How much food is too much for a beardie?

[ajandj]

Hi all, l've been feeding Yoda on small crickets and salad. He's been eating 30 crickets morning and night and fresh salad 4 times a day. Normally he eats about a tablespoon.

Anyway as he is now 29cm in length and weighs 49 gram, l thought it time to upgrade the size of his crickets. Most posts l read how dragons eat up to 5-6 medium crickets in one sitting.

Oh no, not my little piggy.

I gave him greens ( about 3 tablespoons) before l went out this morning to do the school run but most importantly to get medium crickets, l came back an hour later and he had almost finished his

green. So i thought l would try the crickets. Well, l stopped offering them to him after he had pigged put on 20.

Should l keep feeding until he doesn't want anymore or do l stop after about 10 so as not to have an obese little piggy??

 

[Sofoula88]

Lmao.. I know what you mean.. My beardy ate 8 mealworm beetles,3 pupae, then half a bowl of carrot.. And then about 10 big *** crickets lol.. I can't be sure coz u didn't say how old but if your starting on the medium crickets and he is still young I'd say let him eat maybe 15 max.. Greens dw bout let him eat as much greens coz that's good but crickets you need to keep an eye on..if he digests them well and quick an is pooping regularly then jst keep doing what ur doing..I think 20 is def too much..Even 15 is alot..try 12..that's an even number =]

I should point out that when they arestill young they eat like crazy and we think where do they put it all..but somehow they manage..if your feeding 20 all at once and only feeding once a day then I think you should change it up to maybe half in the morning and half in the arvo,and jst have salad offered during the whole day..that way you have time to digest and if he gets hungry he can eat salad.. Then you can try feeding again later..

 

[Chris1]

lol, they shouldnt get fat while theyre still growing, but if he does start to get tubby cut back a bit, you are aiming to have him 80-90% vego by 12-18 months old,...so just make sure he always has salad.
he does sound like hes eating the right amount tho, at his age they need the protien to grow

sofoula, be careful of the beetles, if ur dragon is still small they can cause impactions.

 

[ajandj]

His age is a little mystery. Petshop said he was 5 months months old but he was on 5 1/2 inches which most breeders said that he would barely be 2 months.. l've had him since the 1 st july. I offer crickets morning and night and greens 3 -4 times a day. It's just that these crickets are double the size of the small ones i was feeding

 

[Chris1]

as long as hes eating well give him what he wants, id rather have a lizard with a great appetite than one that wont eat,...

if his protien intake is decreased accordingly as he reaches his full size his exact age dosent really matter,...its more aboout too much protien affecting their liver/kidneys once the growth stops

if the crickets fit within the space between his eyes, theyre the 'correct size'.
The forum i 'learnt' my beardy info from suggested 50 crickets of that size 2-3 times a day,....(which i do think is too much) and youre no where near that.

 

[Sofoula88]

Yep don't worry I'm being careful =]

 

[ianinoz]

Wow!
He's good on the tooth.

I hope you're breeding and growing your own crickets and mealworms, otherwize he's threating to eat you to bankruptsy. Buying crickets and mealworms in those quantites weekly can't be cheap.

 

[ajandj]

i don't feed mealworms as l was told they are no good for beardies. Costs me between $20 - $30 a week to feed yoda but l'm hoping this will settle down a little

 

[shea_and_ruby]

we have two young beardies and my god do they eat, more so the male than the female. we are int he process of trying to breed our own crickets cause it is costing us too much each week in crickets! must say when i picked the male up today i could feel his full and rounded belly!

 

[ajandj]

well, i think Yoda is feeling a little sorry for himself. His tummy is really big (potbelly), you can actually see it hanging down when he lays on his favourite branch. I think he was
just beening a little gutz this morning. He hasn't eaten much thru the day (greens) and l thought that l would offer crickets tonight to see what happened. However l thought i would only offer 6.
Well, it was those 6 little cricket's lucky day. Yoda looked at them and turn tail to hide under his basket. LMAO l think l almost saw him go green.. Tomorrow l will limit his intake to 6 crickets morning and night and see what happens. Of course he will have his greens and fruits thru the day too.

 

[Chris1]

i don't feed mealworms as l was told they are no good for beardies. Costs me between $20 - $30 a week to feed yoda but l'm hoping this will settle down a little

holy geebus, for one little lizard, thats heaps!
it will settle down, start beeding roaches, its so easy!!

i spend about $10 a week on greens, say $5 between the pumpkin/beens/snowpeas etc, and order bulk (1kg mixed size) roaches every so often to top up my breeders ($70 every 6 months or so)

that feeds 7 adult beardies, and 4 growing shinglebacks, 5 rough knob tailed geckos and 1 green tree frog.

the stupid golden tailed gex make me buy them crickets, so a tub a fortnight at 9 bucks theyre my smallest yet most expensive to feed lizards

.

regarding the coment on mealworms, at the size Yoda is now they shouldnt cause impactions anymore and are fine for treats, still not recommended as a staple food since theyre high in fat and low in nutrition. i would call tehm the equivalent of hot chips in our diet nutritionwise, the lizards agree to that in yummyness.

 

[ajandj]

well, it's been a couple of days since i changed the size of cricket l have been using. Yoda definately likes the bigger ones better. I think he just got carried away at first, 20 in one sitting but then he didn't touch his greens for the rest of the day but did eat another 10 that night. He has settled down (well, more like l have been offering only 10 morning and 10 night. This way he still eats his greens thru the day.

When l started this thread a couple of days ago, Yoda weighed in at 49 grams. Now, he weighs 60 grams. 11 grams in 4 days... hmmm

OH and on another note. My baby is turning an orange red!!. Down his side basically where his spikes run, he has turned an orange/red colour. Also above his eye

 

[Chris1]

good stuff!

wheres the pics of the exciting new colours!!?

 

[ajandj]

i've tried to take photos but the camera doesn't seem to pick it up very well.. l'll take some more tonight

well, the medium crickets are going well. Yoda is eating 10 morning and 10 night but he is also eating about 3- 4 tablespoons of greens mix.
Anyway, i had a bit of a problem with the crickets today... i had a number of them escape and roam my house. I'm hoping l caught them all but who knows.
Petstock have crickets on special at the moment, 3 tubs for $10. I had a brain wave that if l seperated the 3 tubs into 4, in fresh containers, they might live longer. Anyway, the containers l used l needed to put airhole in, so l decided to do little slits. Unfortunately, the slits were a little too big (too me about 30 mins to realise), the crickets slowly sqeezed themselves out and ran loose. I found 14 in different parts of my house. DOH!! l will not be doing that again