Wait... what?

[dspanglo]

Hi, so I was at petsmart last week looking into buying a rodent of some sort, when I saw Fafnir(my new B.D.) having never owned a reptile I was asking a ton of questions from the sales guy. He seemed to know his stuff but how would I know? So anyway he said I should feed my dragon a cricket once a week as a treat and feed him this juvenile B.D. food every day, but after reading these forums it seems you guys feed them like 3-5 times a day?? My dragon hasn't had live food since Friday(6 days ago) should I get him something on my way home?

 

[catUK]

Yes definately. if your beardie is still young they should be eating about 30-100 crickets per day, fed 3 times a day and dusted with calcium powder 5 times a week and multi vitamins 2 times a week. they should be fed fresh salad every day: a list of good foods are on this site :
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

BDs don't require juvenille food.

Some of the big chain pet stores have little knowledge about repltiles- its infuriating.

 

[dspanglo]

Thanks for the quick reply, so I should just toss the juvenile food out and feed him veggies and crickets? There are kinda of a shortage here but they did mention that they had super worms but those require their heads to be cut off? is that true?

 

[BeardieGrandma]

uh, yeah...pet shop people will tell you all sorts of things to sell you an animal. You can feed the canned stuff, but it's not nutritionally optional.

Well first line of questioning is always about the normal stuff - how old is your beardie, what's the housing set up (size of tank, lighting, etc.) so more info you provide about Fafnir the better.

Generally speaking, these lizards need to eat LIVE food (crickets & phoenix worms), especially when young. As babies (0-3 mos), they need to eat live food 2 to 3 times a day - as much as they can eat in a 10 minute period. Live food should be no bigger than the space between their eyes - I would error on the small side for that. As Juvies (3-12 mos) they need to eat 2X or 1X a day the live food. Translation of actual situation: our beardie is 5 mos old. He eats crickets in the AM and the PM, and eats upwards of 40-50 crickets each time, along with 12 phoenix worms. In addition to all that, you also need to include a diet of dark green leafy vegetables (such as collard greens or mustard greens) on a daily basis. As babies they need 80% protein, 20% veggies. As adults (~18 mos) they will need 20% protein and 80% veggies. So the cricket massacre subsides as they get older, but as babies they need a lot because they grow so much in first year of life. Here's a website for all the good veggie info: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html

Crickets should be dusted with calcium power 5 days a week for babies (once a day), and 2-3 times a week for juvies, and 1-2 week for adults.
Don't feed them mealworms. Not a whole lot of nutritional value, and they can become impacted from the hard exoskeleton. Impaction can kill them.
Young dragons need to be hydrated, as they get dehydrated easily. You can bathe them 3-5 times a week, put eye drops of water on their nose and make them lick it off, keep water bowl (fresh) in their cage daily.

Please read this forum, tons of great information, lots of knowledgeable people on here (way more than me) and keep asking your questions...!

 

[dspanglo]

uh, yeah...pet shop people will tell you all sorts of things to sell you an animal. You can feed the canned stuff, but it's not nutritionally optional.

Well first line of questioning is always about the normal stuff - how old is your beardie, what's the housing set up (size of tank, lighting, etc.) so more info you provide about Fafnir the better.

Generally speaking, these lizards need to eat LIVE food (crickets & phoenix worms), especially when young. As babies (0-3 mos), they need to eat live food 2 to 3 times a day - as much as they can eat in a 10 minute period. Live food should be no bigger than the space between their eyes - I would error on the small side for that. As Juvies (3-12 mos) they need to eat 2X or 1X a day the live food. Translation of actual situation: our beardie is 5 mos old. He eats crickets in the AM and the PM, and eats upwards of 40-50 crickets each time, along with 12 phoenix worms. In addition to all that, you also need to include a diet of dark green leafy vegetables (such as collard greens or mustard greens) on a daily basis. As babies they need 80% protein, 20% veggies. As adults (~18 mos) they will need 20% protein and 80% veggies. So the cricket massacre subsides as they get older, but as babies they need a lot because they grow so much in first year of life. Here's a website for all the good veggie info: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html

Crickets should be dusted with calcium power 5 days a week for babies (once a day), and 2-3 times a week for juvies, and 1-2 week for adults.
Don't feed them mealworms. Not a whole lot of nutritional value, and they can become impacted from the hard exoskeleton. Impaction can kill them.
Young dragons need to be hydrated, as they get dehydrated easily. You can bathe them 3-5 times a week, put eye drops of water on their nose and make them lick it off, keep water bowl (fresh) in their cage daily.

Please read this forum, tons of great information, lots of knowledgeable people on here (way more than me) and keep asking your questions...!

Thanks for all the info, when I get home I'll list off what he has in his living space, I'm not sure how old he is, hes about the length of my index finger so, 4-5 inches. Can I feed him exclusively phoenix worms and greens instead of crickets? I'm not sure where I'll be able to keep 5000 crickets

EDIT: Sorry I should of looked over that website first, it has phoenix worms in green so that means I can use it as a staple.

 

[catUK]

The good thing about phoenix worms is that they are high in calcium so don't need dusting- they're brilliant livefood. Superworms shoudn't be fed to young beardies. Also, keep the juvi food just in case you need it one time for some reason but its just a waste of money to keep buying it

 

[Ebrithil]

The good thing about phoenix worms is that they are high in calcium so don't need dusting- they're brilliant livefood. Superworms shoudn't be fed to young beardies. Also, keep the juvi food just in case you need it one time for some reason but its just a waste of money to keep buying it

this, and no morios for a little guy

keeping the juvi food is sound advice, never know when u wont be able to get any kind of food.

 

[PetLover16]

yeh, instead of crickets you could also you mealworms,superworms, dubia, etc.

DB food isn't nessary. just feed the beardie as much as it will eat in 10 mins or a feeder.
And it needs veggies and Reti-Cal which you put on the feeder insect.

good luck

 

[dspanglo]

Ok, I just got home and bathed some crickets in the calcium powder stuff, tried to hand feed him and he wasnt going for it. So I let it loose and waited. He seems to be pretty scared of me cause he wouldnt hunt until I was holding still for atleast 5 minutes, then when I moved to get a better look of him eating the cricket he went back to staring me down and not doing anything, so I let like 15 loose in his cage and left the room and came back about 10 minutes later and there are like 3 left. So either hes full or hes scared cause I'm in the room. He's staring at me from across the room while I type

 

[jeritta]

yeh, instead of crickets you could also you mealworms,superworms, dubia, etc.

DB food isn't nessary. just feed the beardie as much as it will eat in 10 mins or a feeder.
And it needs veggies and Reti-Cal which you put on the feeder insect.

good luck

Please DON'T use mealworms. They are not nutritious and can cause impaction especially in young beardies.
If he is not eating much right now keep offering. Remember he hasn't had any feeders and live food in his belly in a week so his belly will get full fast. Go slow and just offer several times a day. Also I did not see it posted here make sure you do not leave any crix in his viv with him after he has finished eating. Crix are very mean little guys and will bite your beardie and leave nasty wounds.

 

[catUK]

Dont worry about him being scared of you, all it takes is a bit time and patience for him to get used to you. You can put a worn item of clothing in his viv to get him used to your scent and keep trying to hand feed him so he see's your hand as something pleasurable. Make sure you don't approach him from above- they have a '3rd eye' thing on top of their head to sense danger coming from above.