daner923":24bhnzjs said:
Hey Jlouks - just fyi in case you haven't found it yet, but lettuce and mealworms are both bad options for feeding a bearded dragon. The lettuce is nutritionally worthless, and the mealworms are close to as bad, plus they present an impaction risk.
Iceberg lettuce, yes. Collard greens and spinach, no. I don't waste my time with iceberg lettuce. If I was not clear, my apologies. ...although as a
hydration tool, it would be ok.
Mealworms are an excellent source of fat, carbs,
hydration and protein. While I have heard of impaction risks associated with mealworms, I have never witnessed it. Mealworms risks are blown WAY out of proportion in my opinion. Even with baby dragons, I fed mealworms without issue. Now, to be fair, I only fed very tiny mealworms, but still. (I tend to follow the 'between the eyes rule' as far as what is supposed to go down the throat)
My diet looks like this..
Baby - 60% crickets, 20% mealworms (tiny), 20% greens (not iceberg)
Juvenile - 35% crickets, 35% mealworms (small), 20% greens, 5% waxworms, 5% pellets
Adult A - 25% crickets, 20% mealworms (small), 40% greens, 10% waxworms, 5% pellets
Adult B - 20% crickets, 15% mealworms (small), 30% greens, 10% waxworms, 25% pellets
Some of my lizards just don't seem to like the pellets. I wish they did, but nope. So I compensate with greens for the most part.
Crickets are hard to travel with compared to mealworms and greens. My diet advice was for a short trip, not a long term diet plan.
---waiver--- I have only raised/owned 20 or so lizards. I am more likely wrong than those that have raised more.