How much should I feed my new beardie?

[Charmonkey]

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the forums and i'm a new bearded dragon owner.
I need some advice. When I got Dumpling, the reptile shop man said you should feed them about 6-8 crickets A day. Now i'm not sure this is correct as I see some people posting on here saying they feed their beardie 30+ cricks a day.

How many do you give to yours a day?
i'm worried im not feeding him enough.

Thanks,
Charlie & Dumpling

 

[esn]

It really depends on how big he is, but in most cases you can safely feed as many crickets as they can eat within 15 minutes. That's a general rule. My adult bearded dragon eats up to 20 superworms or 5 adult dubia that I allow her in one sitting, though she'd keep packing it in if she could, plus greens. Keep out a nice amount of salad, but smaller beardie babies can eat as few as 4-5 crickets in a sitting and be sated. This depends on cricket size as well. Try the fifteen minute rule for now. Age and size is a big factor in feeding, but it's really the beardie who decides. Most will stop eating when they no longer feel hungry (my adult female doesn't and will eat until she vomits, which is why she's rationed).

 

[ClydesGirl]

If he's under a year old, you want to feed him 2-3 times a day as much as he will eat in 10-15 minutes. Every beardie I've had would stop eating on their own in under 10 minutes, but they can eat a LOT in that amount of time. Clyde, when he was a baby was eating upwards of 200 crickets a day. Bert I just got recently and he was already 7 months old, so not growing quite as much anymore. He's eaten over 100 crickets a few times but usually eats about 30-50. I only feed him crickets once a day and I give him horn worms for his other feeding. I only give him 2-3 large horn worms per day.

Stanley is my newest baby. He's only 7 weeks old and he's still really stressed and terrified of me, since I just got him last week. The most crickets he's eaten at one time is 32. And I give him small hornworms once a day. Unfortunately the horn worms grow much faster than he does, so I started off giving him about 3-4 a day, but as they've gotten bigger, I only give him 1 or 2. I think today was the last day for his current batch of horn worms, because they are just too big now. Going to have to order him another batch of tiny ones. I guess Bert will get the leftovers of the current batch.

As for greens, Clyde and Bert were both good about eating at least SOME greens daily. Stanley, the baby, has shown ZERO interest so far.