Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food

[DaveIzzy]

I have this "mash" I get from the pet store made by "Rep-Cal" called "Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food With Fruit" and he loves the stuff. Ever since he started eating it he has realy and I mean realy grown. His tail has almost doubled in width and he sheads every 10 days or so. Is this a bad thing?
One more thing, he is almost 1 year old and already over 12 inches long !
Dave

 

[kevindeeley12]

1 year olds tend to usually be atleast 12 inches, ive heard of 1 year old beardies being around 16.

 

[Kacymyree]

I agree that 12 inches isn't really that huge for a one year old, one of my dragons is almost 7 months and shes almost 16 inches.

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Most dragons approaching 1 year, the sub-adult stage, are reaching about 15 inches or more. The dragon bites are ok, however fresh greens and feeders are far better for them than any processed food. The dragon bites would be a good alternative for emergencies, but the fresh should be daily. Here's a link to really good staples for them: www.beautifuldragons.com and feeders, go with crickets, dubia roaches, silk worms or small hornworms. (variety is always better). Salads should be given daily and feeders offered 2 times per day, as many as he will eat in 15 min each time. Make sure all feeders are no longer than the distance between his eyes to avoid digestion problems/impaction or choking. Super worms should not be given before a dragon reaches 16 inches, and Meal worms should NOT be given at all-too much hard shell.

Hope this helps, use the dragon bites/mash to mix into the salad greens for a while to get him eating more greens, then I would suggest cutting back on it completely.

 

[DaveIzzy]

Cool !

I was worried that eating the mash would cause him to grow too large too soon and in the end take years off of his life.

Thanks ! ! !

 

[DragonMomSandy]

One of the issues I see with the mash is that it lacks much of the nutrients of fresh foods. A dragon can actually get obese on such foods and this can cause a lot of health problems for them later. Granted, they are a heavy bodied lizard by nature, but you don't want them to be too fat either. Best way to tell is the base of the tail, should be nice and thick, no hip bones.

 

[YoungMasterPo]

Our little 4-month-old never took to mash, so we've fed her greens and live crickets since we got her. She's already 9 inches long! I would agree and say that there's nothing better then real food.

The Beautiful Dragons link is a GREAT link with amazing resources on, well, pretty much everything. It's been a life saver. :study:

 

[DragonMomSandy]

That site is the best for finding out about staple greens. As far as feeders, the best feeder, by far is the Dubia Roach (or any of the feeder roaches-lobsters, turks, discoids-dubias are easiest to keep). They have double the protein of crickets, lower fat, better moisture content, very digestable shell, and less likely to carry parasites than crickets. As creepy as the roaches are, I have a huge colony of them and they are the feeder staple for my 4. BTW, my 8 month old male has been eating these since shortly after I got him and he is currently 22 inches long and almost 600 grams. He has german giant X from both parents, but, without quality feeders and fresh greens, he wouldn't be as healthy and massive as he is already!

 

[zebraflavencs]

I would have to agree fully with Sandy on the roaches.. I've fed primarily roaches as the main staple all 4 of my dragons, for over a year now.. One, Gemini, no GG genes, is a whopping 21"+ in length.. and getting closer and closer to 600 grams.

The proof is in the pudding, so here is Gemini today :

Can't go wrong with roaches as a staple in my humble opinion.
Hope that helps out!

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Janie (The Roachy Bug Queen) is soooo right! Her boy Gemini is a massive, gorgeous boy and super healthy-as are all her dragons. Same with all of mine. They love their roachy bugs and are so much healthier because of them! If you want your dragon to meet it's genetic potential for size and health, roachy bugs as a staple are the way to go! And, I don't do crickets anymore either. Not a single chirping, smelling, nasty cricket has been in this house since last Oct! They aren't worth the hassle or the money when you have a thriving roach colony!

 

[Buggsy]

Gizmo has always been fed locusts (i cant stand roaches!) and ive got to say live food mixed with greens (when she decides she wants them!) are the best diet by far. She is a pet shop dragon so not sure of genetics, but 22" and 700g

To the OP are you just feeding the 'mash' or are you offering other things, such as feeders?

 

[jeserah]

i feed the juvenile bearded dragon food to the crickets i purchase so I know they're gut-loaded with something of substance. Well also because Bruce didn't touch the mash. Either way, it makes a great cricket food.