Feeding My Bearded Dragon Guide
Bearded dragons are one of America’s most prized lizard pets right next to iguanas and komodo dragons these days. Part of the reason is that they’re often easier to tame, and you can even train them to do tricks, eat from a water bowl, and more just like a reptile puppy! In this guide we’re going to talk a little bit about how to successfully feed your bearded dragon though, as they have a lot of different diets, and they vary throughout the life cycle of your dragon.
Some Extra Tidbits
If you’re wondering how old your bearded dragon is, we’ll give you some advice in how much they measure for the first year of their life on how long they are from their nose to the tip of their tail. Here’s a little measuring guide:
- 3-4 = 0-1 months old.
- 5-9 in. = 2 months old.
- 8-11 in. = 3 months old.
- 9/5-12 in. = 4 months old.
- 11.5-16 in. = 5 months old.
- 13-18 in. = 6 months old.
- 15-20 in. = 8 months old.
- 18-22 in. = 12 months old.
When It Comes to Feeding Babies
If your bearded dragon is less than 5 months old, then it should be considered a baby. This is the most crucial time, so they can have the most nutrients they need in order to survive and grow. Therefore, you don’t want to give them any live food that is larger than its head. This can be fatal because they will often try to eat prey that’s too big for them. This could cause them to be paralyzed, or even choke and die.
You can feed them tiny crickets (or dried ones), fruit flies and the smallest wax worms possible so you know they can chew up their food properly. Don’t feed your baby dragon mealworms, because it’s harder for them to digest. Babies need fed tiny insects about four times per day, and extremely fine chopped veggies/plants about once per day. This will help the baby adapt to eat more veggies. Don’t overfeed them though.
Teenage Years
Adolescent juvenile dragons are the most common, and are anywhere from 5-18 months old. You can feed it a lot less than you would a baby dragon, and it’s advised that you don’t, or it’ll become obese, which can cause problems later in life. During this stage, you’ll want to change the amount of insects to vegetables you give them too. You might want to cut down insects to once per day, then give them veggies at about 3-4 times a week. They can eat slightly larger bugs now too, so you can feed them mealworms once or twice a week, and you can still feed it larger things, but don’t feed them anything larger than their head. You don’t want to give them anything larger than their head of course.
Once Your Beardie’s All Grown Up
After your bearded dragon is about 19 months old (or after they’ve reached 18 months roughly), they’re considered an adult. So after a year in a half, the feeding schedule is more relaxed, except for when you’re breeding females (we’ll get into that in a bit). You can give adult dragons a balanced meal of insects and veggies a day, or even every other day. You should still give them more veggies and fruit (we’ll tell you good and bad ones) and less insects. If you want to spend even less, some adult bearded dragons that are big enough can eat what’s called “pinkie mice”, which are frozen or live mice which are the hairless eyes-closed babies once in a while, as well as canned dog food, and softened rabbit food pellets, but this should only be given about once a month. You can also give your adult a cicada once a week, or even hornworms (do not feed ones that have eaten on tomato plants. You can actually buy these online that aren’t toxic to your pet).
What About Supplementing Bearded Dragons
You can actually give vitamins and calcium supplements to your bearded dragon in each stage of life. You can order the powder for their food, or just buy the liquid drops to administer to them directly (this may be less effective, as they may not take it, but you do get more personal bonding/holding time). For babies, you can give them vitamins and calcium (with vitamin D3) in at least two or three meals every week. This can help them grow very fast and strong. You can give juveniles their vitamins at least once a week, while adding their calcium and vitamin D3 to three meals per week.
You should only have to give adult bearded dragons a vitamin & calcium w/D3 supplement at the beginning of adulthood at least once per week. Once your beardie has been at adulthood and their adult diet has been well established, vitamin supplements aren’t quite as necessary, as long as you give them the well-balanced diet frequently that they would eat in the wild.
Don’t forget the water!
Don’t forget, your bearded dragon also needs to have plenty of water throughout their lives. The best way is to mist them a few times a day (more when molting), and give them regular baths, as they can drink when they’re swimming too. Also, you may want to give them a little “pool” or train them to drink from a water bowl, as this will greatly help them get their water intake more than just giving them live food and vegetation.
Conclusion – How to Feed a Bearded Dragon
Who would’ve thought bearded dragons would require so much care? Well, any reptilian friend that you have actually does, but with proper maintenance in their diet, you can actually end up getting your pet to last approximately ten long years.
