adopting an adult beardie- questions about feeding

[chelsmm]

Hi,
I'm new to beardies, and I'm adopting an adult on Monday. I've read through a lot of info on the internet, so I have the basic idea. I have a list of veggies that will be good for him. His current family is unsure of his age, but they think he's about 3 or 4 years old. They are feeding him dried crickets and live super worms daily at this point. He is eating about 5 insects a day. He doesn't like live crickets. He's absolutely adorable. He's active and seems very happy and healthy. Does this seem about right for insect intake? I have seen that some people think a diet of superworms isn't ok even for an adult, and others say it is ok. Thoughts? Thanks, Chelsea.

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm glad you're able to give him a good home. There are some improvements you can make to his diet, but the changes should be gradual and could take some time if he's set in his ways. As an adult, he should be on about 80% salads so I'd offer bugs maybe every other day for 10 minutes or until he loses interest. I prefer using live bugs because you can gutload them with fresh veges and ensure they are hydrated. A large portion of a dragons water intake comes from food. I don't feel that one source of bugs is the best idea so It's good to have a staple feeder (crickets and dubia roaches are most popular) but also mix in some Phoenix Worms, some silk worms, butter worms, and super worms. The butter worms and supers are relatively high in fat so should be used more as a treat/occasional offering. The more variety you can provide, the better. As I said, it may take some time to get him used to the new diet so be patient.

As for veges, I like to offer 2-3 items from this list daily http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html I like to use one of the "staple greens" which are Collard, Turnip, Mustard, or Dandelion greens and add rotating veges from there. A lot of it comes down to personal taste of your dragon so try some different things and see what he likes. I've had good luck with different kinds of squash and chopped up green beans. A little bit of blackberry or strawberry has proven to be a nice garnish for the salads but again, rotate it a bit and see what your dragon likes. You'll get a good feel for it after a while. Excess veges and fruit can be used to make smoothies or salads for you or fed off to the feeder bugs to gutload them.

 

[chelsmm]

Thanks, that's really helpful.

It sounds like he maybe hasn't been getting the best diet/care for the last three months, possibly before that, although he looked alert and happy when I met him. His UV bulbs had never been changed, except when they went out. (Is that really bad?) His first family had him about 2-3 years, and before that he was in a pet store for about 2 years. Then he was with his current family for 3 months. The first family fed him dried crickets and veggies and sometimes live crickets. His current family uses dried bugs and live superworms. I was thinking since he loves the super worms, maybe my best bet is to order some phoenix worms and see if he will take those first. My family eats a lot of greens anyways, and our CSA share just started, so we are getting tons of local, organic greens. I printed out the list above and will refer to that. My 9 year old daughter already read through it and can't wait to help with his salads.
I'm planning on getting him a new UV light bulb asap. The current owner said it's a 12". If I go to the pet store, will that be enough info? Or should I wait and see what he has? We are picking him up on Monday.
I really want to do this right. Thanks for the help,
Chelsea

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor guy. I'd definitely try to get him started on some live bugs. The Phoenix Worms are good but quite small. Definitely worth a try but you may also want to try some silk worms.

As far as UVB goes, it's definitely not good that the lights haven't been changed. The UVB lights degrade over time so the rule of thumb is replace T8 bulbs every 6 months or T5 bulbs every 12 months unless you have a UV Meter in which case you can monitor the actual output.

How big is the enclosure? I recommend getting a T5 bulb and fixture that runs about 1/2 the length of the enclosure. It can be mounted about 12-14'' above the basking site (in most cases this is on top of the screen lid). These are some good options:

this fixture http://www.amazon.com/Sunblaster-904296-NanoTech-Fixture-Reflector/dp/B00AKKUBDQ
With this bulb http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun-10-0-Lamp/dp/B00AQU8HAO/

Or this combo set http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

 

[chelsmm]

I think the enclosure is 36", but it's possible that it's 48", so I will measure on Monday when I get him. Then I'll do T5 on the screen lid with the basking site about 12" lower. Right now he has a branch that brings him much closer to the lid. I can move that though. I think he had a rock for basking as well, and that would be lower. I'll measure everything when I get him and order then. Thanks for the links. That's really helpful.

I ordered the phoenix worms, just a single cup, so he can try them out. I can order some silk worms also. Thanks for the help.

 

[CooperDragon]

The links I provided to the 22/24'' fixtures will be fine for either of those sizes. The goal is just to provide a nice wide zone of UVB over the basking area which they will be able to do very nicely. If you're going through a screen you can put some climbs a little bit closer as the screen intercepts approx 30% of the UVB. As long as you have areas of shade and areas that are under the basking light & UVB he should be able to self regulate his exposure without much issue. Just provide plenty of variety in terms of bright basking areas w/uvb and shade/hides/cooler areas and he should be a very happy camper.

 

[cbbrown]

I adopted an adult beardie, try various greens. Some dragons have favored greens. My adult bearded dragon kaisei, was raised on a diet of mealworms and crickets no greens. We still have some problems getting him to to eat his greens but trying variety is key.