New Beardie eating characteristics

[Redleg]

We just got Ragnar home, a beautiful Red Bearded Dragon. Ragnar was about 1/3 full grown when we got him at the end of April, so he is still on a heavy insect diet.

He LOVES hornworms. He's been getting these twice a day.

He LOVES Dubias. We just started giving these to him 4 days ago, around 5PM. These are supposed to be better than crickets? More protein? I like them because they don't jump like crickets. They really are not at all creepy.

Ragnar does NOT like crickets. He ate some when we first got him home, but now he won't eat them.

Ragnar will eat his veggies now and then. We ran out of feeders Monday, and when I got home he had eaten most of his Kale and Arigula. But if he gets all of the feeders he wants he is not all that interested in the veggies.

He just shed all of his skin and he is now a gorgeous red color. Pics to follow.

Anyway, anyone have any suggestions about feeding?

 

[ruben0311]

unless you are growing your own hornworms i would start to reduce how many you give him. they are very high in moisture, which is not a bad thing, but they can start to get pretty expensive. Dubias are fantastic feeders and very good nutrition wise. it's good he will eat his veggies also so you are lucky. just dust those dubias and keep providing the veggies and you are good to go!

 

[kingofnobbys]

I'd switch him over to silkworms , they are dead easy to raise , you can either buy the worms small or as mixture of small + medium + large if they are in season , or simply buy a bunch of 200 - 500 eggs and hatch them yourself, all you need are fresh mulberry leaves or silkworm chow (both work fine).

Silkworms have the added benefit of being near perfect feeders with an ideal ca/p and are highly nutritious and slow moving.
They are great staple along with either roaches or crickets.

 

[Redleg]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I would ideally like to be feeding Ragnar a combination of hornworms, silkworms, and roaches, but I can't seem to find silkworms anywhere. Mulberry Farms is where I buy my food for Ragnar and they haven't had any silkworms in a long time.

He LOVES hornworms and roaches so for now that's what he's eating and he is growing and gaining weight, so all seems well. I dust them heavily with calcium and vitamin dust.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I would ideally like to be feeding Ragnar a combination of hornworms, silkworms, and roaches, but I can't seem to find silkworms anywhere. Mulberry Farms is where I buy my food for Ragnar and they haven't had any silkworms in a long time.

He LOVES hornworms and roaches so for now that's what he's eating and he is growing and gaining weight, so all seems well. I dust them heavily with calcium and vitamin dust.

I happened to find this http://www.ladysilkworm.com/live-silkworms-raised-on-chow.html the other day , say they have silkworms in stock.
Would be worth asking if she does a better price on the small/med 3/4" silkworms if you buy them 150 - 200 at a time.

You can also source silkworm eggs most of the year, the breeders chill their eggs so they have eggs to sell in the offseason when you can't ordinarily find silkworm lavae.