should not be fed young dragon under 16 inchs
Mealworms are hard to digest, my dragon had a very hard time with them when I brought her home (the pet store had told me to feed them, I got rid of them asap)
Nothing bigger then the space between there eyes
Basking temp can vary, babies like it hotter 110, as they grow older they sometimes like it a little less, my dragon (just over a year) loved it really hot as a baby, prefers it more around 98 now.
UVB, calcium and vitamin dusting are extremely important for their diet.

 

[Shakti75]

As Deemac6 mentioned, PLEASE get rid of the black light. If you need more heat at night, use a ceramic heat emitter, not anything that lets off any type of light, including black or red bulbs. It is very important that it be dark in their vivs at night for them to sleep. The have a pineal eye on top of their heads and this gauges the light in their surroundings, helping them know what time of day it is. Having light at night confuses them and can totally throw their sleep pattern off and consequently, make them sick.