How do I know if he's getting enough or too much?

[flo1217]

We got a baby beardie on February 28 this year. He was tiny. I measured lay night and he's a little over 13 inches.

We've been giving him plenty of dandelion greens I grow myself and go through approx 150-175 crickets a week.

My little brother has a beardie and told me in over feeding Poison (my 7 year old son's name choice as it was bought for him) crickets.

Looking through this forum I'm not sure I'm feeding him enough greens variety and I'm more clueless about crickets than expected.

I read evening I can get my hands on and educate my son on proper care based on what I've found online but I'm finding that I don't think I'm getting enough information or correct info.

Help? We want to make sure he's well taken care of.


Just now info, he's grown about 6 inches since we bought him. We also have plans to upgrade him to a larger cage soon (a lot sooner than expected as we were told he would reach full size until he was closer to a year and he was only approx 3 months according to Petco.)

 

[Gail]

Babies need a lot of protein so I don't think you are over feeding crickets. I'm not sure how everyone else does it but I give my baby one meal of greens and two of insects. Once she's roughly 8 month so, I'll switch her to 2 green meals and one insect meal. As a adult, she will get greens daily with a couple superworms tossed in.

 

[flo1217]

He gets fresh greens in the morning while he warms and wakes up. Once he seems more active and alert I empty a tube from our cricket keeper into his tank. He hunts those down rather quickly. We give him fresh greens again in the middle of the day and again in the evening.

We do treats of mealworms occasionally but not often. I won't leave them in his tank because they make their way out of his bowl and under his carpet substrate.

 

[Gail]

Sounds like a good diet too me. Its great that he eats greens so well, so many people focus on insects when they are little that it makes it hard to switch them over to greens as they age.

I feed my dragon mealies too, I either toss her one at a time or use a small ceramic cat bowl. It has straight sides that are slick and the mealies can't get out, it works for supers too. Picked a few up at the dollar store.

 

[flo1217]

Sounds like a good diet too me. Its great that he eats greens so well, so many people focus on insects when they are little that it makes it hard to switch them over to greens as they age.

I feed my dragon mealies too, I either toss her one at a time or use a small ceramic cat bowl. It has straight sides that are slick and the mealies can't get out, it works for supers too. Picked a few up at the dollar store.

We use them as social treats. We take him out of his cage and set him on the floor with us sitting around (cats, too!) and use the lid from the mealies bin as a plate. He gets socialized and time out of the cage (gets a lot now that it's warm enough not to worry about body temp going down too fast) and he and the cats get to know each other better. They do rather well together He likes to lick them lol.

 

[coffeebutt]

Just be careful with the cats around...don't forget that beardies are really prey items for cats and it doesn't take much for an accident to happen. Just be careful is all Sounds like your new beardie is adjusting well!

 

[flo1217]

Just be careful with the cats around...don't forget that beardies are really prey items for cats and it doesn't take much for an accident to happen. Just be careful is all Sounds like your new beardie is adjusting well!

Thanks for the caution We don't leave them unattended and he's never left to roam the house because we want him safe. He likes sitting in our shoulders or heads while we watch tv or play games. He's started glass surfing when he sees us and wants attention lol.

 

[coffeebutt]

NP just making sure that's cute and i'm glad your beardie is so friendly with you guys!