Adult Feeding Questions

[jenspets]

Hello! I adopted my first bearded dragon yesterday, a 2 year old male. I have researched them for quite a while, but I have a few questions about their diet and supplementing. I know that adults need vegetables everyday, but I’ve read different things about insects. Should I feed him insects daily or every few days? Also, I am going to use rep-cal supplements, but I’m not sure which ones to get. What’s a good supplement schedule for an adult bearded? And do I put it on the salad or bugs? Thanks in advance!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Here is a feeding guide for you.

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, possibly earthworms.

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-nutrition-data.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.

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 1-4x a week with
multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This depends on how your adult beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.

Preferably you want a calcium and multivitamin without D3. Beardies can overdose on D3 if given too much, and they also don't benefit too much from a oral D3 supplement.

When you give insects I recommend dusting them as they need it more than the salad does. However it all just depends on how you feed.

Personally I do calcium 2x a week and multivitamins once a week for my two adults, they get calcium on Mondays bug feeding, and then Wednesday they get multivitamins mixed in the salad, and then on Friday they get calcium on their bugs.

 

[jenspets]

Ok thank you. I’ve been reading more on this topic and I’ve found that synthetic d3 can be beneficial. I’ve come up with this feeding schedule:

Monday: staple insect (crickets, roaches, or bsfl) with calcium w/o d3

Wednesday: staple insect (crickets, roaches, or bsfl) with calcium w/o d3

Friday: 75% staple insects 25% occasional insects (super worm, hornworm, etc.) with calcium with d3

Sunday: occasional insects with multivitamins

He will be fed vegetables everyday (collard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, green beans, etc.)

Does this sound like a good feeding schedule for a 2 year old? Any advice would be awesome! Thanks!