Tons of questions for new Beardie owner

[Angelaelebron]

Today will be my 4th day with Lady. The pet shop said she is under 2 months, other than that I have no idea of her age. I have previously posted in the general discussion all about her & her setup.
My questions are:
What are the best staple vegetables for her to have everyday? Right now I have Kale, Mustard Greens, Green bell pepper, red bell pepper, butter nut squash & sweet potato.
Right now I am doing the Kale and Mustard Green everyday and then adding one of the colored vegetables, for variety.
Next question:
What are the best insects for her, that she can have every day? I want her to grow healthy and strong. Right now she is just on crickets & Dubia roaches. She hasn’t ate too much, I’m sure it’s due to reloacation stress, but she does eat a little more every day & has pooped once each day that I’ve had her. The pet shop told me to put 5 super worms in her dish everyday. They also sold me wax worms. Thankfully she only ate 1 superworm the first day, and after learning they are bad for her age I haven’t offered anymore. If I did want to give her a few worms daily, what are the ones that would be healthy and beneficial for her to have?
Okay another question regarding supplements. I am doing/planning.. her evening crickets dusted with calcium w/D3 3 days a week, sprayed with calcium w/o D3 3 days a week and dusted with multivitamin one day a week. Is this correct? Anything you would change?
On to gut feeding.. I am feeding the crickets potato’s, kale, carrots & the left overs from her veggie dish every night. Is that sufficient? Should I add anything?
Last question, feeding schedule. What is the best ways to feed? The schedule I have made for her goes, 11am (2 hours after lights on) I offer her veggies. I begin with letting her eat out of my hand. She has been getting a good little amount that way and then I put the dish in her tank and she will nibble a little but not too much. 12am I do a mixture of crickets & Dubia roaches. So far she will have one or two of each and that has been it. 3pm I do another feeding of the same. Again she only has one or two. Then 6pm I do just crickets in the supplement. This is when she seems to eat the most. Last night she had 5, which is the most she has had so far at one time.
How do you suggest the best way to feed? I tried putting her in a separate container and she freaked out and didn’t try to eat at all. When I feed her in her tank it is such a pain because I have to take everything out, then collect them all when she’s done and set it all back up again. I would like to not have to do that everyday. Once she gets comfortable and eats more, will she go after them quicker to avoid this? Any suggestions on getting her to eat in a separate container?

That is it!! Thank you if you have read my concerns so far. Any answers/suggestions are more than welcome. Just soaking up all the information that I can and working on getting into a normal schedule.

 

[Angelaelebron]

Oh, and if I give her sweet potato do I cook it or give raw? For the veggies I put them in a processor every morning and chop them real small before feeding her. Thanks

 

[Janelle]

For food, most of us use this website. It tells the safe foods and how often to give them. I would feed sweet potatoes raw, shredded thin.

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

For everyday feeders, the best are dubia, crickets, bsfl (black soldier fly larvae/phoenix worms/calciworms), and silkworms.

I get confused with all the calcium and multivitamins. I use repashy calcium plus. It is an all-in-one supplement, rather than rotating different ones.

For feeding, instead of dumping a bunch of insects at once, why not just toss in one at a time? As soon as one is eaten, you can toss in the next. If it doesn't get eaten, you just have that one to pull out. If I toss too many bsfl in at once, Jayne stares at them and then at me and doesn't go after any. It's like it's too many options for her little brain. They're so funny. As for a schedule, I think everybody just has their own that works for them. We have lights on at 7:30. At 9:30, I put her salad in her tank and toss her insects for breakfast. Her insect lunch is at 1:00. Dinner at 5:30, then her salad is removed for the night. She eats on her salad throughout the day. I notice her eating more and more of it the older she gets. In another month or so, we'll go down to 2 insect feeds a day.

Four days with her means your beardie is still very new and not fully settled in yet. Give her another week or so, and I'm sure her appetite will pick up. She looks so tiny!

 

[Angelaelebron]

I will try the one at a time thing for her next feed. She didn’t eat anything this morning, wouldn’t take a lick of her greens or go after any crickets but she did poop when I put the crickets in so that might be why? She is little. They said somewhere under 2 months but I have no idea her actual age. Thanks for the info on the food. I’m going to look into ordering some phonex worms to try to start with.

 

[Janelle]

When I first got Jayne, she wouldn't eat at all if anybody was watching her. It was a big pain. I'd have to put the bsfl into a bowl or onto a plate and then leave the room. They don't bite, so if any escaped, I didn't have to worry as much about it. I'm so glad she doesn't care about that now! It's so much easier to just toss her a couple at a time.

 

[Angelaelebron]

Thank you for all of the replies. I know I’ve posted a lot this morning hehe just new mom worries. I think I’ll try one at a time and if that doesn’t work I’ll put like 5 in and leave the room for 15 mins. She ate 5 right in front of me last night at 6pm. I was so proud haha.

 

[Janelle]

No worries. Asking questions is great to make sure your baby is happy and healthy! It's a lazy day here (Happy New Year!), so I've got the time.

 

[PatsyB]

Janelle just said everything I was going to say! You are on a real good track with her. Just remember that kale is a calcium binder so always mix it with another healthy green (like you are doing). I do the same thing with making a salad and then adding a random veggie. Mine prefer just the greens and don't always eat the other veggies. My girl Dolly does like the color orange though, so she will eat squash or sweet potato if she sees it. When they were little I used to put a cube in the microwave for like 30 seconds to soften it, then cool it and cut it into small pieces. Then I learned that they will eat it shredded so I just use a grater and they eat it raw.

With my greens, I chop them and wash them and dry them in a salad spinner and then put them in a plastic ziplock bag with paper towels. The paper towels absorb any moisture and the greens last for a couple weeks. Saves time having to prep everything the morning of.