Beardie feeding question

[Decoy]

Hi,

my Beardie is nearly 5 months old. She feeds well and looks healthy in all respects. She eats crickets - only crickets -(she's completely disinterested in anything green, although I'm constantly trying). I know not to be feeding her mealworms at too young an age, so I'm wondering... at what age CAN she start eating them, and what other live foods are people feeding their young Beardies? I'd like to offer her some variety. I was thinking about breeding some silkworms (we have a mullberry tree). Anyone have any thoughts on any of this?

cheers

 

[Sofoula88]

U can try woodies, see if she likes those.. Silkworms are good but probz only as a treat.. Wouldn't use them as a staple but if u can get your hands on them may be a good thing to try for some variety.. You can probably try mealworms at an older age like maybe a yr.. If you try small mealworms when they've shed it shouldn't be too bad.. They can also eat them at the pupa stage when there softer.. Like as soon as they go into that stage rather than when they start darkening up as then there exo skeleton gets harder or when they are just forme beetles ( before they go black).. I you are going to feed mealworms those are the best times to try and feed them so u can avoid the hard exo skeleton, and when u do feed em try not to feed to many, they have a high risk of causing impaction so I'd stay away from them probz til about a yr atleast.. And after that u could probz also try superworms if u want..

 

[miss_mosher]

With mealworms, a breeder that sold all of our beardies to us told us that you can chop off the heads and feed them while they're squirming. I personally stick to woodies and crickets myself though.
And with the greens, I mix them into cat food sometimes, they absolutely devour it. Especially my newest one, he was only fed one thing like yours, except the poor thing was living off reptile pellets for a whole year. But be careful with the cat food, only ever beef WITHOUT gravy. I'll only ever buy 'dine' brand in those really tiny meal things. Eventually he should start LOVING his greens like a fat kid loves cake or a miss_mosher loves chocolate...

 

[Tsubakai]

Breeding silkworms would be good - they are exceptionally good from a nutritional point of view and the beardies just love them. Keep persisting with the greens as eventually it will start eating them. Another trick is to use the fruit purees designed for kids lunches and mix them with the veges.

 

[mad_at_arms]

I am yet to read a published and printed article proving mealworms "eat " their way out of lizard stomachs.
They have a chitinous exo skeleton (i.e. hard outer skin) and a particularly hard head.
Problems can arise if they are not size suitable, or if basking temperatures do not allow good digestion.
I have been feeding mealworms (1-2 per week) to my baby water dragon, and he is fine. Sometimes he chews them up good other times he scoffs them whole.
Even at a young age they have a lot of strength in their jaws already. Just have a look at how many beardies are missing toes or tail tips due to cage mates when young.
As your dragon is still growing, stick to insects for now. You can worry about your kid eating his vegies later down the track.
If you are concern with variety in your dragon's diet, mix up the food items you offer the crickets this will in turn mix up your dragons diet. You are what you eat.
I feed my crickets a blend of stale bread, bran, dry dog food, fish flakes, milk powder and multivitamin powder.

 

[mws4life]

have always fed mealworms, as a treat, to our dragons for years and have never had a problem with impaction. Our young ones have small crickets, small woodies, mini mealies, flies and their greens. What greens are you trying?? Ours start eating greens at about 2 weeks old. I feed bok choy, endive, parsley and finely diced carrot.. strawberry greens when in season. Ive heard they really like muchroom and that could be a way to get them onto greens. Another trick, put a few mini mealies in the greens container so it moves or hold the greens so your dragon can hand feed.

 

[Decoy]

wow. great responses, thanks heaps guys! I've tried pretty much every time of vegetable and flower you could safely offer a Beardie... she's just not interested. I thought if I had some squirming insect buried in a mash she's bund to 'accidentaly' get some. Think I'll get me some woodies, I don't think they sell them at the local pet stores... do most people order them online?

 

[BigWillieStyles]

My bearded dragon is only 3 months old, but is over crickets and seems to only take one or two. He really likes Woodies now, but I have difficulty getting them small enough for him. I buy my woodies at the local petstore.

 

[maddog-1979]

i get my hatchies onto woodies as soon as i can, cos i hate crickets.

but while their young i start em off on small crickets in the afternoons, and as i dont have much time in the mornings to spend messing around with crickets, i just put a small container of gents in with em, that way they can nibble on em through the day and the gents cant get out of the container to harrass my young beardies.

generally just use some shredded greens like rocket or bokchoy, and anything orange they seem to like quickly, pumpkin is a favourite for my younguns as the first veg they eat

by the way, gents are maggots, just get em from ya local bait shop