Bearded Dragons Feeding Tips

Bearded Dragons have become increasingly popular pets over the years. Not only are they extremely friendly and good with people, but they are relatively easy to take care of. However, one of the more taxing responsibilities to owning your Bearded dragon is the feeding. This is due to the fact a large amount of the diet during the first year consists of live feed that needs to be kept alive as well. You can buy a commercial cricket keeper at your local pet store which usually includes a plastic tank and multiple storage straws for easy access to your feed. Stock up on your live feed but remember, you need to keep the feed alive too or your Beardie may not be interested in it, and it also will lose its value once dead. So do not stock up on so much that you cannot manage this.

Live feed

Recommended feed

Crickets- make sure you get crickets that are small enough based on the size of your beardie. You should also have a separate environment for the crickets so they live longer. Equip this with hydration pads or another form of water. Your beardie will go through many crickets during its first year. I recommend keeping roughly 6 crickets housed with your beardie and restock him with feed as needed.

Cockroaches- Same rules apply as the crickets. Make sure your feed is store bought, do not feed your pet insects you found in the wild as they may carry sicknesses. Between which you feed your beardie is totally up to you. Some people prefer roaches because they don't jump like crickets. Other people prefer crickets because they are "less gross" then the roaches.

Meal Worms- You can buy a large amount of these guys from a pet store relatively cheap. This should not completely take the place of your main feed (crickets and roaches) but may serve as a good meal throughout the day and do not move much. You can store 15 or so little meal worms in your beardies feed bowl and this provides him a easy source of food when wanted.

There are a few other options that may be recommended, however these are the most common practices.

Bearded Dragons are omnivorous and also enjoy vegetation and fruits, although they will not prefer this until they grow up. The option should be made available.

Other feeding options to offer your Beardie along with the Live Feeds

When feeding your Beardie Fruits and Veggies be sure to break the items down small enough for your Lizard to eat easily. Produce should not be left in the tank to rot or go bad, so make it common practice to take out the produce before you go to bed at night or leave for the night. Even if it still looks like a healthy piece of produce, the heat lamps in the Beardies home will dry out the fruits and veggies quickly.

Fruits and veggies

Celery

Spinach

Kiwi

Green Beans

Fresh Peas

Blue berries

Carrots

Strawberries

Figs

Lettuce- Rarely or never

Supplements

You should also buy a calcium supplement so your beardie can grow big and strong. Here are some of those options

Tablets- You can buy vitamin tablets or a beardie health mixture from a pet store.

Powder- Calcium supplement that you can sprinkle over your normal feed to provide the calcium the beardie needs

Spray- Water based spray you can apply to the normal feed, also spray the live feeds habitat so the live feed is more calcium rich.

When you finally select a supplement product you can read the vitamin facts on the fact to determine a proper diet I do not believe one product is better then another and it really does come down to personnel preference.

Water- Fresh room temperature water should always be made available it a big enough dish for soaking. I like to use a big lagoon type structure I bought at a local pet store. Whatever you use it should be wide enough that your beardie can go inside and soak his or herself.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your friendly Beardie!