# Bearded Dragon. food amount



## rhydian1 (Jul 3, 2008)

I have just been given an 8mth old male bearded dragon (3 weeks ago).

At the moment he is eating about 15 size 4 (large) locust a day and various fruit and veg ( he only eats a small amount of this). He is a healthy and happy dragon.

I was wondering when is he considered an adult, how many locust he should be fed a day at the moment and when should his livefood be cut down and to what amount?


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## thompson_06_91 (May 14, 2008)

hi,

i got mine at about 4 months old and she was on 10-15 crix every 2nd day. what i'd do was put 6 in for her, if she ate them another 6 would go in, and i'd keep doing this until she would stop eating, any spare crix in the viv she'd save for later. She'd also get her veg daily e.g. dark leafy greens, butternut squash, mustard greens etc, but not too much friut as it can give them the squits.
When she got to about 5/6 months old i cut her crix down to every 3 days, with veg staying the same. They need more crix when there younger as they are in the stage of growing, but their insects should be cut down a little for when they get older as they pack on weight very well and end up overweight. They're usually considered adult at about 12-18 months (i think).
With yours i'd feed him about 10-15 crix/locusts every 2-3 days dusted with calcium every feed, and dusted with vitamin D3 powder twice a week. 

Hope this helps 
& good luck with him : victory:


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## mummybear (Nov 5, 2007)

You don't need to cut down his livefood until he is approx 12 months old or weighs over 400g, so as much as he will eat in 10-15 mins once a day at this age is fine and fresh veg all day every day.: victory:
Are you dusting his livefood every day? Mon-Fri with Calypso Sat & Sun with Vitamins (Nutrabol)


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## rhydian1 (Jul 3, 2008)

Thanks for your advice. He weighs 376g at the mo and is 18 inches long (including tail). The base of his tail is about 1 inch.

Am I using the correct powders though?

Am using:
Dragon Dust-Veggie Growth Formula every other day,
Cricket diet-Insect loading Formula for Locust everyday before feeding them to him and
Dragon Dust-Insect Cricket Balancer on his locust before feeding him.
(All made by Sandfire Superfoods).


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## Sambee (Jul 4, 2008)

rhydian1 said:


> Thanks for your advice. He weighs 376g at the mo and is 18 inches long (including tail). The base of his tail is about 1 inch.
> 
> Am I using the correct powders though?
> 
> ...


There isn't any calcium in his diet so you need to get on to that ASAP. 
Without sufficient calcium, your beardie could suffer from slow bone growth and poor nail and teeth development.

I keep a bottle lid of calcium dust in my beardies tank and also dust his live food with nutrobal every 2-3 days.


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## Michelle G (Feb 27, 2008)

and beware that beardies can be greedy - mine is just over 12 months and would happily still eat a box of locusts everyday plus his salad...we have started to cut him back slowly but he notices and stands and looks at us as if to say - 'and the rest.....'
......then he stands at the front of his viv and puffs up like a spoilt child!


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## rhydian1 (Jul 3, 2008)

Thankyou all for the advise, will start cutting food down at 12 months or 400g whichever is first.

Pet shop advised us that the supplements we listed were the only ones required for our dragon and to change VGF for VMF when he is fully grown.

Think we'll change to Calypso 5x a week and Nutrobal 2x a week.

Thanks:lol2:


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## mummybear (Nov 5, 2007)

Elvis_The_Gecko said:


> There isn't any calcium in his diet so you need to get on to that ASAP.
> Without sufficient calcium, your beardie could suffer from slow bone growth and poor nail and teeth development.
> 
> I keep a bottle lid of calcium dust in my beardies tank and also dust his live food with nutrobal every 2-3 days.


You don't need to keep any calcium in your beardies tank, although they need the calcium to avoid MBD they can actually overdose on calcium, the amount they get on their dusted food is sufficient : victory:


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