I've read in many places that you should change your bearded dragon's diet when he or she gets older. I've read in a few places that once a bearded dragon is an adult, it's supposed to become more focused on their salad, with lower amounts of large crickets or other feeders, and less frequent supplements.
Could anyone suggest a good balance for an adult and when/how to transition from a previous diet, or tell me if this information is wrong? My bearded dragon is currently a juvenile, 11 months old. Most sources I've read say adult age is usually 1 1/2 years. I currently feed him 7 large crickets dusted with calcium in the morning and evening and a salad throughout the day, which usually contains kale and/or collard greens yellow squash, and often it will include some amount of apple, banana, mango, berries, cactus pear, bell peppers, carrots, or tomato. I'm also about to introduce him to cactus pad.
OK just trying to help you. Also your dragon should be eating way more than 14 crickets a day. He should be eating as much as he wants twice a day for 15 mins. So he could easily eat 50 crickets a day.
I feed vegetables very strictly based on that list, actually.
And I have NEVER heard of feeding 50 crickets a day, ever. Even when he was younger and I gave him more crickets, I gave him closer to 35 or so. And multiple sources told me that an adult should be getting no more than 50 a week.
OK well I know I've read on here of peoples beardies eating 75 a day,but maybe yours just doesn't have a big appetite. Every dragon is different. Good luck.
OK well I know I've read on here of peoples beardies eating 75 a day,but maybe yours just doesn't have a big appetite. Every dragon is different. Good luck.
This depends highly on the size of the food. if I put 75 crickets the size of my beardie's mouth in a bag, it would be almost as big as he is and weigh more.
Mine can eat 80 1/2 inch dubias in a day no problem or 100+ crickets if I let him. When it comes to feeding, dragons are little pigs so as a rule of thumb you should be feeding him/her as much as he likes for a period of 10-15 minutes twice a day. When they reach adulthood they should transition to 80% greens 20% protein.
Which is fine, especially if you compare the weight of the food items with the weight of your dragon. As I stated, compared to the size of *my* dragon, if he ate by quantity number only, he would be eating his own weight in crickets due to the size I feed. I seriously doubt that your dragon only weighs as much as 10-15 roaches. By all means, if I'm wrong and you are feeding your dragon 100% of his weight in one sitting, feel free to correct me. The point I was making was that it's not about he number of bugs they eat by quantity, but by mass amount. Which is why when you order crickets from most places, they ship by weight, not by number of bugs in a box.