Baby Beardie and Crickets

[GraftonChic]

How often do you feed a baby dragon- He/She is approx 3-4 weeks.Approx 3-5 cm long.
He has been off his food, but we have perserved and today he has eaten 1 tiny cricket.... and a tiny amount of cat food
How much do babies this size eat?

[jamesr]

well when mine was that small I feed it 1 or 2 small crixs a day and would sometimes (1,2 or 3 times a week) give it fruit/vetables.
good luck

[Adam]

Our 3 eat non stop!!! they don't eat much in the way of vegies yet, but they eat about 5 or 10 small crickets a day or 5 or 10 small woodies a day. Make sure they have a nice warm spot to bask in and plenty of light otherwise they just seem to sleep.

[dragons75]

Pretty soon they will eat non stop they just need to settle in try putting the crix in the fridge for a couple of minutes then bury them i some vegies sprinkle a few on top and they'll be digging in quick smart

[Tatelina]

Originally Posted by Adam

Our 3 eat non stop!!! they don't eat much in the way of vegies yet, but they eat about 5 or 10 small crickets a day or 5 or 10 small woodies a day. Make sure they have a nice warm spot to bask in and plenty of light otherwise they just seem to sleep.

Oh good! I thought I had a massive guts! Glad to know I'm not the only one..
I just keep feeding woodies until he isnt interested (and he ALWAYS seems intereseted)..and keep offereing fruit and vegies continuously...regardless if he eats it or not. I figure if I offer fresh stuff to him atleast once a day he's bound to get curious eventually and snack away.

[frankc]

my guys eat 2 crickets 3 times a day and veges/pellets.Love their food and I was worried I am not feeding them enough.They are 2 and a half months old now and going well,fingers crossed.They love grated carrot and bok choi.

[Adam]

Yeah we try ours on vegies every other day, I ALWAYS refrigerate my crickets so I can pick the right size for what I'm feeding them too, then I put them in a crik box and dose them in the right powder (frog dust for frogs or reptical for lizards) and feed them just as they are waking back up. Thanx for the idea dragons, I will bury some in the vegies next time. They get mealworms too.

[Strange1]

Hold out on the mealworms while they are that small. If you have to use them use the white ones.
My 2 little guys are going flat out, woodies, crix, veggies, pellets they are demolishing them all!

[JasonL]

Hatchling beardies should be eating around 20 pin heads a day, and should be eating greens from 3 days of age (barbata's eat little greens though). More smaller is better than less bigger. refrain from larger food item's as long as possible, and as far as greens, I feed only clover leaves and flower petals till thay have tripled in size. Slow eating often means trouble digesting (almost impaction). Impaction can be caused from anything from grated carrot, large insects, the rubble in the cricket containers and even dried faeces. Incorrect heating will also cause sluggish behaiviour. A dragon that eat's only a couple of bugs a day will end up stunted with metobolic bone desease.

[Chris1]

i wouldnt use cat food,...its made for cats.

try soaking bearded dragon pellets and dripping the mush on his nose with a needleless syringe if u cant get him to eat the bugs, they will sustain him till u can work out whats wrong or get him to eat his crickets, you can also blend up cricks and veges into the mush to make it healthier fro him

if hes new he might be stressed which puts them off eating.

another thought is the temps might be wrong.
low temps will cause digestion problems which lead to lack of appetite (and impactions), basking spot should be 38-42C measured with a digital probe thermometer fro accuracy,,....

a warm bath (not hot) will help with hydration incase hes dehydrated, mist him with a spray bottle while hes in the bath, dont mist him in the tank cos damp tanks lead to respritory infections,...

does he have a UVB light? no UVB light will also affect thier activity levels and appetite,....

[falconboy]

My limited experience......got my pygmy beardies at 4weeks old, all except one ate say anything from 6 to 10 very small crickets (not pinheads) a day (yes, they were feral eaters). They will also eat a bit of veges. Won't touch dragon pellets at all. The slow eater still isn't a big eater and can go a few days without food, but I've dropped the temps (from 40/42 down to high 30's) and he has improved and is starting to catch up in size (slowly but surely). The others have slowed down a little more now, thankfully, since they arent too far from full size at about 4.5mths of age.

My new young centrals eat tiny amounts of veges (they are tiny themselves) and love baby woodies, and the odd small cricket. Also won't touch beardie pellets.

My Pygmys were started on crix from birth, and I'm pretty sure my centrals were started on woodies, hence they like different things, so in order to ensure your new pets eat well, make sure you always find out what they have been eating from the breeder.

I have a decent size woodie in the fridge to slow him down ready for an attempt to see if my pygmys will eat him or just watch him!

[Chris1]

mine wont touch the pellets voluntarily either, it was just an idea for syringe feeding (they love them from a syringe) to sustain him with something healthier than catfood till hes feeling better and eats on his own,.....its also good fro hydration which he'll need if hes not eating anything,...

[benson]

What are you using as a substrate??
For hatchlings, simple newspaper is good, and not heaps of furniture in the enclosure.
Water bowl, and a basking area, so there is not a lot of places for the crickets to hide.
As hatchlings, kept at the correct temps, and right UV lighting, they should be hungry, and want to feed at least once a day.