Juvenile bearded dragon feeding questions

[Guinea_Pig]

Hi, I am new to the whole bearded dragon experience along with this forum. I bought a baby bearded dragon at the Tucson Reptile Expo in October, and named her Megumi. she has been great, but her feeding has been a bit difficult, and I need some tips. She is a picky eater, and will only eat if hand feed her. I was wondering how to get her to eat out of dish. Next, I was wondering what insect is best to feed her, and where I can get it. I live in Benson, AZ, and with the crazy gas prices lately I am a little reluctant to have to drive all the way into Tucson to get insects. Also, should I be worried if she doesn't eat any veggies besides lettuce? She doesn't seem to like any fruit I offer her. Any other tips or frequently made mistakes are welcome since I know almost nothing. I did do a lot of research before I bought her, but first-hand experience is a little better than a website on Google. Thanks.

 

[Sadie]

Hi, I am new to the whole bearded dragon experience along with this forum. I bought a baby bearded dragon at the Tucson Reptile Expo in October, and named her Megumi. she has been great, but her feeding has been a bit difficult, and I need some tips. She is a picky eater, and will only eat if hand feed her. I was wondering how to get her to eat out of dish. Next, I was wondering what insect is best to feed her, and where I can get it. I live in Benson, AZ, and with the crazy gas prices lately I am a little reluctant to have to drive all the way into Tucson to get insects. Also, should I be worried if she doesn't eat any veggies besides lettuce? She doesn't seem to like any fruit I offer her. Any other tips or frequently made mistakes are welcome since I know almost nothing. I did do a lot of research before I bought her, but first-hand experience is a little better than a website on Google. Thanks.

Please feed live insects they are or were cheaper to get on line I am going to post some website for insects - please get a insect NO bigger than the space between her eyes look at the charts on the sites -- next she needs salads every morning w/ some BSFL on top they are a great staple feeder and are good lures to the salad bowl they do not need to be dusted w/ your calcium of which any of the other staples will need to be dusted ONCE per day w/ calcium D 3 5 x per week and a vitamin w/ beta carotene ONCE per day 2 x per week -- do this till she is about a year old then the insects feeding go to 2-3 times per week w/ salads being fed every day still
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Kale is a good staple feeder
Staple insects are crickets dubia roaches BSFL or silk worms
The BSFL are small so I would recommend not using them as a main staple but a compliment to the main staple
I would recommend setting up a 10 gallon tank and order 200 dubia roaches go by the chart - figure her eating about 8-15 at a time - crickets are stinky and escape artists and they dont last -- if you can get some roaches locally first to try her on them to see if she likes them I would do that first -- some wont eat roaches and prefer crickets lets hope yours is one that will eat them-- they are easy to feed and keep -- feed them dubia food or roach chow along w/ other veggies and fruit the dragon eats -- look at the chart - they arent hot on greens but like squash carrots dont feed the dragon carrots too to much Vit A -- he will have orange urate --you will need to get some dubia dew as well for hydration -
Feed the BSFL w/ them on top of her salads first thing in the morning - try hand feeding her w/ your hand so she gets to know you and hand taming -- you can get a bowl from here that works really good for this the dubias will / can go in the bowl as well but you want to have her eating the salad even if its a little bit
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
websites
www.dubiaroaches.com you can get her some small super worms and nutri grubs from here as well I dont know how big she is but you can try medium - by the time she is 3 months she should be able to eat large BSFL or nutri grubs
www.https://symtonbsf.com/
https://aafeeder.com/feeder-worms/superworms/ the dish on this site shown is plastic the one I posted is glass and bigger -- I have not ordered from this site -
the site I use most is the dubia roaches site and some of the shipping cost from other sites that I was ordering from have gone up really high
www.reptilianarts.com they have roaches and silk worms -- small horn worms are a good treat worm and very hydrating -- NO meal worms they are too harsh on babies stomachs -- wax worms are too fatty
You can add some small supers to her salads as well 1-3 every other day another treat worm you dont want her hooked

 

[Guinea_Pig]

Please feed live insects they are or were cheaper to get on line I am going to post some website for insects - please get a insect NO bigger than the space between her eyes look at the charts on the sites -- next she needs salads every morning w/ some BSFL on top they are a great staple feeder and are good lures to the salad bowl they do not need to be dusted w/ your calcium of which any of the other staples will need to be dusted ONCE per day w/ calcium D 3 5 x per week and a vitamin w/ beta carotene ONCE per day 2 x per week -- do this till she is about a year old then the insects feeding go to 2-3 times per week w/ salads being fed every day still
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Kale is a good staple feeder
Staple insects are crickets dubia roaches BSFL or silk worms
The BSFL are small so I would recommend not using them as a main staple but a compliment to the main staple
I would recommend setting up a 10 gallon tank and order 200 dubia roaches go by the chart - figure her eating about 8-15 at a time - crickets are stinky and escape artists and they dont last -- if you can get some roaches locally first to try her on them to see if she likes them I would do that first -- some wont eat roaches and prefer crickets lets hope yours is one that will eat them-- they are easy to feed and keep -- feed them dubia food or roach chow along w/ other veggies and fruit the dragon eats -- look at the chart - they arent hot on greens but like squash carrots dont feed the dragon carrots too to much Vit A -- he will have orange urate --you will need to get some dubia dew as well for hydration -
Feed the BSFL w/ them on top of her salads first thing in the morning - try hand feeding her w/ your hand so she gets to know you and hand taming -- you can get a bowl from here that works really good for this the dubias will / can go in the bowl as well but you want to have her eating the salad even if its a little bit
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
websites
www.dubiaroaches.com you can get her some small super worms and nutri grubs from here as well I dont know how big she is but you can try medium - by the time she is 3 months she should be able to eat large BSFL or nutri grubs
www.https://symtonbsf.com/
https://aafeeder.com/feeder-worms/superworms/ the dish on this site shown is plastic the one I posted is glass and bigger -- I have not ordered from this site -
the site I use most is the dubia roaches site and some of the shipping cost from other sites that I was ordering from have gone up really high
www.reptilianarts.com they have roaches and silk worms -- small horn worms are a good treat worm and very hydrating -- NO meal worms they are too harsh on babies stomachs -- wax worms are too fatty
You can add some small supers to her salads as well 1-3 every other day another treat worm you dont want her hooked

ok, wow. that's a lot of information. are black soldier fly larvae able to be grown and farmed like mealworms or roaches? buying them frequently is a bit of a hassle and can tend to get a little pricy. I have tried farming crickets but they like to die on me so that wasn't the best situation. I haven't tried dubia roaches yet, but the breeder who I bought her from said that hissing cockroach babies are ok. I fed her those for a while, but they only have babies twice a year and grow at an insane rate so that didn't last for very long. are dubias able to serve as a main staple? if not, what insects can? I have a good feeder dish for her since I am doing college pottery and was able to make her one. I know she loves roaches and enjoys hunting them down, so that wouldn't be an issue. the only thing that I'm worried about is that they will be too big. She is about 11 inches at this point.

 

[Guinea_Pig]

Please feed live insects they are or were cheaper to get on line I am going to post some website for insects - please get a insect NO bigger than the space between her eyes look at the charts on the sites -- next she needs salads every morning w/ some BSFL on top they are a great staple feeder and are good lures to the salad bowl they do not need to be dusted w/ your calcium of which any of the other staples will need to be dusted ONCE per day w/ calcium D 3 5 x per week and a vitamin w/ beta carotene ONCE per day 2 x per week -- do this till she is about a year old then the insects feeding go to 2-3 times per week w/ salads being fed every day still
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Kale is a good staple feeder
Staple insects are crickets dubia roaches BSFL or silk worms
The BSFL are small so I would recommend not using them as a main staple but a compliment to the main staple
I would recommend setting up a 10 gallon tank and order 200 dubia roaches go by the chart - figure her eating about 8-15 at a time - crickets are stinky and escape artists and they dont last -- if you can get some roaches locally first to try her on them to see if she likes them I would do that first -- some wont eat roaches and prefer crickets lets hope yours is one that will eat them-- they are easy to feed and keep -- feed them dubia food or roach chow along w/ other veggies and fruit the dragon eats -- look at the chart - they arent hot on greens but like squash carrots dont feed the dragon carrots too to much Vit A -- he will have orange urate --you will need to get some dubia dew as well for hydration -
Feed the BSFL w/ them on top of her salads first thing in the morning - try hand feeding her w/ your hand so she gets to know you and hand taming -- you can get a bowl from here that works really good for this the dubias will / can go in the bowl as well but you want to have her eating the salad even if its a little bit
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
websites
www.dubiaroaches.com you can get her some small super worms and nutri grubs from here as well I dont know how big she is but you can try medium - by the time she is 3 months she should be able to eat large BSFL or nutri grubs
www.https://symtonbsf.com/
https://aafeeder.com/feeder-worms/superworms/ the dish on this site shown is plastic the one I posted is glass and bigger -- I have not ordered from this site -
the site I use most is the dubia roaches site and some of the shipping cost from other sites that I was ordering from have gone up really high
www.reptilianarts.com they have roaches and silk worms -- small horn worms are a good treat worm and very hydrating -- NO meal worms they are too harsh on babies stomachs -- wax worms are too fatty
You can add some small supers to her salads as well 1-3 every other day another treat worm you dont want her hooked

also, what stage do you feed the bearded dragon the BSFLs? is it bad to feed them when they reach pupa stage, or not? I'm thinking on farming them.

 

[Sadie]

also, what stage do you feed the bearded dragon the BSFLs? is it bad to feed them when they reach pupa stage, or not? I'm thinking on farming them.

Dubias are a great staple feeder and I think I posted staple feeders above -- I have not heard of anyone raising and breeding BSFL on any of the forums mostly its the dubia colonies people are doing - here is a website for breeding and raising BSFL https://www.thecritterdepot.com/blogs/news/how-to-breen-black-soldier-fly-larvae
I am assuming the small BSFL are the babies you can feed the older ones when they turn to flies as well - dragons like the fly stage - you need to go by the chart on the website for ordering the dubias - you dont want any insect bigger than the space between their eyes - its good to offer variety of insects - crickets silk worms BSFL and dubias - you will find your dragon will not like certain insects/ worms - mine wont eat wax meal or BSFL - Blaze out grew the BSFL Hiccup would never eat them -- they both like butter worms and those are impossible to find now - they are from chile here is some info on them https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/wholesale-butterworms/1175-butterworms.html
I was able to get them years ago but now its impossible -- horn worms and supers are my dragons favorites - those are treat worms and the horn is a hydrating worm and they grow really fast --
here is another website for worms etc but they are insanely expensive on shipping cost so I have not ordered from here for quite awhile

 

[Guinea_Pig]

Dubias are a great staple feeder and I think I posted staple feeders above -- I have not heard of anyone raising and breeding BSFL on any of the forums mostly its the dubia colonies people are doing - here is a website for breeding and raising BSFL https://www.thecritterdepot.com/blogs/news/how-to-breen-black-soldier-fly-larvae
I am assuming the small BSFL are the babies you can feed the older ones when they turn to flies as well - dragons like the fly stage - you need to go by the chart on the website for ordering the dubias - you dont want any insect bigger than the space between their eyes - its good to offer variety of insects - crickets silk worms BSFL and dubias - you will find your dragon will not like certain insects/ worms - mine wont eat wax meal or BSFL - Blaze out grew the BSFL Hiccup would never eat them -- they both like butter worms and those are impossible to find now - they are from chile here is some info on them https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/wholesale-butterworms/1175-butterworms.html
I was able to get them years ago but now its impossible -- horn worms and supers are my dragons favorites - those are treat worms and the horn is a hydrating worm and they grow really fast --
here is another website for worms etc but they are insanely expensive on shipping cost so I have not ordered from here for quite awhile

ok. thank you.

 

[Sadie]

Dubias are a great staple feeder and I think I posted staple feeders above -- I have not heard of anyone raising and breeding BSFL on any of the forums mostly its the dubia colonies people are doing - here is a website for breeding and raising BSFL https://www.thecritterdepot.com/blogs/news/how-to-breen-black-soldier-fly-larvae
I am assuming the small BSFL are the babies you can feed the older ones when they turn to flies as well - dragons like the fly stage - you need to go by the chart on the website for ordering the dubias - you dont want any insect bigger than the space between their eyes - its good to offer variety of insects - crickets silk worms BSFL and dubias - you will find your dragon will not like certain insects/ worms - mine wont eat wax meal or BSFL - Blaze out grew the BSFL Hiccup would never eat them -- they both like butter worms and those are impossible to find now - they are from chile here is some info on them https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/wholesale-butterworms/1175-butterworms.html
I was able to get them years ago but now its impossible -- horn worms and supers are my dragons favorites - those are treat worms and the horn is a hydrating worm and they grow really fast --
here is another website for worms etc but they are insanely expensive on shipping cost so I have not ordered from here for quite awhile

http://www.mulberryfarms.com/