My bearded dragon wont eat crickets, is this ok?

Question

My dragon is a little over a year old. he used to eat 10+ crickets almost every day. Now he wont even go near them when i put them in the tank (he hasnt been eating them for almost 2 months now) he seems healthy otherwise and eats plenty of fruits and veggies. I give him his calcium vitamins with his salads. is it ok if he doesnt want to eat any bugs anymore?

Answer 1

Do NOT feed mealworms! They have almost no nutritional value, and can cause impaction.

Yes, it is okay if he does not want to eat insects as much at his age. Beardies that are 1+ years old should be eating a diet that is much higher in greens&veggies then insects anyway.

At 1 year old, a beardie should eat no more then 30-50 insects per week because they do not need so much protein, as they are not growing anymore, but less is fine too. Too many insects for an adult beardie can cause kidney failure, or fatty liver disease.

There are many other feeder that can be offered instead of crickets though. You can order them off of http://www.mulberryfarms.com ; most of these are not available at usual petstores except for crickets, superworms, and sometimes, pheonix worms. Again, do NOT feed mealworms or king mealworms; superworms are OK because they do not have as much chitlin as mealworms. Waxworms should only be used as a rare treat because they are very fatty, and highly addictive.

Here is a good site with a great list of healthy greens&veggies. Avoid lettuce, cabbage, and spinach. Kale should be fed only occasionally, and carrots rarely, if ever. Fruits should only be fed once or twice a week, because they are so high in sugar. http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.co...

For calcium&vitamins, are you using RepCal+D3, and Herptivite multi-vitamin? Repcal should be used 2 times per week for an adult, and Herptivite multi-vitamin 1 time per week for an adult. Those are the best supplements on the market at this time.  

Make sure you have the ReptiSUN 10.0 Flourescent TUBE UVB light so he can process the calcium. It should be 6-8 inches away from him. Do NOT use coil or compact lights, those can cause blindness, seizure, and death.

Go to http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/ for more advice if you need it. Everyone over there is very knowledgable and helpful.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

mealworms are NO good please try superworms. mealworms are far too high in chitin and can cause impaction in a beardie.

Answer 3

well this is probably a ? for a vet but as long as he eats meal worms i don't see why not. Make sure the crickets aren't too big as he may not eat something too big. the right size is smaller than the space between his eyes. However as they grow older they start eating less and less insects and more rodents and vegetables. Anyway you really should try meal worms there is a such thing as a picky dragon and will learn to dislike a certain food and stop eating it completely it can also happen the other way around. If he stops eating completely he may have a parasite or wheezing he may have a respiratory infection for future reference

Answer 4

yeah that's fine but fruits i dint think that's good for them well instead of crickets try meal worms OK dude

Answer 5

Try and switch him to mealworms and give him a couple waxworms.

Answer 6

Try mice i feed mine crikets any he loves him try taking him to the vet and get him checked out.