Expert advice please!

[DaraCotton]

Hi Guys

I wanted someone knowedgable to see my beardie's diet and make comments as to how good it is. He is 9 weeks old and about 7 inches long.

Morning: As many locusts/crickets (alternate daily) as he can eat in 15 minutes. These are coated in calcium dust 5 times a week and multivitamin twice a week and fed on dandilions/carrot/rocket/honeysuckle and watercress and a sprinkle of gut load food.

To graze: 10 calci worms to pick at throughout the day and a salad of rocket/watercress/dandilions/carrot shavings and a bowl of water.

Afternoon: As many locusts/crickets as he can eat in 15 minutes. Not dusted this time. (sometimes this meal is skipped when I am late home from work or at university)

Dinner: As many locusts/crickets as he can eat in 15 minutes. Not dusted.

Treat: In addition to daily feeding, Rajah gets given waxworms a couple of times a week.

He eats anywhere between 5-30 locusts/crickets/worms a day. Normally no less than 5 (because I give him extra calci-worms which he never refuses if he won't eat his crickets) and no more than 30 (cos he is only a little guy and gets full quickly!)

Is this a good diet for my precious little beardie? Money is no object. If I can improve in any way please let me know! And if I am doing anything wrong I'd love some advice! I am new to beardies~!!

Thanks!

Dara

 

[BeardedDragon6]

I guess your diet is fine. at least it looks good to me.

BUT locusts are ONLY treats once a month + if you buy huge locusts for your 7 inch beardie its hard to digest and he can get easily impacted. so I recommend to let the locusts out and feed only 2-3 small ones per month.

 

[DaraCotton]

:O seriously?? The reptile shop told me locusts are a staple.The waxworms are the treats.

Groan!

 

[BeardedDragon6]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Desert.locust.arp.jpg if your feeding him theese huge ones. you should stop. and give him only http://www.freakyweather.com/files/images/locust.jpg theese small ones once a month. or once a year is enough also. (locusts are only treats)

Feed the waxworms occasionally only.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html heres what you need. c:

Note: feed insects with the size between your dragons eyes. if its bigger than the size between its eyes he can get impacted.

I hope I helped you a little bit. c':

 

[MissT]

I have used locusts as a staple for 3 years now. From what I was told, locusts are a healthier staple than crickets.


To the OP, what calcium and multivitamin are you using?

 

[BeardedDragon6]

I heard that locusts are only a treat. D:

 

[MissT]

Here is a nutrition chart which includes locusts, taken from http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk

As you can see, Locusts have a much better Ca ratio than crickets - comparable to that of calci-worms (phoenix/reptiworms). They also have a higher percentage of protein and a lower fat percentage than crickets, overall making then a healthier feeder.

The reason many people say to keep them as a treat is because often beardies will refuse crickets in favour of locusts

 

[coastergirl946]

Carrots are really not good for your dragon as they can cause an overload of vitamin A and can lead to hypervitaminosis. You may want to try butternut squash shavings instead. I rarely hear of a dragon that turns down squash, and it is a terrific veggie staple.
The beautiful dragons website has a great chart for you that shows what feeders and veggies are best for your dragon.

 

[BeardedDragon6]

oh wow. the locusts have more protein too. :T hmm. I might just let the crickets out of his diet and continue with baby food, chicken, locusts, mealworms veggies and a few fruits.

and I hope that locusts don't have any parasites. D:

 

[MissT]

Lower risk of parasites with locusts too as they dont tend to eat each other unless they arent provided with food. From what I remember they dont eat feces either so def lower risk than stinky crickets.

 

[BeardedDragon6]

hmm. i'll leave the crickets out of spikes diet then. :T at least we don't need to do a fecal check every 3-6 months and his belly won't be upset. c: