fast healthy growth

[flutter]

My bearded dragon is 11 weeks old (if the breeder told us the correct age of course) and he is 7'' long (or was a few days ago). Im not sure if this is a good size for his age, but it looks in line with the sizes on http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Growth.html

I currently feed him crickets once or twice a day (I aim for twice), he gets crickets dusted with a vitamin powder at every feeding, I'm going to switch him onto calcium powder for most his feedings now seen as he's 11 weeks now and not such a baby as when I got him. He use to eat 20 brown crickets a day, that were a bit on the small side for him, this has been a pretty much constant amount from him being 7 weeks old till a few days ago (apart from his shedding time, he HATES shedding). He's now been switched to black crickets that are good as exactly the distance between his eyes, I switched him a few days ago, but he's been in shed, so it's not really a reliable figure atm that I have for what he's eating. Also coz the black crickets are fatter than the brown ones he's still learning that he needs to open his gob wider to catch them lol. Im worried he's not eating enough, what do you guys think? He gets a different veg every day which varies between bok choi, parsnip, collard greens, sweet potato, and other stuff with the occasional carrot. He also gets plenty of chance at water, with a bath every other day and a water bowl, also discovered yesterday that he LOVES being sprayed!

I was wondering what would be a good diet for quick growth, obviously I want healthy growth, I'd rather him be healthy and never grow again than be 2 foot long in 2 weeks but only live a year because of it.

I do love him so so any comments (constructive) are welcome, I want him to grow big and strong and just continue to be generally awesome! 8)

 

[Gail]

Is 20 cricket all he would eat or all you were offering? At 11 weeks he should probably be eating more, as much as he wants twice a day. You are also giving way too much vitamins, he need calcium 5 times a week and vitamins 2 times a week.

 

[flutter]

Like I said, I've just switched his vitamins :roll:

And 20 brown crickets was as many as he was eating no matter how many I offered, it won't be thesame not though coz I've switched to different crickets. Im looking into switching from crickets though coz he seems to prefer worm like things. You know them things that sometimes get in with crickets when you by them, they look like furry small caterpillar things, they sometimes get knocked into the bag with the crickets that I'm dusting and I don't notice, he goes crazy for them. Is there anything I can use instead of the crickets for his protein staple that are worm-like?

It's odd coz i'd say he doesn't eat enough, but he's really active, poops everyday so I don't get it...... I do feed the crickets well so they are nutritious as they can be but still I'd think he'd eat more. I'll see if it changes when he's done his shed now I've changed his vits.


So, anything I can give as his main protein source that's wormlike instead of his crickets? I'm sure he'd gobble lots of wormlike things, like mealworms, phenixworms, superworms, hornworms..... ect....... i just don't know anything about them or their nutritional value (other than mealworms, their a **** staple lol). Just bare in mind his size, ~7'', so I can't give him HUGE food. Thanks

 

[Gail]

You can use reptiworms or silk worms as staples, horn worms are good but not as staples, you can feed them for variety. Stay away from mealies, you can use supers once he is bigger. You can also feed dubia, they are a great staple and if you raise them yourself, really economical.

 

[flutter]

Is 20 cricket all he would eat or all you were offering? At 11 weeks he should probably be eating more, as much as he wants twice a day. You are also giving way too much vitamins, he need calcium 5 times a week and vitamins 2 times a week.

This is what I am working off, there are other sites that also recommend this vitamin/calcium pattern

http://www.ukbeardeddragons.co.uk/feeding.htm

There's a table about 1/3 of the way down. (mines 11 weeks old, so is in the 'under 1 year' bit)
The reason I was feeding him more vitamins was because he was under 8 weeks when I got him.

 

[flutter]

I'll look into retiworms and silk worms. I can't have roaches, the management for my building wouldn't be amused, they hate my pets as it is! lol

 

[thegreybush]

Gail could you explain your phrasing when you say that he's giving too many vitamins and not enough calcium? Is this more focused on not enough calcium or toxicity from vitamins?

 

[Gail]

It was focused more on toxicity from vitamins, especially vit A since that seems to be the one that dragons are sensitive to.

 

[thegreybush]

Unless you know something that I don't, vitamin A from plant sources are only in their preform (beta carotene). There is no way to overdose vitamin A when its taken from plants, only from supplements like multivitamin powders where the vitamin A is already in its active form. When the body takes in beta carotene it will only convert what it needs into active Vitamin A and it gets stored in the liver. The rest will pass. Now if you are pounding multivitamins then you are going to toxify the liver with all that active vit A and then you have a problem. But not from plants.

I am only concerned with the information that you were addressing because if we steer people away from vitamin A plants like kale, then we put them at risk for hypovitaminosis A which will cause eye infection, growth problems, and the inability to properly metabolize food, especially if they're not using vitamin powders, like me. I actually just use a variety of veggies for the natural source of vitamins.

 

[thegreybush]

However I'd also like to add that at 2 times a week you are highly unlikely to contract hypovitaminosis A. Its when you take it out of the diet completely. I realize that you were not saying stay away from it completely. But I wanted to include that information in response to the belief that plant sources of Vitamin A should be avoided.

 

[flutter]

I've switched now anyway. Only only had him on so many vitamins coz he was so young when I got him and that was what was recommended for such a young one, I just continued from force of habit till I realised his age and that I should have switched a few weeks ago.

 

[Terminator7777]

My two baby dragons diet is romaine with trexproducts vmf bearded dragon formula. I feed crickets and mealworms and waxworms everyday til they wont eat no more. Alot of people say and think they no what there talking about but trust me if a exotic vet says what am doing is fine thats who i listen to.

 

[thegreybush]

yea...not saying your wrong. Not saying your way is best, either. We have a habit of trying to create the "optimal" situation. Its similar to how some people cook their dogs food each night while some of us trust Purina®. If we give you the best information then we sleep better at night.

 

[Terminator7777]

I understand and if what i feed and the way i take care of them isnt the best so be it. My only options is what a petsmart sells

 

[thegreybush]

Yea and that's absolutely so true for a lot of owners now. If nobody else has I can reassure you that what you are doing is not detrimental. Some (myself included) use beardie pellets as part of their balanced diet. They are still manufactured with vitamins and stuff that are useful. For me, its cheaper to hit the organic produce section at Fred Meyer. I spend like 7 dollars on a couple of weeks worth of veggies. Pellets are like $20 for a tub in my area. Actually I started grinding up pellets into bug chow for gut loading. I have my own issues with feeding 6 different appetites so I won't go out and tell anybody the one way to do it. I mean that's a lesson in itself. It really is. If I can get 6 healthy looking deuces and 6 happy appetites then I'm good. But it didn't start out that way. You can't imagine the system shock it gave one of them switching from an all pellet diet to veggies when I brought her home. Then there was another who was just under nourished because all she had ever eaten was superworms and that was it. So I've had to learn a few lessons in what works well for my dragons. Thankfully its going well now and my wife and I have our shopping lists down. So hey. If romaine lettuce is what he/she likes and they're getting their nourishment from pellets, too, and your dragon is growing and happy, then God bless you for it. You have a wealth of knowledge at your hands here on the boards and I'm not going to try and pour you into my mold. Good on you.