Is my bearded eatting enough ? HELP !?

Question

i have a young bearded dragon, his body is about 6inches long (not including his tail) on all advice given to me ive heard that babies should eat between 30-100 crickets a day. But im having problems, he will only eat about 15-20 a day. He also eats meal worms, wax worms and a selection of veg. I some times give him pinkies but this is very rarely (every 2months or so ) Although hes growing i was wondering if this was normal ??

Answer 1

How much a reptile eats is specific to each reptile. Feed your beardie one live cricket at a time, keeping track of how many he has eaten. Keep giving him more crickets until he stops chasing them in his tank. As long as he is hunting crickets and eating until he acts full, he should be fine. And remember to keep giving him his veggies each day. The better variety an animals diet, the healthier they will be. Also, the number of crickets he eats could depend on the size of the crickets themselves. (The bigger they are, the less he will need to be full.) Good luck with your little guy! If you are still concerned, call your vet. It's always best to seek professional help if your gut is telling you to. =)

Answer 2

If just the body is 6" then you don't really have a "baby" anymore although he's still far from being an adult.  The older they get, the less crickets and more veggies they eat.  That sounds like he's eating a good amount for his size.  I'm assuming that you're probably feeding him 3/4" ones now-that is what was appropriate for mine when she was that size.

Check the width of the tail at the base and the hips.  Are the hipbones visible and the tail scrawny, or is the tail pretty wide at the base and the skin in the hip region pretty smooth (for a beardie).  The latter would imply that you'rd feeding him just about right.

He's still a little too small for pinkies to be safe and I would be very hesitant about feeding mealworms as young beardies can't digest the tough exoskeletons.

NEVER feed any food larger than the distance between your beardie's eyes-that includes pinkies, crickets, worms of any type, ect.

Large pheonix worms would be great for any but the smallest beardie-especially as a safer alternative to pinkies.  They are mine's favorite food but they are so packed with nutrients (including quite a bit of calcium) that she'd get fat quickly on them if they were her main source of food.  What's even better is that you don't need to dust or attempt to gut load them.

Let him eat as many veggies as he wants.  All in all it sounds like he's eating a healthy amount for his size.

Answer 3

Yes that is plenty we have beardies and we feed him as many as he will eat in 5 min. and he is doing great never had any problems some days might be more than others

Answer 4

Sounds good, but you can also add superworms, goliath worms, butter worms to the mix. My Jibblet also like tomatoes and cantalope.

Answer 5

Do you have a grams scale? If not, you should get one.

The best way to tell if he is eating enough is to monitor his weight over a few weeks. If he isn't gaining much weight, then there is a problem. They can gain 10g+ a week, if not more.