I have a baby beardie and am new to owning any kind of reptile. I'm sure his exact age, I've had him for about 2 1/2 weeks and got him at petco (I actually prefer the term rescued) but anyways, I have been feeding him crickets and superworms (size small) and always have salad in his bowl with collard greens and sweet peppers. I feed him his bugs one at a time and he usually eats between 10 and 20 crickets twice a day. Today however, he had 18 superworms (small) at 10am and 19 crickets at 6:30pm I noticed he acts out when he is hungry (starts trying to hunt for food) so I have him some more food and he ate SIX MORE WORMS! I don't know if he is just a chunk or what? He poops once a day or every other day. Yesterday he pooped three times so I don't think he's constipated. I just don't want to over feed him but I don't want him to go hungry either. His belly is really wide so I was concerned. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Bearded dragons will eat until they are full so it should be ok. Their stomachs are designed to flatten out to better absorb the sun so it is completely normal for their stomach to widen
I have a baby beardie and am new to owning any kind of reptile. I'm sure his exact age, I've had him for about 2 1/2 weeks and got him at petco (I actually prefer the term rescued) but anyways, I have been feeding him crickets and superworms (size small) and always have salad in his bowl with collard greens and sweet peppers. I feed him his bugs one at a time and he usually eats between 10 and 20 crickets twice a day. Today however, he had 18 superworms (small) at 10am and 19 crickets at 6:30pm I noticed he acts out when he is hungry (starts trying to hunt for food) so I have him some more food and he ate SIX MORE WORMS! I don't know if he is just a chunk or what? He poops once a day or every other day. Yesterday he pooped three times so I don't think he's constipated. I just don't want to over feed him but I don't want him to go hungry either. His belly is really wide so I was concerned. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
cut the superworms , at his age he is too young to have then ( same with mealworms). They are an impaction risk and more akin to junk food for lizards .... they love them but they are very fatty and poor as a source of nutrition.
I would get some small (1.5" long) silkworms or medium (to 2" long) silkworms , and or some BSF maggots , both are superb staple feeder insects for a young beardie.
What size crickets are you feeding him ? if he's eating 40 "small" crickets per day, upgrade to the next size up (so long as they are smaller than the gap between his eyes).
let him eat as many live high quality bugs as he wants for each meal, he is growing fast and needs the protein .
When little and growing fast I reckon it's worth dusting every cricket or roach with calcium powder as they need lots of protein and calcium at that age ( under 6 months old ) and their metabolic rate is lots faster than an adult beardie's <=== perpetually hungry !