At what life-stage is my dragon?

[zbok]

I bought my bearded dragon four to five months ago when he was about five inches long. Now he is eighteen inches long from the tip of his snout to the end of his tale.

Is he considered a juvenile, sub-adult or adult?

Also, at this size I need to know exactly how many crickets to feed him and how many times a day. He gets a mixture of greens everyday that are sprinkled with water and I've backed down to giving him about fifteen crickets once a day.

I am concerned about giving him the live animal protein because I don't want to over due it. How often would you give him the medium sized mealworms?

 

[diamc]

Hi, welcome to the forum. If your beardie was only about 5 inches when you got him, he would have been about 4 to 6 wks old so now that would only make him about 5 to 6 months old now, so he is considered a juvenile.

At his age, he should be fed crickets twice a day, all he can eat in about 10 to 15 minutes each time as he still has a lot of growing to do so his body requires a lot of protein from live food. Only feeding 15 crickets a day is no where near enough. Mealworms don't really have much nutritional value and are an impaction risk especially for a beardie under 1 yr old. If you wanted to feed worms, better choices would be silkies, horns, butters or even roaches.

 

[zbok]

I've only changed the cricket portion of his diet in the last week but I'll go back to twice a day and as much as he can eat. I've got to say though that my beardie is a hog and he seems to be able to eat as many crickets as I can give him...nonstop!

I'll try and submit a picture of him on this post within the next day just so you can take a look at him.

Thanks

 

[diamc]

That would be great if you could post a picture of him, we love pictures.

They continue to grow until about 1 1/2 yrs old so they certainly can eat a lot until that age. Eating about 100 crickets a day is not unusual, just thought I would mention that. What greens do you feed?

 

[zbok]

Here are a couple of pictures of my bearded dragon. I took them with my cellphone so the pictures don't do his color justice as he is some type of red phase. The guy who bred the parents is from a local navy base and was previously stationed down in San Diego, so the parents could have come from that breeder there.

I feed my dragon a number of different veggies. Here is the list of what I use; Collards, kale, endive, escarole, romaine lettuce, redleaf and greenleaf lettuce, mustard greens, and yellow crook-neck squash and zucchini that's been shredded on a knucklebuster. I will also get bags of mixed greens like Field Greens or Riviera Mix. I haven't used any fruits because I'm not sure what is okay for a bearded dragon.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o250/fisherking_photo/dragon2.jpg

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o250/fisherking_photo/dragon3.jpg

 

[hockeyballz30]

your dragon looks fat and healthy! Here is a site that will help you mix up his diet a bit......www.beautifuldragons.com

 

[Twobeardieguy]

I don't no I thinks your dragon looks like a pregnant female!!!

 

[diamc]

Are you sure that it is a male? The belly does look quite large.

 

[zbok]

I know I referred to my bearded dragon as a he, but I have no idea what sex it is. :dontknow:

Also, it may look fat but the picture is deceiving because of the way it is lying across the log.