monthly cost of feeding bearded dragon?

[beardeddragongirl]

I was just wondering roughly how much it costs to feed an adult bearded dragon each month? I'm trying to do calculations to see if I would be able to afford one, but asking experienced keepers just seem easier lol.

 

[CooperDragon]

Adults eat much less than younger dragons, and they eat mainly fresh veggies/greens. I usually budget $35/month or so for food. Keep in mind that there are other costs involved such as lighting, housing and accessories, vet visits if needed, etc.

 

[Taterbug]

Depends on a few things. If you grow your own veggies and breed feeders the cost can be almost nothing. If you buy everything at the pet store it can be more expensive. If you buy online you can save over pet store prices sometimes, also reptile shows can have good prices and no shipping fee.

I spend:
5-20$ on green food - less when things are on sale, more when I buy fancy/exotic things like dandelion or cactus.
0$ on roaches (fed excess veggies)
5-10$ every few months of on extra feeders - treats/supplementary bugs like waxworms and superworms.
8-10$ on insect food (silkworm chow, superworm bedding)
30$ annually on lights

 

[Pushkin]

If you're buying crickets/roaches rather than breeding, the most expensive time will be when they are young. I was spending upwards to $150 monthly on crickets through May/June - seriously. Now I'm feeding him dubias (I'm not breeding, just buying the large nymphs) and I'm spending about $60 a month - but he has a hefty appetite!

 

[TheReptile838]

Well I think you got some good answers there, but I'll leave my input
My beardie, Mojo, I only got on Saturday the 19th and spent most of the year I did saving and researching trying to figure out the prices etc. I knew that most beardies don't touch their salads as young as my dragon is (about 2-5 months, not sure yet) and that he would be stressed in his first week, but oh no. Mojo was an eating machine that doesn't stress about anything. He needed top ups on his salad as he'd eat the whole thing and has been eating about 10 crickets/hoppers/roaches per feeding. He ate 20 crix once but that's because they were tiny ones.
So I bought a pack of crickets at the reptile shop and they always give free bugs to start you off with your new pet and they gave me hoppers (which I'll never be buying again due to the amount they jump o_o)
I then ordered 250 crickets and 50 roaches that came on Tuesday and the roaches were gone buy Thursday =D There's about 10 of the tiniest crickets ever left but I bought another pack of medium ones at a pet supply shop.
He's on his seconds bag of greens, but had to chuck away the rest as it had gone off. You can leave a bit past the expiry date, but as soon as you notice it kinda wilting, bin it. I do that with Mojo and my rabbits (as they eat the greens too).

So I spent about £10 online for bugs (250 crickets and 50 dubia roaches) and £2 for that first box of crickets and then £2 for greens and grated carrot at the beginning of the week. My mum ordered in butternut squash which is high in calcium but she said she'd buy that. If there is anything in the fridge that is safe for beardie's, I'd just cut some up and add it to the salad. Varying the diet is always better. I do add some Juvenile pellets on top as well just for extra stuff which Mojo takes up when eating greens.
Buying bugs online in bulk is always better as it's cheaper. I found I site you can get 125 crickets for £2.30, the same price they sell about 20 in a pet supply shop. The site was called Rick's live food, or something like that. My parents said that they don't want insects breeding in the house, which is fair enough, but that is pretty much the cheapest way (except you need to buy the food for bugs etc)

So per week:
-£12 on live food
-£2-4 on salad (depends what else you buy) I use Spring Greens (called Collard Greens in America) as they are high in calcium, a little bit of grated carrot and this week I used butternut squash.
-Total = About £14-16

Roughly every 2 months I guess (depending how much you use)
-£3 on Bug Grub
-£3 on Bug Gel
-£3 on Reptile cleaning disinfectant (maybe 3 months on that)
-Total = About £9

Get new lights yearly about £60 (or £40 for MVB which I will use until Mojo grows and needs a bigger vivarium which costs about £70 - £100, although the one I have now was £20 as it was second hand and I may be making the bigger one)

So every month for food
Roughly 4 weeks in a month.
Round 14-16 to £15
£15 x 4 = £60 per month o_o just realised that lol

Then every 2 months for food and the bug stuff and cleaning stuff
£60 x 2 = £120
£120 + 9 = £129

So about £130 every 2 months

Every year, 130 x 6 = £780 + 60 = £840................. .... they are very expensive pets =D


Sorry this message was preeeetty long, but I wanted to leave my input ;]

 

[Bishimon]

Depends if one has prepared in advance before getting a BD and not squeamish about raising your own insects. Initial investment on the popular feeders: Dubias cost on local listings about a dollar for breeding females and less for males, bulk supers or crickets about $20 for a thousand from a reptile convention or $30 online. Wait about 4-5 months with the right feeder setup ($5-20) and you can have more feeders than actually needed at about $3-5 a month on maintenance of hundreds of adult dubias or thousands of supers/crickets. Spend about $5-10 on greens/veg that you yourself will likely eat.

Net cost for me to feed one adult dragon, calculating the actual numbers of insects/including maintenance and store vegies, $5-10.

 

[TheReptile838]

I'm changing Mojo off crickets to Phoenix Worms. They are cheaper as they are high in calcium, so don't need dusting, just twice a week with multi-vitamin powder. So, they are much cheaper to care for. Only thing is, Mojo loved them and ate 45 in about 5 minutes yesterday evening =D Had to stop there other wise I'd be homeless from the amount I spend on her