KillerPandaKage":37a6ol48 said:
I have an early schedule for school, and I'm wondering if I have to feed my bearded dragon breakfast, or can I feed him a meal in the afternoon?
If I have to feed him in the morning without gathering the crickets and having to go through all that trouble, can I leave a dish of salad, pellets, or canned crickets, while feeding live crickets at 3:00, when I get home from school?
SHORT ANSWER : if a young dragon / hatchling = YES IT IS NECESSARY.
Best feeders for a hatchling / dragon under 3 months old are :
--- phoenix worms (calciworms/BSF maggots)
--- silkworms (between mealworm size (about 1"-1.5" long) and 2" long
--- live gutloaded dusted 1/3 sized crickets or similar sized gutloaded dusted roaches.
two meals per day (three meals per day is better). You will need to give live insects before leaving to go to school , and again when you return home (AT THE BAREST MINIMUM !!).
Takes me all of 5 minutes to collect the crickets , place them into keeper tubes , dust them , and I'm feeding 3 dragons and 2 bluetongue skinks , and since I'm handfeeding , it takes under 5 minutes to feed each lizard it's ration of live insects each feed.
I find one of these gadgets are fabulous for saving time in collecting/gathering the crickets ....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/252111312375 , I simply tip the crickets out into a 20 Litre tub and suck up the ones I want , then tip the collected crickets into a small dusting tub , shake shake and they are ready to be eaten.
Is OK to feed early so long as the basking light has been on for at least 2hrs (IMO) so the little dragon has a chance to warm up and wake up BEFORE being fed. You CAN leave the insects in with the little dragon for the day, it'll hunt them down and eat them as they blunder into it while basking. Just be sure to remove any hiding crickets later unless you leave the greens and salad in overnight (the crickets will be drawn out to nibble on these rather than the little dragon).
LIGHTS ON A TIMER.
OK to leave a mix of grated veg and chopped salad perhaps mixed with some softened lizard pellets with the little dragon for the day.
I'd woundn't bother with canned insects (except as an emergency backup).
A properly modified 100 Litre or 120 Litre clear sided tub with clip on lid is a very good rearing tub for a young bearded dragon up to about 12 months old. Will need to drill air holes in each end (one lot up high, and the other lot down low on the opposite end) , and it is very easy to install a NANOHOOD to put a 26W UVB200 bulb in under the lid , and very easy to install a basking lamp hung from under a bit of plywood offcut that is securely fastened to the top of the tub.