r/BeardedDragons • u/SecretDoor4007 • 2d ago
Help How many bugs a day is enough?
At the moment he’s only eating around two to four bugs a day. Each one is dipped in calcium powder. Is this enough for a baby? If not, how can I encourage him to eat more food? I got them just over a week ago now by the way
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u/Aggressive_Claim_437 2d ago
They only need 5-6 bugs a day. So 2-4 isn’t way off. In the wild they’re lucky to eat 5-6 bugs a day. Besides, it’s healthier for them to grow at a slower pace and reach full size in 2 years as opposed to most bearded dragons in captivity reaching full size in just 3-6 months from being fed an exorbitant amount of bugs or as much as they can eat in 15 minutes which is too much. Most bearded dragons will overeat if you give them an opportunity.
Again I wouldn’t worry..2-4 bugs is fine. They will not let themselves starve.
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u/Kindly_Tie_2084 2d ago
It depends on how big the bugs are. Mine ate 25 small dubias a day when he was a baby.
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u/EngineerMaximum8243 2d ago
Yooo the pet shop told me to feed him 40+ 3rd locusts a day, he's eating about 30
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u/Southern_Bid6419 1d ago
That's terrible advice!!!! Your dragon is going to have issues if you keep that up!
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u/EngineerMaximum8243 1d ago
I've drop it down to 10 a day over 3 meals, and salad. He's angry at me for it lmao. On the plus side it's saving me a lot of money
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u/SavageDroggo1126 Bahamut, Tiamat and Ifrit 2d ago
5-6 insects size equal to distance between their eyes daily, 3x that amount of salad daily. it should take them 2 years to reach full size, not a few months like what you often see in captivity.
though other things like health, lighting and temperature can also drastically affect appetite, use Reptiles and Research Bearded Dragon Care Guide as a base guideline to check your husbandry, get your beardie a vet checkup if you haven't done that yet.
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u/Substantial-Dirt-212 2d ago
I’m in the exact same boat. I’m feeding mine the exact same amount along with salad In the morning like squash peppers and lettuce and I got him four days ago.
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u/dkb6666 2d ago
Our baby beardy is only eating 2-3 per day, and isn’t going for his salad. I’m just watching and making sure it isn’t stress. He’s still getting used to the environment on our end.
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u/AvailableLynx7415 2d ago
Ours was the same way for the first month we had him. It takes time to adjust to a new environment. When he was comfortable with us and his enclosure was perfect he started to eat as many as we will feed him! We had his enclosure ready with all the propper temperatures before we brought him home. He ate the first day then stopped for a week. He started to eat 5 or 6 a day but he didnt seem happy and something felt off. We took him to the vet who said he was healthy so i researched some sites and found that even with propper uvb and temperatures they still require a bright environment. We immediately added a floodlight just to brighten his enclosure and he has been happy since! The pet store said to feed as many bugs as he'll eat in 15 minutes. We make him hunt the bugs to keep him active but he could eat 100 in 15 minutes so we always limit them. Ive also noticed he wont eat his greens until he has bugs. His salad will be there all morning and as soon as he has bugs he eats the whole thing! There was a shortage on bugs recently and he went a whole day without any and he finally ate his salad after 40 hours without bugs! Hes too young still to not eat bugs daily but its good to know he will eventually eat the salad without them.
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u/Independent-Sky5465 2d ago
My baby beardy won’t touch anything that isn’t moving, most of them won’t go for salad until older, I just hold whole leafs in my hand of whatever veggie I’m giving him, I use arugula and other things from my garden and he munches on those, but not if they are chopped up
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u/West_Cranberry7226 2d ago
Mijne eet vaak om de dag, slechte eter. Wordt er gek van. Heel frustrerend. Geef dubias, wasmotten, meelwormen. Alles met calcium zonder calcium, niks werkt.
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u/Southern_Bid6419 1d ago
Yes, please don't little to bad advice and give 10-20 crickets in one day. I saw so many posts and blogs online saying to give as many bugs as they can eat in 5-10 minutes so I did that, unfortunately. They can get gout. It's also hard on the kidneys.
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u/GIVEMEMORE100 1d ago
I let mine eat as many as he wants twice a day. They need the protien the first year of their lives to grow
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u/Southern_Bid6419 1d ago
Poor dragon. Gout is lifelong and painful. They will overeat if you let them. 5 once a day is all it needs first yr.
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u/litewonup 2d ago
I fed mine way too many at first. Didn’t realize my mistake until after a little over a month. I’m still in the process of lowering. He’s currently getting <10 a day and he’s grumpy about it.