im getting a bearded dragon soon... i've bin doing some research on various websites and i've found two good ones but they have constricting info! one says the food shouldn't be bigger than the dragons head the other says the food shouldn't be bigger than the size between its eyes :S. also one says they like vegtables and fruit and the other says not to feed them fruit and veg. can you advise me which one is right or a good website with correct info please
thanks
Answers:
I have 2 adult beardies and I never feed them anything bigger than the space between their eyes (better to be safe than sorry)... when in doubt just go with the more cautious approach! As for the feeding the reason you are getting conflicting info on this is because it changes... What I mean is if you get a baby they eat 80% crickets and 20% veggies, and as an adult they eat 80% veggies and 20% insects. A lot of sites aren't specific enough on that. I have read that when they are first hatched (and I'm talking right after for a week or so) that their is some speculation as to wheather bugs or veggies are the best approach, but as it is highly doubtful that you will end up with one this young I wouldn't worry with that. Babies need fed 2 - 3 times a day (as many crickets as they will eat in 10 min.) and need veggies offered all day (they wont be too thrilled about eating them, they will mostly eat the crickets). Personally I think it is much better to start of with a beardie older than 6 months, because by then they are eating their veggies better, and you don't have to feed them as often. They still eat more crickets than an adult though. Basically as babies they love their crickets, and then as they get older they start to like their salads (still like their bugs though!). Hope this helps! They need their fruits and veggies because they have more vitamins and nutrients in them than just bugs alone. Bugs are good for protein, but are lacking in a lot of other areas. This is why it is always good to gut load your insects, so they do have some nutritunal value... I've heard that pheonix worms are pretty nutritional... I personally (with my adults) feed them super worms and they have pretty much banned crickets... Ever since I started them on supers they don't want anything to do with crickets! You want to stear clear of meal worms, their outer shell (called chiton) is not digestable and can cause impactation. I have heard that you can give them mealworms if the worms have just molted and their shells are still soft, but once again I like to play it safe so I've never tried this! What else... you've probably ran across conflicting info on sand as well... This is another area that I just like to play it safe. I have done my research on Calci Sand though, and there's enough out there to have me convinced that it is not safe. The only time I've heard of sand being safe is if you wait until they are adults and use washed play sand. Like I said though there is a debate on that as well though, so I tend to stear clear of it... The Calci sand was originally designed to be digestable because it's made out of Calcuim, but since then people have found that their beardies crave the calcuim in the sand and eat mouthfuls of it, and it's not safe when that much of it is eaten (it gets impacted). The beardies crave it when they have Coccida (which is pretty common anymore). Carrots and Spinich bind the calcuim, which it sounds like you've done your research so you probably know about metabolic bone disease... and Apples are an appetite suppressant (they are in humans too if you know of anyone who wants to lose weight!) Fruits are ok occasionally, but they do have more sugar in them so try to give them more veggies than fruit (mine still get fruit daily, but it's a very small amount compared to their veggies). Mustard greens seem to be a favorite, because this is the closest we have in the US to the pepper weed that they eat in the wild when they are first hatched. I hope this could be of some help... If you want you can go to my profile and look at some of my previous answers, and if you need any more info you can always e-mail me... I've got to go for now my beardie pig is hungry and bobbing at me, it's breakfast time!
Hey :)
Their food shouldn't be bigger than the sapce between their eyes :) Feeding them food larger than this may cause impaction.
You definitely need to provide your beardie with fresh fruit and veg (mainly veg) on a daily basis.
I really love this site: http://www.beautifuldragons.com... It has a lot of useful information about beardies and their diet (nutritional values etc).
Good luck :)
Im an aussie and they run wild round here. They live on crickets, cockroaches.Any insects it can fit into its mouth. Snails.And friut and veg are fine for them exept citric fruits.Eg limes and lemons.
Apart from that, anything else is cool...Raw mince even!
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