what and how often should i feed

[graham2004]

just recieved my first bearded dragon and was just wandering what and how often should i feed it i have been told fresh veg every day and 4 or 5 locusts or crickets per day
what do you think

[Marla]

He's a cutie. Sounds about right to me, but that depends on his size, too. Judy can certainly answer this for you when she checks in.

[emroul]

How old is he? If he is a hatchling or juvi, I would say about 1.5-2 dozen crickets a day. Baby beardies eat ALOT. If he is older, you can try feeding him one dozen appropiately sized crickets a day, OR mealworms OR grub/wax worms, OR hissing roaches/lobster roaches (store bought; not the ones you find in your house); plus some greens (not iceberg lettuce). I would try collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens; things like that. Most baby beardies don't really seem too interested in anything but crickets, but you can always offer these things to him. Just make sure the crickets are appropiately sized for him. Feeding crickets or any prey item that is too big for him can cause fatal damage. A good rule of thumb to go by is a beardie can eat anything that is the same size or smaller as the width of his head. Anything bigger may be, like I said, fatal (and he won't know this; all he sees is a big juicy cricket, lol) so it is up to you to determine what size prey he can eat.

Now, I just have to ask, why didn't you look up the basic care of this animal BEFORE you brought it home? :roll:

Jennifer

[JLC]

Jennifer nailed it on how many crickets to try. He looks pretty small from that picture, and they eat a lot more crix/worms and less veggies when they're little...as they get older, they start eating more veggies and can cut back on the bugs. Even so, I would offer a small plate of salad* each morning, shortly after his lights come on and he starts to warm up. Then a little later in the day, give him his crix. This way, if he wakes up hungry, he'll have a chance to start learning to eat his veggies before he gets filled up on crickets or other favorites. You'll want to be sure that before his lights go out at night that there aren't any crickets left in his cage. After dark...he goes to sleep but they just start getting busy...and will nibble on his eyelids and toes if given the opportunity!

Also, don't offer any new food within two hours of lights out because he won't have time to bask and digest...and you don't want him sitting in a cold cage all night with a tummy full of food.

*SALAD - a mixture of greens (NOT iceberg) and other veggies and/or fruits...chopped small enough for him to eat without risk of choking. (As Jennifer said...pieces no bigger than the width of his head...I'd go a bit smaller) I usually pick out one type of green and two or three other things to top it with to last a full week. Chop it all ahead of time so that in the morning, you only have to grab a handful and give it to him. Then next week when you go shopping, try some different things..and he'll end up with a nice variety in his diet...and you'll learn which things are his favorites.

There are a few things that are a NO NO....NO citrus fruits of any kind...and NO onions of any sort. There are some others, but those two are the most common that you might unwittingly try. Check out this website for an excellent menu of what is good for them and what is not:

www.beautifuldragons.com

One last thing...be sure to get some calcium and vitamin supplements to dust the crickets with. Calcium every day and the vitamins about 4 times per week. VERY important.

What kind of set-up do you have for him?