Beardie supplements/growth questions

[lilred6]

Hi everyone!! So recently I’ve been sorta over-analyzing Panini and her size and comparing it to a lot of beardies I see online and I keep questioning if she’s growing normal, am I doing everything right, is she getting all she needs to grow into a big healthy beardie (I really want her to get big lol). I have questions about supplements Bc I want to avoid overdoing it. I recently ordered BSFL bc I’ve seen That’s been a rlly good feeder But Right now I feed her a serving of collard greens which she eats all of everyday, Small but medium-ish Dubias (about 20 a day In two diff feedings), and I dust them with calcium with D3 three times a week.I’ve seen that it’s recommended to get a calcium powder also without D3. I recently bought the flukers multivitamin powder with beta carotene but as I’ve been doing my research I read somewhere that you should avoid multivitamins with vitamin A which this one has so I think I will return it. What multivitamins do y’all recommend? And how often should I be dusting her feeders with each supplement?? From what I’ve read of determining her age based on measurements I believe she is around 5 months (10 inches).I have no way of measuring her weight. I’ll leave a photo. She’s under a T5HO 10 UVB, basking temps are kept around 95-100 degree & her poops have consistency and are definitely healthy. I just wanna make sure I’m doing everything right. Like I said I rlly want her to grow big n healthy. she was adopted from petsmart but my sister who works there said she should grow normal despite her missing some toes/nails n part of her tail (she recently shed n her tail is naturally dark now), I hope this doesn’t sound dumb I just wanna make sure she gets what she needs so she can thrive like the queen she is.

 

[KarrieRee]

The vitamins w/ the Vit A is fine w/ the beta carotene- just dont feed her and the insects carrots as well-- she should be getting Calcium D3 5 x per week once per feeding and Vitamins 2 x per week once per feeding - so if your feeding her 2 times a day only one feeding --- she should be getting salads which your feeding I would add stuff to it like some squash maybe some raw shredded sweet potato etc here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
the more variety in her diet the better - you can add some silk worms to her diet they are another good staple feeder too - you can get some calcium w/ out D3 too just get some w / NO phosphorus - right now tho she needs the calcium D3 till shes about a year old then you can start alternating the two calciums - thats what I have done - so like give the D3 2 days per week and w/ out the other 3 and the vitamins the other 2 -- her UVB is gonna give her the calcium she needs and help absorb what shes eating -
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

The vitamins w/ the Vit A is fine w/ the beta carotene- just dont feed her and the insects carrots as well-- she should be getting Calcium D3 5 x per week once per feeding and Vitamins 2 x per week once per feeding - so if your feeding her 2 times a day only one feeding --- she should be getting salads which your feeding I would add stuff to it like some squash maybe some raw shredded sweet potato etc here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
the more variety in her diet the better - you can add some silk worms to her diet they are another good staple feeder too - you can get some calcium w/ out D3 too just get some w / NO phosphorus - right now tho she needs the calcium D3 till shes about a year old then you can start alternating the two calciums - thats what I have done - so like give the D3 2 days per week and w/ out the other 3 and the vitamins the other 2 -- her UVB is gonna give her the calcium she needs and help absorb what shes eating -
Karrie

She won’t rlly eat anything that isn’t green but I’ll keep trying at it. I was feeding her a little bit of shredded carrot on her salads but I’ll stop doing that (I don’t think she was rlly eating them anyway) . The Dubias eat those orange cricket cubes. I was thinking about going back to feeding her 3 times a day esp since she’s still young. I’ve read that ppl feed their beardies as much as they can eat within a certain amount of time but when I did that one time she threw up all her roaches and it freaked me out. I’ll definitely head to the grocery store soon to get her some better veggies to add to her salads. Also is it ok if she gets the vitamins on the same day as the calcium? (The vitamins have D3 and they also have phosphorus in them I didn’t realize)

 

[KarrieRee]

You want regular calcium w/ no phosphorus- the D 3 is fine-- and no feed the vitamins on different days of the calcium -- ok as long as your not feeding the insects carrots too your fine-- it's good to alternate your veggies- if she eats 3 times a day that's ok-- you want more veggies tho - sorry your vitamins have phosphorus? I need to see if mine do I will check
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

You want regular calcium w/ no phosphorus- the D 3 is fine-- and no feed the vitamins on different days of the calcium -- ok as long as your not feeding the insects carrots too your fine-- it's good to alternate your veggies- if she eats 3 times a day that's ok-- you want more veggies tho - sorry your vitamins have phosphorus? I need to see if mine do I will check
Karrie

My calcium is the zoo med repti calcium with D3 it doesn’t have any phosphorus but on my Flukers reptile vitamin it says it has 9.9% phosphorus Per pound but i don’t rlly know what that means

 

[KarrieRee]

So I was looking on my Jurassi Vite vitamins and Phosphrous is not listed so it must not have any in it -- it also has beta carotene and no Vit A - that runs less risk of over toxicity of the Vit A - I have the Rep Cal from Zoo Med D3 and the Rep Cal cal w/ out the D3 -
If your dragon is eating all kinds of veggies then you really dont need to supplement the vitamins its when they arent eating their veggies - alot of them wont eat them or people have a hard time getting them to eat them - they are going to get their vitamins out of those veggies --- but if they arent then its good to dust those insects 2 times per week w/ them
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

So I was looking on my Jurassi Vite vitamins and Phosphrous is not listed so it must not have any in it -- it also has beta carotene and no Vit A - that runs less risk of over toxicity of the Vit A - I have the Rep Cal from Zoo Med D3 and the Rep Cal cal w/ out the D3 -
If your dragon is eating all kinds of veggies then you really dont need to supplement the vitamins its when they arent eating their veggies - alot of them wont eat them or people have a hard time getting them to eat them - they are going to get their vitamins out of those veggies --- but if they arent then its good to dust those insects 2 times per week w/ them
Karrie

hey so I was doing what you said about dusting, I have a few more questions. I recently ran out of dubias so I went to the store and they only had large so I got those. She's 12.5 inches long now and im assuming she is at least at 6 months.. but now I have no idea how many I should be giving her (like I said I was feeding her about 20 medium a day in two separate feedings) . I only bought 25 bc I also purchased super worms which im also wondering how many of those I should be giving her (also should I be gutloading those? and if so then with what?). This morning I fed her salad with collards, about 6 superworms and butternut squash (which she absolutely loves) does this mean I no longer have to use the multivitamins? Also when I receive the BSFL, how many of those will I be feeding her as well?
Thank you so much.

 

[KarrieRee]

The superworms did they come in some oatmeal type substrate? If so you do not need to feed them unless you want to drop a carrot in the oatmeal w/ them -- if shes eating her salads and other veggies then I would lay off the vitamins shes gonna get a lot of nutrients thru the greens etc -- post a pic of the roach beside her -- the BSFL feed in the morning on top of her salads feed as many as you want then feed her the roaches - the amount w/ the size is gonna be less roaches - keep dusting the insects w/ the calcium D3 do not dust your BSFL tho -- you can add your super worms as well - 1-3 shes not gonna eat those super worms every day - they tend to fill up and wont eat everything every day -- or you can wait in the afternoon to give her supers as well -- its up to you -- but the worms / salad and insects is gonna give her a balanced variety diet
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

The superworms did they come in some oatmeal type substrate? If so you do not need to feed them unless you want to drop a carrot in the oatmeal w/ them -- if shes eating her salads and other veggies then I would lay off the vitamins shes gonna get a lot of nutrients thru the greens etc -- post a pic of the roach beside her -- the BSFL feed in the morning on top of her salads feed as many as you want then feed her the roaches - the amount w/ the size is gonna be less roaches - keep dusting the insects w/ the calcium D3 do not dust your BSFL tho -- you can add your super worms as well - 1-3 shes not gonna eat those super worms every day - they tend to fill up and wont eat everything every day -- or you can wait in the afternoon to give her supers as well -- its up to you -- but the worms / salad and insects is gonna give her a balanced variety diet
Karrie

the superworms came in saw dust. I put them in a critter carrier (with the sawdust) and dropped some left over pieces of bok choy and two little pieces of the squash in there for them to munch on.I bought 200 but there's definitely more than that so I don't think all of them are getting food. I will post a pic of her and the roach shortly.
edit; it is impossible for me to get a pic of her with the roach without her going right for it but the roaches are 1 inch long and so is the space between her eyes (if that helps at all)

 

[KarrieRee]

Ok so she should be able to eat it-- insect should not be bigger than the space between her eyes --- here is some info for superworms
Fruits and vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots, are good sources of nutrition and moisture. Feed Superworms a diet of oats, wheat bran, or chicken meal
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

Ok so she should be able to eat it-- insect should not be bigger than the space between her eyes --- here is some info for superworms
Fruits and vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, apples, and carrots, are good sources of nutrition and moisture. Feed Superworms a diet of oats, wheat bran, or chicken meal
Karrie

Thank you. So how many Dubias should I give her in a feeding? Like 2-3 or more than that or less?

 

[KarrieRee]

Drop maybe 4-5 in the bowl if your using a bowl or feed her one at a time - thats what I do - or I will use the bowl - they usually eat till they are full or at least mine do --- some are bottomless pits I would feed her one at a time first just so you know what she will eat --
Karrie

 

[lilred6]

Drop maybe 4-5 in the bowl if your using a bowl or feed her one at a time - thats what I do - or I will use the bowl - they usually eat till they are full or at least mine do --- some are bottomless pits I would feed her one at a time first just so you know what she will eat --
Karrie

sounds good. thank you so much for all the help I really appreciate it.

 

[Drache613]

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