new Beardie owner-question about food

[MountainMama]

I recently got a bearded dragon from someone who couldn't care for it anymore. She said he is about a year and a half old, and he's about 17 inches long.

Can you overfeed them? I did a lot of research before taking him, and I've read that you should feed them mostly veggies (offered each day), and crickets or other live food about twice a week. I never could find an actual amount of crickets to give him, but everything I've found said to feed him until he stops eating within about a 10 minute span.

So Draco (that's his name) will keep eating crickets or mealworms and not stop. If they are in front of him, he will eat them. At first, I thought maybe it was just a novelty for him, because he was getting mostly just the pellets where he was before. After a week, though, he is still eating like crazy. He will gobble up the veggies every morning, and so far he has been eating about 30-40 crickets every other day. I cut him off at 40 because I don't know if I'm overfeeding him. I'm still offering the pellets, too, because he is used to them. He eats some of those also.

I have a mealworm colony, that I got from someone else, and he will gobble those up, too. There seems to be conflicting information about bearded dragons eating too much as adults, so I thought I'd ask people who have them.

 

[diamc]

Hi, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new beardie, they make awesome pets.

At the age of 1 1/2 yrs, yes, you can feed them too much protein and at that age, they should be eating about 80% greens & 20% protein. BUT, since he was only getting mostly pellets before and if he looks underweight, then you could continue to give extra feeders to hopefully help him catch up since beardies do continue to grow until about 2 yrs old. Could you share some pictures with us so we can take a look at his fat stores to see if he does need extra protein for now? After we see how he looks, we can advise you better.

We don't recommend feeding mealworms due to their chitin shell which is an impaction risk. Since he is 17" long, you could get some super worms though.

 

[MountainMama]

I'll get some pictures of him and post them. He doesn't seem underweight, but like I said, I'm new to bearded dragons.

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about mealworms also. I read that adult bearded dragons can have mealworms as long as they only get them as a treat, and not as a regular diet. I've only been giving him about 4-5 twice a week. He's pooping every day, so constipation isn't a problem. He loves his veggies, so that isn't a problem. He's been eating collard greens, squash, and zucchini so far. I got some green beans from the farmers market today, so I'll try those out tomorrow.

 

[diamc]

Great, will watch for the pictures.

I have never fed mealworms to any of my beardies to be cautious and I have raised 7 of them from babies to adulthood. The nutritional value of mealworms isn't as good as superworms either so something else to think about. Silkworms and horn worms are also great feeders. Awesome that he likes his greens & veggies. Let us know what he thinks of the green beans, hope he likes them too.

 

[MountainMama]

Does he look too skinny?

Also, how many crickets would you suggest that he eats each week? I'm guessing I should stick with the veggies every day and crickets twice a week, but do I keep letting him eat as many as he wants?

 

[diamc]

He's adorable. Love the look on his face, very inquisitive.

He actually looks like he has some more filling in & growing to do, not really thin though. Are you sure he is over a year old?

 

[MountainMama]

I don't know anything for sure. The lady that gave him up said he was a year and a half old, and that she had paperwork with dates, but she couldn't find it. He is 17 inches long, and I assumed that it was pretty close, from his length.

 

[MountainMama]

He is shedding like crazy right now, too. He just shed the skin on his head, and feet, and is now shedding his skin on his tail.

 

[Pushkin]

My vet recently told me that sometimes beardies that are underfed can be a bit stunted, but that even as adults, they can "catch up" and grow to full size! That may be the case… he doesn't look malnourished, but he does look smallish, like he could grow some more.

 

[MountainMama]

I wouldn't be surprised if he was malnourished. From what it sounded like, he was only getting pellets for the most part. So do you think I should keep the schedule of veggies every day and crickets twice a week, but let him eat as many crickets as he wants, or try crickets every day for another week or so, and see if he slows down?

 

[diamc]

Poor thing being on a diet of mainly pellets.

I would give him all the greens/veggies he wants every day and all the protein he wants and see how his feeder intake is in a wk or so & go from there. Evidently his body is calling for lots of protein right now so giving him all he wants in a wk or so certainly isn't going to do any harm.

 

[MountainMama]

Great, thank you! I will do that.