Bearded Dragon Food

[barbi1655]

When I got Frank, he refused to eat crickets.

(You can read about him here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=100762 )

He picked at the greens but didn't eat a lot of them.

I found he LOVES superworms. I put them in his salad and he does get some greens when he is eating the worms. He eats 4 or 5 worms a day. When I picked up the worms the first time, I also grabbed some Rep-Cal brand Growth Formula Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food too. The Juvenile part was not on purpose, I just liked the pellet size better. It was also a smaller, cheaper container. Since I didn't know if he'd eat it, I didn't want a large one to go to waste. I wasn't sure what he would eat and wanted to make sure he had lots of options.

I do plan to sit down and make up an order for other worms here very soon. I can't get them locally. I believe butter and silk worms are recommended on here and are better for him than the super worms?

I have kept a bowl of the dry pellets in with him. He eats them pretty regularly. He doesn't eat a lot of them, but probably several good bites a day. Are they a relatively healthy diet? Will it make up for him not eating a lot of greens? Is there a recommended brand that is better ?

Barb

 

[Catalyst]

How old is Frank? How long is he? As long as he's over 16 inches, superworms are fine as a staple food (it's what I use for my girl), and they're also fairly easy and cheap to breed yourself, although it takes a while to get a colony going. An adult dragon can have 25-30 supers a week. Silkworms and butterworms are also great feeder options, but silkies can be a bit of a pain to keep and breed, and you can't breed butterworms yourself (they're all imported, and sterilized beforehand). If you can mix it up and offer him a variety of worms, that's great, just wanted to let you know that a diet with supers as his main isn't bad for him as long as he's big enough to digest them properly.

As far as the pellets, I don't know about them making up for his lack of interest in greens, but they do add further variety to his diet and if he's eating them then by all means continue to provide them for him. That's the same brand that I use for my girl - she won't eat them dry though, I end up soaking them in warm water to soften them and then sprinkling them over her salad.

 

[barbi1655]

He's about 14 inches long. His age.......I really don't know. The pet shop where I bought him said he was a year old female. Someone with a bit more knowledge showed me he's male, and guessed him to be 2 - 3 years old.

Does it make a difference if it's juvenile food or adult food? Is it only in the pellet size? He sure liked the small pellets today. I saw him eating them several times.

The local pet store told me he can't eat the super worms as a staple because they are just large meal worms. I don't put much trust in what they say, but have read that meal worms were not good. If they are alright, then that's terrific. It's so much easier to buy local.

Barb

 

[Catalyst]

As far as I know, the only difference is the pellet size, so it's perfectly fine to continue using the juvenile pellet size.

Superworms and mealworms are different species, although sometimes people call steroid pumped mealworms superworms. Supers are larger and coloured differently. In this picture, the top one is a mealworm and the bottom one is a superworm. It also helps (sometimes) to know their latin/scientific names since they are called different things in different places. Superworms are zophobas morio and I beleive that mealworms are tenebrio molitor.

 

[barbi1655]

Thank you!

I am buying real super worms and not just large meal worms.

Barb

 

[beardlover]

That's the same brand that I use for my girl - she won't eat them dry though, I end up soaking them in warm water to soften them and then sprinkling them over her salad.

Have you tried soaking them in fruit juice? Vinny won't eat them dry or even softened with warm water...drizzle a little fruit juice on them and she goes nuts!