There are many types of pet lizards out there, and one of the things that distinguishes them is their diet. If you are considering getting a pet lizard or other reptile, it is important that you understand their natural eating preferences and behaviors. There are commercial food products that come in cans and jars, but 1) you are lucky if your pet lizard will eat it, and 2) eating kibble out of a bowl isn't really a natural activity, and it is important to recreate as much as possible the natural activities for your captive pet.

Most reptiles are either insectivorous (only eat bugs), herbivorous (only eat plants and veggies), or omnivorous (eat both). The vast majority of lizards eat bugs exclusively, and this causes many people to unknowingly provide some of their pets with inappropriate diets.

Of all the pet lizards out there, two of the most common are green iguanas and bearded dragons. One might think they are related close enough (hey, they both have scales, right?) that they would have similar diets. Not so. A common misconception about green iguanas is that they eat insects. If you were to feed this animal crickets and mealworms as a regular diet, it would have a very short life complicated by kidney problems related to processing the wrong kind of food. These animals (green iguanas) are actually vegetarians!

On the other hand, bearded dragons are also commonly fed a staple diet of crickets and mealworms. While this isn't as bad is in the case of the iguana, bearded dragons should actually get about half of their diet from plant matter. In fact, this varies with where in the life cycle the bearded dragon is at: babies require more insect protein while they are in the growth stages, while adults should subsist primarily on greens and veggies.

As I use to say at the pet shop when customers would ask me what reptiles eat, "variety is the spice of life." If you lived in a tank with more or less the same things happening day in, day out (the life of a pet lizard), wouldn't it be nice to have a treat once in a while? That is why I recommend changing things up once in a while for your pet beardie. If your bearded dragon is large enough, a small mouse makes for a great protein supplement to an otherwise plant-dominated diet. Don't do this too often though (maybe once a month or so), or your little buddy could become obese!

Keeping pet lizards can be a lot of fun, but the most important thing is that you are meeting the animals nutritional needs. Not doing so could mean the difference between a happy healthy pet and one that doesn't want get off the floor of the cage and enjoy life.