How much greens for an adult?

[Fishercat]

Hi.

Teach is my first beardie, and I've only had him a couple of weeks. He's adult: 3 years old, a rescue, with most of his tail gone, so he's shorter and lighter than he'd have been if one of his siblings wasn't hungry.

I'm giving him greens every day, and 60 gut-loaded crickets a week. The 60 crickets are spaced out into 3 feedings. I'm dusting the prey once or twice a week, and gut-loading them with a dry commercial cricket food that adds calcium and other nutrients. They also get a clean chunk of wet sponge every day.

I'm wondering about what quantity of greens I should be giving him, since he often seems to eat only about half of what he's offered. I'm giving him roughly 1/4 cup of greens every day. This week it's spring mix with some extra romaine, a little spinach, and about a tablespoon of frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas, green beans, carrot), and sometimes a grape. Am I giving him too much at a time? I feed him in the morning, after he's been basking for a couple of hours, and leave the salad in his viv all day, unless he poops in it.

The first time I fed him, he devoured two large leaves of romaine. I don't think he's eaten greens that ravenously since. What quantity of greens do your adult beardies eat?

 

[brittani299]

Hello First you need to give calcium more often. An adult needs calcium 5 times a week and multivitiams 2 times a week. You shouldnt be feeding the greens that you do. Spinach is bad so is lettuce. Here is a website for what you can and cant feed http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html I feed mine collard greens, turnip greens, and mustard greens. Those are some of the best ones.

 

[Fishercat]

Hi.

Thanks for the link to the nutrition info. I'd already seen that, actually, and will be using its guidelines going forward.

I've been basing the frequency of calcium supplementation on two things:
1) The book I've got, which said that over-supplementation can also cause serious problems, and that adults don't need as much as babies, since they're not still growing;
2) The extremely knowledgeable friend who gave me Teach, telling me that once or twice a week was good, and every feeding was too much. (She's a herp professional, and her beardie is healthy.)

Can you suggest any more sources for how frequently I should give calcium supplements? Also, I'm still looking for information about how much greens I should expect an adult dragon to eat.

 

[brittani299]

I don't have any calcuim sources off the top of my head. I just use the guidelines from the website. Adults should eat about 80% greens and 20% feeders.

 

[Fishercat]

Okay. Well, in the absence of confirming sources about giving calcium supplements 5x weekly, I'm going to stick with the advice I got from my book and friend. If you (or anyone else) can point me at some additional source(s) confirming that adult beardies should get calcium so frequently, I'm more than willing to listen. I want to do right by him, and metabolic bone disease sounds horrendous. For what it's worth, if I hear from several experienced folks who've kept adult dragons healthy for years using the calcium guidelines from the nutrition site, I'll consider that authoritative enough to change what I'm doing, although I'd be even happier with a book or herp research reference.

Yeah, I know what the proportions should be, thanks, and I think I have that about right, given that he's getting greens daily, prey 3x weekly, and doesn't get his prey until he's eaten some veg. What I'm wondering about is exactly how much greens I should be offering him at a time. Either a volume or weight measurement would be great.

Is your beardie an adult? How much veg do you feed him/her at a time?

 

[brittani299]

My female is 10 months and my male is 6 months. My female eats more feeders right now then greens but she likes both. I just grab a hand full and put it in her cage. She tends to eat them all. I know most people just feed adults a hand full of greens and replace them throughout the day.

 

[Fishercat]

From what I've been able to find, bearded dragons don't reach maturity until they're 1-2 years old. So your guys aren't adults yet and still have some growing to do. Presumably, their appetites reflect that.

Do you have experience feeding adult bearded dragons?

 

[brittani299]

Yes I understand mine are still young. I just know from reading/research/ and posting a lot how to feed beardies.

 

[Fishercat]

Yes. I recognize that you've read a lot, and I can see that you post a lot. I know how to feed beardies, too. What I don't know is how much to feed an adult. And neither do you. I appreciate your desire to help and to share your knowledge. But if you don't know the answer to the question being asked, offering information that wasn't requested is pointless without suggesting other avenues for research. Librarians are just as helpful as teachers.

 

[brittani299]

rude much.........

 

[Fishercat]

I beg your pardon.. what part of my last reply did you find rude?

 

[hypnotiq]

IMO, i would just feed as much as your baby can eat through out the day. I mean if they were wild, they would eat when hungry right, I would just go with that. Bowser has greens all day sometimes she eats them sometimes she doesn't, all depends on her mood. So, if I were you I would just refill the bowl every time it's empty and perhaps change it if it gets dry or gets old. =) hope it helps.

 

[Fishercat]

Yes, it does help a bit. Thanks.

 

[Soulwind]

Fishercat,

For an adult -- (actually for any size) -- let them have as much salad as they want.
They can stuff themselves on salad all day long and not get overweight.

Live insect feeders should be in more limited quantity. Quantity there will vary
by dragon and weight you want them to maintain, if he's gaining too much weight
then cut back some, if he starts losing weight up it some...it's a bit of a juggling act.

And yeah, for adults - you'll want to give calcium supplement about 3-4 times a week
(depending on if you're just dusting feeders or dusting salad and how much they ingest)
and give multivitamin 1-2 times a week.

 

[Fishercat]

Hi, Soulwind.

I did know he can have as much salad as he wants. I was hoping to be able to give him just about that much, to minimize the amount of uneaten veggies I've got to chase down and clean out of his substrate at night. He gets a big plateful of greens in the morning. Unless he poops in it, it stays in the tank for about 10 hours, except when I pull it out to mist it with water. I pull out the salad about 2 hours before lights out, so he won't eat without having plenty of basking time right afterwards.

His calorie requirements are probably a little smaller than other adults, since he's missing a fair chunk of tail. So far, he seems to be doing fine with me buying 60 crickets a week, and giving him whoever doesn't die before he can eat them. I think that's averaging out to him eating about 50 crickets a week. I'm gut-loading them with a commercial cricket diet that lists a minimum of 8% calcium (0.6% phosphorous), and I generously dust them with calcium just before popping them in the tank. Since he almost never leaves any crickets, but often leaves salad, I think it probably makes more sense to keep dusting them, and just do it each time I give him feeders instead of twice.

I'm assuming that getting covered in calcium powder is pretty bad for the rare crickets that survive the feeding frenzy. D'you think I should kill them rather than putting them back in their habitat with the others?

I will add a multi-vitamin supplement. Can you recommend one?

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.