What should I feed a young bearded dragon?

Question

I know what kind of greens I'll feed it, but as far as insects, I'm not sure what to pick.

The dragon I'm buying will be 4 to 5 inches long so I want to hold off on crickets. I was thinking waxworms, since they're small and can't crawl away very easily, but I just read that they're generally fatty and could be bad for a beardie if they eat them too often.

I've seen things in the store like packaged dead crickets, which you can put on a vibrating food dish so they look alive, but is that really a good idea?

In general, just what kind of insects should I feed a 4 to 5 inch long beardie? And should the greens still follow the rule that it needs to be smaller than the space between its eyes?

Answer 1

***In response to the people who suggest pinkies as food: pinkies are too large for any beardies that are NOT full grown.  Only feed pinkies as an occasional treat (1-2x a month) to *ADULT* beardies.  Beardies that are breeding females or have been sick for a while and lost a lot of weight can be given pinkies more often-as much as every other day-until they gain back enough weight.

*NEVER* feed mealworms of any size to a baby beardie-even if they are small enough not to cause choking they can't be digested and will cause impaction and death.

I'm not sure where you heard that young beardies shouldn't have crickets-they are one of the safest foods for young beardies as long as they are the right size (pinheads or 1/4's) and are not all put into the cage at once as too many can overwhelm a baby and they won't know which ones to go after.  

They *should* be eating crickets as soon as they are hatched.  You just need to make sure that they are small enough-no food (other than leafy greens they can shred themselves) should be longer than the distance between their eyes.  A 4-5" beardie should be eating a dozen crickets of the right size three times a day and they need to all be dusted with calcium supplement powder.  When it gets older you can start cutting down the number of cricket meals to once a day (at about 4 months old or 12"...still dust them though) and eventually to every other day (dusting once a week) when they are fully grown adults around a year old.  You still need a good UVB lamp (tube style is best, ~36" long or more depending on tank size) and a basking light-don't use calcium sand even with adults as a calcium supplement because the calcium isn't in an easy to use form.  In babies, MBD can set in after only a few days without both UVB and calcium supplements.

That's still a bit small for any worms other than pheonix worms-beardie babies have difficulty digesting exoskeletons of worms.  Pheonix worms are a good food for beardies to add variety and extra nutrients.

The packaged dead crickets are nasty-especially the canned ones.  Feed live food to baby beardies as it has more nutrients and anyways, the dead packaged crickets are too large for babies.

Any tougher veggies such as carrots or broccoli (feed the later only sparingly) should follow the size rule although mine has no problems with julianned (very fine sticks) carrots and chews/breaks them before swallowing.  Leafy greens that do not have tough veins or leaves can be a little on the large side as beardies are usually pretty good at ripping pieces off and chewing on their own.  It helps if the greens are being held in which case I just offer an entire leaf for mine to rip pieces off as she usually isn't interested in food that doesn't move.

Have veggies and greens available at all times, espescially with babies as they need to eat constantly.

Answer 2

DO NOT give your beardie spinach.

I give my beardie waxworms, because she's too lazy to chase crickets around. She seems fine with them (I won't give them to her everyday). Fresh veggies every morning and every other day waxworms. I haven't given her a mouse yet, I'm a little weary to do that... and her greens aren't smaller than the space between her eyes, lol. I followed that rule when she was a baby, of course.

But, I would say it would be ok to feed yours extra small crickets. A local pet store should sell some. :)

Answer 3

A pinky mouse for a young bearded dragon could kill it. Are you nuts? Do NOT feed your dragon pinkies yet. Not until they're about 18 months old. Even then I wouldn't suggest it because beardie's tummies are meant to digest bugs, not bones and cartilage. It may cause them to become impacted.

Crickets should be their main insect of choice, but if you're set on holding off, waxworms should work for a little while, but they will eventually end up hurting your dragon because as you said, they're extremely high in fat. That would be like us eating nothing but bacon and cheese and expect to live, lol.

The packaged dead crickets are also bad for beardies. They too hold tons of fats and preservatives and most of the time they won't even eat them. Live crickets is the best route to take.

Also, greens should be just the same as live food. Make sure they're chopped up small enough so they don't choke. Never give your beardie cabage (red cabage is ok once in a great great while) or spinach. They produce alot of gas and could end up making your baby sick.

Good luck! =)

Answer 4

crickets are fine to feed them, also a pinky mouse once in a while

Answer 5

Mealworms can be digest by your little one, however if you feed too many is when you can run into impaction issues due to the shell on the worms. And no they cannot eat their way out of the dragon's stomach. Crickets, wax worms, silk worms, butter worms are all good for them.

Answer 6

crickets or meal worms are great but for you should not feed a young bearded dragon a pinky mouse that is only for adult dragons. but even for bearded dragons at adult age i don't suggest pinky mice because then they taste blood and are more likely to bit you.