FOOD

[lauraisnotagiraffe]

What foods should I feed my bearded dragon everyday?

 

[catUK]

It depends how old he is. A baby should be fed as many live foods as he can eat in a 10 min period 2-3 times per day. Older beardies can be fed live food once per day or every other day. Good live foods include crickets, dubia roaches, locusts, phoenix worms/repti worms, super worms (for beardies only over 16 inches), silkworms, hornworms...Live food should be dusted with calcium 1 feed per day, 5 times per week and with multi vitamins 1 feed per day, 2 times a week for babies- less for adults. Fresh Salad should be provided every day- here's a site with list of good veg to feed http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[lauraisnotagiraffe]

The beardie I am getting is about 10 weeks old so still a young one
So can I dust the food with both vitamins and calcium supplement?
Thanks

 

[catUK]

The beardie I am getting is about 10 weeks old so still a young one
So can I dust the food with both vitamins and calcium supplement?
Thanks

Yeah. What i did when my beardie was a baby was dust mon-fri with calcium and dust sat / sun with vitamins- just put some in a box and add the live feeders and shake them around so the dust coats them. At that young an age they can eat anywhere from 30-100 crickets per day :shock: Make sure the live food you are giving him is no bigger than the space between the eyes and never feed mealworms

 

[lauraisnotagiraffe]

Awesome thanks I will do that! After you shake the crickets around, will they still hop around? Or do you hand feed yours?

 

[catUK]

Awesome thanks I will do that! After you shake the crickets around, will they still hop around? Or do you hand feed yours?

The shaking stuns them a bit but they still hop. I found the black crickets were less jumpy than the brown crickets and not as fast. I used to let her chase them when she was little but she's 15 months now and a complete DIVA- likes to be hand fed- i've spoilt her

 

[lauraisnotagiraffe]

Ah cool! So does your beardie (name?) have a set time to be fed every day? And do they know when to be fed?

 

[catUK]

Ah cool! So does your beardie (name?) have a set time to be fed every day? And do they know when to be fed?

Terri (she used to be a he called terry lol). When she was a baby i'd put her lights on 6.30 and feed her at 7.30 am. Then i would feed her when i got home at about 5.30pm then turn her lights out 8.30pm. They like set times and she knew when she was going to be fed and come running. Its different now with her being older- she has days she eats and others she doesn't. I usually leave a bowl of worms in her viv for her to pick at when i'm at work then feed her locusts when i get home. Make sure when you feed yours that you wait at least an hour after lights on before feeding so he can warm up and feed no later than 2 hours before lights out so he has time to digest his food.

 

[lauraisnotagiraffe]

Okay sounds great I'm going to call mine Marcus, I think he's a boy... I will have to ask lol! Okay I will set times up so I can do it before I go to College and come back

 

[catUK]

Okay sounds great I'm going to call mine Marcus, I think he's a boy... I will have to ask lol! Okay I will set times up so I can do it before I go to College and come back

Good luck with it all...there's a lot to get your head around but once you get going its a breeze and they're excellent pets. If you have any more questions just ask