Baby Beardie-Too many greens?

[vycine]

Hello! New Beardie owner here. I tried searching for my question, however, it would take me quite a while to search through the thousands of posts that came back!

My question is regarding greens and baby beardies. Is there such thing as too many greens? I feed this baby (a month or so old) crickets with feeding tongs and it also hunts on its own. However, it doesn't seem to be that many crickets, maybe ten or so a day. However, the little dude can't get enough greens! I give him bits of collard greens spritz with water and he just keeps eating. Should I be limiting the amount I offer a day?

Thanks!
Jessi

 

[jne232]

Good question. I am interested in hearing the responses here. My lil beardie will eat beyond belief also. He loves his greens too. I'm glad to hear that you are misting the greens prior, as my beardie experienced some mild impaction from a lack of hydration when digesting the greens. An emergency bath and consistent misting took care of that in a day.

From what I have read in the multiple books that I own, a beardie can generally be left to graze on greens as he/she chooses. Also, I stumbled upon this video on YouTube that says that keepers are feeding too much insect protein and that we should be feeding much much more vegetable proteins than the insect proteins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU-r0C5iZ8M

Any other opinions???

 

[mortitia]

hi

Thanks for the link to the you tube video, it was very interesting

Marie x

 

[Taterbug]

The little ones can be pretty voracious, but it's a good thing he is eating his greens, count yourself fortunate on that. As long as he doesn't get sickly or not grow he should be ok. Offer him a robust salad especially if he is eating it well. Add some other veggies in with his collards, and rotate everything so he isn't eating the same thing all the time. Collards have enough calcium you can mix them with other veggies and not worry. Hopefully it will get him on a good habit of eating lots of different things!

Have you tried offering the crix a couple times a day? He might only have room for so many each feeding.



Interesting video, they make a number of points I agree with and some I don't. It's a refreshing talk on feeding though, thank you for sharing!

I think it's a little misleading to say that it's not possible to overdose on D3 however. D3 synthesized in the skin is not the same thing as D3 in a supplement. It's actually uncommon as far as I know, but still, it's important to be careful with the supplements.

 

[jne232]

I think it's a little misleading to say that it's not possible to overdose on D3 however. D3 synthesized in the skin is not the same thing as D3 in a supplement. It's actually uncommon as far as I know, but still, it's important to be careful with the supplements.

Agreed. I hadn't noticed the commenting on D3. I also believe that an overdose on D3 is highly probable. The risk is increased if you are using a good UVB source....

 

[Taterbug]

D3 from the skin is a rather involved process (to me anyway). There are a number of steps and it's regulated, so once a certain concentration is reached the body doesn't overdose itself. Dietary D3 is not. I'm not sure in the slightest the interaction of he two. :/

 

[mortitia]

I have the Arcadia 12% D3 in all my vivs, my calcium supplement does not mention D3. I was under the impression that they got their D3 from the light? I also thought it meant you didn't need to supplement it if you have the D3 light?

Confused

Marie x

 

[Taterbug]

I have the Arcadia 12% D3 in all my vivs, my calcium supplement does not mention D3. I was under the impression that they got their D3 from the light? I also thought it meant you didn't need to supplement it if you have the D3 light?

Confused

Marie x

You have it correctly.

The short of it is, you want a good UVB bulb like you have, so they can make their own D3. They can't OD on this, and its proven effective. Natural sunlight is great if you can.

I think its a matter of debate still about D3 as a supplement being even useful. If your dust doesn't have it, and you have a good light, you should be fine.

 

[AHBD]

Dave from CCDragons [ the youtube link ] makes a lot of valid points. There are a lot of overfed + overweight beardies, and if you start them on greens as babies + keep with it as they grow, they will continue to have a much better diet. That's great that yours is one of them!

 

[vycine]

Thank you for the information everyone! He's still eating greens well, though we're still on collard greens and acorn squash right now. I will hopefully add in some more variety next time I visit the grocery store. I think I bought a lower quality UVB light, so I need to look into changing that. I'm using a repashy calcium with D3 supplement. The bottle says to feed it at each feeding..but if it has D3 should I switch to a different calcium supplement for feeding every time?

Thanks again for the great information!
Jessi

 

[Taterbug]

Unless you are turning his bugs and salads into powdered doughnuts the D3 is fine. D3 is only a problem if too much is eaten. Repashy seems like a very reputable brand, they have formulated their dust according to how much coats the average cricket. The calcium/D3 dose is based on that. If you feel safer alternating or switching it won't be a problem, but I don't think the D3 will either.

Do you like it? I've considered trying it, if I ever use up the repcal anyway.

If you are dusting the greens you can sprinkle very lightly, if at all. Collards and squash wouldn't really need calcium added.

 

[wilddragons16]

Good question. I am interested in hearing the responses here. My lil beardie will eat beyond belief also. He loves his greens too. I'm glad to hear that you are misting the greens prior, as my beardie experienced some mild impaction from a lack of hydration when digesting the greens. An emergency bath and consistent misting took care of that in a day.

You guys have no idea how lucky you are. Ares just totally ignores them, but he is only like 1.5 months at the most. He ignores fruit too.

 

[wilddragons16]

Thank you for the information everyone! He's still eating greens well, though we're still on collard greens and acorn squash right now. I will hopefully add in some more variety next time I visit the grocery store. I think I bought a lower quality UVB light, so I need to look into changing that. I'm using a repashy calcium with D3 supplement. The bottle says to feed it at each feeding..but if it has D3 should I switch to a different calcium supplement for feeding every time?

Thanks again for the great information!
Jessi

When I was looking at getting a dragon, I got the repashy, but it had artificial vitamin A, and I heard stories for vite A overdoses. thats why I use repcal with d3, though i have some w/o d3, and herptivite. anyone got a pic of a well dusted cricket?

 

[vycine]

Unless you are turning his bugs and salads into powdered doughnuts the D3 is fine...
Do you like it? I've considered trying it, if I ever use up the repcal anyway.

If you are dusting the greens you can sprinkle very lightly, if at all. Collards and squash wouldn't really need calcium added.

I've turned a couple of crickets into "powdered donuts" only a couple of times. When I saw little ghost crickets come out of the bag, I thought that might be an overkill. The term "powdered donuts" made me laugh, because that is what they sure looked like!

I sprinkle a little bit of the powder on greens occassionally, or dip a corner into the powder when I feed it to him. (I use the term him lightly, as I've checked underneath a few times, but I can't figure out the sex yet.)

On another note..the one thing I never expected out of these reptiles is how funny their expressions are!! I can always tell if he wants crickets, because he gives me this look when I offer him greens and he's expecting crickets!

Cheers!
Jessi

 

[Aviator696]

Hello,

I am new to this forum (certainly not new to beardies tho so sorry if I clicked the wrong "reply" button.

Anyway, in my experience, it is difficult to overfeed greens to dragons. While it is true that young beardies require more proteins than adults, I have found that dragons (even young ones) will rarely over eat greens. The most important thing is to make sure that you are offering feeders of the correct size and variety, and that the conditions are correct (lighting, substrate, etc.).

For young beardies I usually offer small gut loaded crickets and silkworms as the staple proteins.

Now, onto the greens. Variety is the key here. I have been raising beardies for many years, and I find that they tend to thrive on what I call the "Dragon Deluxe" salad. It is as follows:

A base layer of mustard greens (about 40% of the salad), green cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli slaw, carrots, kale, and snap peas (the last 6 veggies listed should be about 40%). The remaining 20% consists of strawberries, apples, and mangoes. Finally, top it off with Nature Zone Bearded Dragon Salad Dressing (it is high in anti-oxidants, carotenoids, and (most importantly) calcium. Note: make sure that the pieces are chopped finely enough for the size of the dragons.

I have Dragon Deluxe available to my dragons at all times, and I have found that they absolutely love it and thrive on it. My vet always comments on how healthy my dragons are, and I have never lost a dragon to malnutrition, MBD, or impaction . The Dragon Deluxe will serve your dragons well for all stages of life (granted they will need more salad and fewer insects as they get older). Obviously there are other fantastic veggies and fruits, but through years of experience I have found Dragon Deluxe to be a key staple in any dragon's diet.

On a side note: try to avoid feeding spinach and lettuce (especially iceburg), lettuce has zero nutritional value and will give your dragons disgusting diarrhea. Spinach is high in oxalates and shoud be fed in very limited amounts.

Sorry the post was so long, but I hope it helps. Long live beardies! :wink:

Eric