Age and feeding

[Elisa]

My beardie, Potato, is prob about 7-9 months old. He doesn't really care for his greens/veggies/fruit and usually eats about 10 to 20 roaches a day. Recently, he has not been eating as many roaches and still doesn't touch his veggies. Should I be worried? His poops are normal, although they have decreased To about every other day. He is behaving as normal. l I can't seem to find the articles that says how much they should be eating at this age. is he considered a young adult now? Does he look pretty healthy?

 

[Klub708]

It looks like he is about to shed. Give him a bath to help him along. What are the temps and what lights are you using?

 

[Elisa]

He has been shedding continuously lately and I bathe him a few times a week plus mist daily. The temp is around 110 deg under the light but he goes back and forth to the cooler side of his tank ; either on his hammock under his bridge or in the cool side of the bridge

 

[Chanza]

Adults should be eating about 70% salad and 30% protein (crickets, dubias etc). He does look like he is about to shed so frequent bathing during his shed will be helpful. Stools can vary, it really does depend on what they ate, but as long asleast he is at least pooping regularly it shouldn't be a worry. Each beardie is different, so you can feed him as much as he will eat, but make sure not to give him too much. Plently of salad and I would say feed him crickets about once or twice a day.

My dragons name is Krumpli, which means potato in Hungarian, looks like they have something in common! :lol:

 

[Chanza]

You can try encouraging him to eat his veggies by hand or varying to see what he likes best. Some fruit mixed in with the veggie coaxing works well, or a couple dead crickets or dubias ontop. You can get bearded dragon food and sprinkle a couple on top as they are quite colorful and attract the dragon to eat it.

 

[Elisa]

Thanks for all the advice !! Love that name:Krumpli!! I just get nervous if his habits change. I also feel he's lazy as he doesn't run after his food like he used to. But that's partly my fault; I hand feed him insects one by one. If he doesn't eat them I pick them up and put them in front of him until he does eat them LOL

 

[Chanza]

Haha yes, that does sound like he has gotten used to the hand feeding. Bit of a couch potato eh? :lol:

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, how long is he + how much does he weigh ? Looks like he is getting to be a big dragon and deciding how much he wants to eat. It's fine that he's eating less, but how much less do you mean and what size are the roaches ? He does look very healthy though.

 

[Elisa]

Good morning everyone! My Potato is 15 inches long and weighs 231 g. The roaches are between 3/4 to 1 inch long. This morning he ate about six of them. He was eating 10 to 15 a day. I offer him fruit/veggies in his cage all day and give him roaches two times a day. He had significantly decreased the amount of insects he was eating and like I said he is very lazy about eating them but today he ate a little bit more. Maybe he was just going through a growth spurt he was eating so much. He is shedding, he constantly sheds, and he acts pretty consistent. I don't have another one to compare him to and he is my first one so we're kind of winging it together

 

[AHBD]

He's still a growing boy so he can be fed bugs every day, and like you said it can be a phase [ not eating as much ] or he may be just a bit grumpy from his shed.

Keep offering greens every day as well, in 5-6 months he'll need to eat more greens as the bulk of his diet .

 

[Elisa]

But what if he doesn't increase his intake of greens? Do I stop feeding him insects for a few days and just leave the greens? I give him a rotating ball of collard greens, red pepper, yellow squash, butternut squash's and green squash. I also gave him alternating fruit such as cherries, grapes, watermelon, bananas, berries. He doesn't really eat any of those. I also put it on his mouth so he can lick it off and taste the sweetness but that doesn't work either. Any other suggestions?

 

[Chanza]

Oh all this time I thought he was a young adult cause he looked much bigger in the picture! Angles can change the picture so much. I thought he was 5-6 years, my bad! :lol: I need to get myself some glasses I think. Yes so sorry about that, he should be eating more protein than greens for the time being.