How much food is too much for a beardie??

[ajandj]

Hi all, l've been feeding Yoda on small crickets and salad. He's been eating 30 crickets morning and night and fresh salad 4 times a day. Normally he eats about a tablespoon.

Anyway as he is now 29cm in length and weighs 49 gram, l thought it time to upgrade the size of his crickets. Most posts l read how dragons eat up to 5-6 medium crickets in one sitting.

Oh no, not my little piggy.

I gave him greens ( about 3 tablespoons) before l went out this morning to do the school run but most importantly to get medium crickets, l came back an hour later and he had almost finished his

green. So i thought l would try the crickets. Well, l stopped offering them to him after he had pigged put on 20.

Should l keep feeding until he doesn't want anymore or do l stop after about 10 so as not to have an obese little piggy??

 

[LittleMerlin]

That's something you need to be careful about. I wouldn't be giving that many all at once myself. One morning I figured I'd try giving Jethro crickets again since he hadn't eaten a lot (when he was still adjusting to new home), and he caught 6 on his own. Then I gave him about 6 more in the afternoon and about 3 more that evening. So he had a total of 15 crickets that day. 30 seems a lot for morning and night time feedings. You'd be going to the pet store a ton if that was the case unless you buy them in big bulks online or something. I am wanting to do that myself so I don't have to make as many trips to the pet store but not sure where the best place to buy them from. My parents keep suggesting Walmart but their crickets are WAY too big for either of my lizards.

 

[ajandj]

well, everything l have read in here and other forums so that you give as much as they can eat in 5-10 minutes. The crickets he was eating (30 ish) were very small, but these ones today are medium

 

[LittleMerlin]

Yea that's true I suppose. I would just worry about going through that many crickets that fast. I offer them to the lizards, and if they seem interested I let them hunt or snatch from the tongs. If they don't, back the crickets go for a later meal time. I offer other foods that I know they'll eat too. Food that is appropriate for them.