Just getting started

[Stupicide85]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new bearded dragon owner as of just yesterday! I named my tiny little guy Scraggy (after the pokemon) and he is such a well-behaved baby! He looks healthy and seems to love exploring. The only issue I seem to have right now is that he ignores his veggies, but I know he should be eating mostly live prey for now (I've been feeding him crickets).

I look forward to my future experiences on this forum and as a beardie owner! thanks!

 

[BeardedHippy]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Yeah, they dont like eating their veggies at first, but you should still offer them daily, even though it seems wasteful. Gut load your crickets with the same veggies, that way they still get the nutritional benefits of the veg

 

[Stupicide85]

thatnks for the reply! yeah I took him out a few times today and he did eat some peeled carrots out of my hand and I saw some spinach thrown around the bowl so it looks like he is eating them behind my back lol. right now a bigger issue is the crickets getting lost in the enclosure. I have a blanket in the tank right now and they crawl under it. he seems to love the blanket so I'm hesitant to trade it out for something more level like tile...

 

[BeardedHippy]

Thats what I hate about crickets, they are great at hiding and its not good to leave uneaten ones in the enclosure as they can nibble on your dragon when it is asleep. My solution was switching to dubia roaches, they are a far superior feeder anyway, also sooo much easier to contain and more importantly they dont stink like crickets do. Another option if you dont like roaches would be to feed in a seperate container

 

[Stupicide85]

yeah I am going to feed him crickets in a different area so this doesn't happen again. I got all the crickets out and there must have been a half dozen under the blanket.

 

[Mark the Mailman]

Welcome to the forum! you got a cute little guy there. Ours is about 4 mnths old now and i can't believe how fast she grew so enjoy it when they're tiny cuz its literally a few weeks. Sounds like Scraggy is a good eater. Try some squash...ours loves it

 

[Hdrydr31]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new bearded dragon owner as of just yesterday! I named my tiny little guy Scraggy (after the pokemon) and he is such a well-behaved baby! He looks healthy and seems to love exploring. The only issue I seem to have right now is that he ignores his veggies, but I know he should be eating mostly live prey for now (I've been feeding him crickets).

I look forward to my future experiences on this forum and as a beardie owner! thanks!

Welcome to the forum! glad to have you here.. under several of our comments you will find some resource links that cover all area's of care including food links.
I saw that you give him spinach, that is a green you want to avoid as it is very high in Vit A and can lead to vit A toxicity. Better greens would be collard, turnip, mustard and dandelion greens. Keep offering salads each day and in time your little one may take more and more nibbles.. All 3 of mine ate greens as tiny babies.

 

[Stupicide85]

thanks for the help! I did hear spinach wasn't as good for a few reasons, but it's all I have at the moment. working on getting some dandelion or collard greens. I'll tell you what, he sure can wolf down the crickets!

 

[Hdrydr31]

thanks for the help! I did hear spinach wasn't as good for a few reasons, but it's all I have at the moment. working on getting some dandelion or collard greens. I'll tell you what, he sure can wolf down the crickets!

Oh yes they are eating machines and will eat you out of house and home lol I have 3 and so I have my own dubia colony to support them all. used to do crickets but for a few reasons and with dubia being soo much easier I went for a bug I used to hate lol

 

[PatsyB]

You can put the crickets in a glass bowl and let him eat them that way or you can put one cricket at a time in his tank and wait for him to eat it before you give another. Like someone else said, don't worry too much right now about not eating veggies, give the crickets his veggies and make them more nutritious.

 

[David Crouchman]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new bearded dragon owner as of just yesterday! I named my tiny little guy Scraggy (after the pokemon) and he is such a well-behaved baby! He looks healthy and seems to love exploring. The only issue I seem to have right now is that he ignores his veggies, but I know he should be eating mostly live prey for now (I've been feeding him crickets).

I look forward to my future experiences on this forum and as a beardie owner! thanks!

I myself have just started out its such a great feeling owing a Beardie this is Tunga

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[David Crouchman]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new bearded dragon owner as of just yesterday! I named my tiny little guy Scraggy (after the pokemon) and he is such a well-behaved baby! He looks healthy and seems to love exploring. The only issue I seem to have right now is that he ignores his veggies, but I know he should be eating mostly live prey for now (I've been feeding him crickets).

I look forward to my future experiences on this forum and as a beardie owner! thanks!

Forget veggies for now that will come Tunga don't eat much veg either. I found he loves locusts and mealworms, I mix a bit of Basil in with the meal worms and he eats a little bit. They eat mostly live food when they are young.

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[Stupicide85]

I've heard that mealworms can be difficult for the little ones to digest, unless they are the white ones that haven't developed their shells yet, so I'm sticking with crickets for now. thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[David Crouchman]

I've heard that mealworms can be difficult for the little ones to digest, unless they are the white ones that haven't developed their shells yet, so I'm sticking with crickets for now. thanks everyone for the advice!

I found with crickets that they just took over the tank if you left any in there. If any escaped capture they breed and starting to nip at my Dragon very hard to get rid. I stick to locusts.

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[Stupicide85]

I have no way to get locusts and I feed him the crickets in a separate container now so that didn't happen.I was still finding crickets yesterday from 2 days ago! they were hiding in his driftwood....

 

[David Crouchman]

I have no way to get locusts and I feed him the crickets in a separate container now so that didn't happen.I was still finding crickets yesterday from 2 days ago! they were hiding in his driftwood....

Yeah that's the problem. You can buy live food online I find that they are really good quality.

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[BeardedHippy]

yeah, online is a good place to go for all live foods. Super fast delivery and probably cheaper. I get my roaches from Ebay, just be sure to check reviews and find a good breeder. The good ones usually keep reptiles themselves, so keep everything clean and healthy

 

[Stupicide85]

well this morning he ate a bit of greens after I put him beside the bowl, so it seems he likes them, or at least tolerates them. he hasn't touched the squash yet. do they tend to eat less of the live prey if they have had some greens (even though it didn't seem like a substantial amount)? also, he seems more skittish now when I try to pick him up which is odd. at the pet store and the first couple days handling him (didn't handle him at all on day one) he seemed fine and chill. now he gets very squirmy and tries to get away... he is exploring his tank more and more in the mornings, scurrying about and licking, so that's good.

 

[BeardedHippy]

Well, its a good idea to handle them as little as possible until they have settled in and gotten used to you. Some dragons take to handling a lot easier than others, my female hates being picked up and even now will try to escape my clutches, the male is a lot easier going that way. They are more active at certain times of the day, at those times it will be harder to handle them (at least at first). You will find it easier to pick them up just before bed time, when they have slowed down, so thats probably the best time to get them used to handling.
As for food, they will generally stop eating when they have had enough. I guess they have a cut off point where they feel full. As babies its rare that they eat more than the odd mouthful of greens, some are fussy and some just eat everything, there really isnt a 'normal' standard it varies from dragon to dragon.

 

[Stupicide85]

really wish I had a better container to feed him in. I tried a tub but he couldn't get traction when going after the crickets. now I use a cardboard box and have to watch to make sure no crickets get out (which they do) and gathering the leftovers to go back in their enclosure is a pain. at least the little guy seems satisfied and I can tell he's full if a cricket crosses his path and he backs up away from it.