Advice on feeding young beardie

[lori2plus1]

I haven't got my beardie yet, just doing research and saving my money for now. I'm wondering what would be the best setup for a young 'un (6"-7"). I see they can eat a LOT of insects until they are well grown. Do most people go with crickets? If I set up to breed my own bugs, is it okay to feed, for example, JUST crickets, or should I supplement with other bugs, and if so what are good choices for young beardies? If I don't want to breed feeders, does anyone have recommendations on where to order from and setups that have worked for you? Thanks, and sorry if I'm covering old territory - my searching skills haven't turned up much. :?

 

[zaxon]

Crickets are the most common feeders for bearded dragons. Be sure that the crickets you buy are no longer than the space between your dragon's eyes. You should try to work with using more than just one breed of live food. Mealworms are not recommended because they have a very hard shell and can sauce impaction for your beardie. You can get feeders from most pet shops. They can be very expensive though. You can order bulk amounts of most available feeders from http://www.mulberryfarms.com . For veggies, you can basically search what they eat in Google. You can find results fast. DO NOT give your dragon iceberg lettuce. This will cause diarrhoea and many other problems. My dragons LOVE bok choy!

 

[willige54]

I raised my first beardie on just crickets.....no other bugs.....no problems. Unfortunately he had to be euthanized at 13 months due to cancer, but that had nothing to do with his diet. I just got my crickets from a local pet store. I looked into bulk shipments, but with the winters being so cold in IL that sometimes could be a problem. I was thinking about raising dubias (roaches), they are suppose to be very good for beardies, and were highly recommended by my vet. I never got to that because my wife objected. However, she did allow me to store my cricket holding tank inside the house during the cold months. I used my holding tank to keep from having to go to the pet store so often, and to gut load my crickets. You can buy cubes to feed your crickets, but what I found that works better was to feed the crickets some kind of greens like collard greens. I couldn't believe how fast crickets could eat an entire leaf of collard greens.