How many dubia roaches a day?

[Spikebd]

Hi everyone,
I have heard various different things regarding feeding dubia roaches to my bearded dragon. A vet and a pet store said 5-6 a day thats it. Others say all they can eat in 10-15 minutes. What is the "standard" amount? Also what is the typical weight gain a baby bearded dragon should have per week?

Thanks in advance

 

[KeyBlu422]

erIf it's a baby bearded dragon, the 10-15 minute is suitable though in some cases, isn't the best option. If it's an older bearded dragon where growth has slowed significantly, the 10-15 minute is not a good method as it has the potential to lead to obesity. If you have a tub of Dubia/crickets and an adult beardy, just take out a small toilet paper/paper towel and give the feeders hiding in there to your adult beardy. As for the weight gain, all beardies vary. Though, if it's a baby, it should be consistently shedding every couple weeks or so, with sheds slowing down with age. There is no definite healthy weight but most beardies are around 400-600 grams, so I've seen on threads anyway. If a bearded dragons belly drags even when it is standing on all four, it's likely overweight. If a beardy can lifts its weight with relative ease, or its belly is only dragging when it puffs up, it's usually fine. A round belly is fine but some fail to tell between round and obese.

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

I wouldn't listen to any vets or petstores unless that petstore breeds their own bearded dragons and the vet is a reptile specialist and not an exotic vet.


Usually 10-20 dubia roaches is a good amount for a feeding period. Or you can go with however many they want within 10-15 minutes for a feeding period.

All babies grow differently, and of course the type of setup they have can greatly effect how big they get, if they eat a good amount or not.

I'd also like to add if you want a total of how much the beardie should be eating in a single day it depends on the age,
1-4 months eat around three times a day so they could eat anywhere from 30-60 bugs.
4-12 months eat twice a day so they could eat around 20-40 bugs.
12-20 months eat once a day so thats about 20 bugs.
And then 20+ month old beardies eat every other day, every two days to only twice a week. Usually being 10-20 bugs a feed.

 

[KeyBlu422]

About what Venus said about different pace of growing, it's true to an extent. Beardies can be affected in that way but nowhere near how a goldfish's growth would be stunted. It's more a combination of things like diet and setup.

 

[KeyBlu422]

I agree though with the whole "feed twice a week protein to adults". I personally feed insects to my adult beardy 1-3 times a week, more if I see that his weight is slightly under than the last time I checked his weight.