What is your Ritual of Feeding (your beardie)?

[stijngh]

Hey guys,

I've got my beardie now for the second day and I'm curious about how you guys feed your beardie?

Currently I'm feeding my beardie, 1,5 months old, crickets and worms 1 by 1 by putting them in front of him, but I see many video's of people just throwing a bunch of crickets, worms, ... in their terrarium. However I'm afraid of him eating too much sand if I would do this. The other thing is that he doesn't really seem to be able to focus on the things I feed him (or is he not hungry?). For example when the cricket jumps to another side he seems to be unable to ever find it again. Since he is only 1,5 months old he is a small guy in a 40 gallon cage though.

And does your beardie eat many pallets, fruits or vegetables, or does he ignore his bowl too?

Share me yours

 

[stijngh]

Please, I need some tips.

I tried to feed him today by putting some small kind of beetles/crickets in a shoe box and putting him in the box, and after eating 3 bugs he kept jumping out of the box... 3 crickets is not enough at all. Side note: it was more than 12 hours after the last feeding time.

 

[Augie]

A couple of things to have an awareness of, both of which have to do with your dragon's environment:

Since it's been less than two weeks it's possible he's still getting used to his new environment. I got mine when she was 6 weeks old. She ate two crickets the first day - I was thrilled! She then didn't eat anything for almost a week. I got worried that the crickets would get too big for her, but once she got established with her new home she turned into a little chainsaw and I couldn't keep her belly full, it seemed.

The other thing to be wary of is the substrate. Unless things have changed, sand is only safe in an enclosure once the dragon reaches adulthood, or close to it. And with that, it should be sifted washed children's playsand. Just a few things to keep in mind! I hope this helps.

 

[stijngh]

Well he is only 1,5 months old and I only got him last Wednesday, nearly 3 days ago. So I see it might take a few weeks. That is good to know!

And I'm using "bearded dragon" sand, but when I'm feeding him I try to not let his live food get in contact with the sand. 99% of the time he is on his branch so I just put the worms or crickets on the branch in front of him or try feeding him in a different tank.

 

[Augie]

Yikes, what is the name of the sand? Is it calci sand or something like that?

 

[stijngh]

Desert Bedding

View media item 313

 

[Augie]

I found a decent article on substrates, here is the link:

http://beardeddragoncaresheet.weebly.com/housing.html

Check that out. I Haven't read the whole article but the section on substrate is something you want to read.

 

[stijngh]

Thanks, I will

 

[alalsip]

Get rid of the loose sub, it's bad for the little ones. You can also feed him in a separate tank, just drop your feeders one by one in front of him. Or throw them all in and let him have a hay day. Then you don't have to try to find them if he doesn't eat them all!

 

[jager]

I found that my guy was doing the same thing, I would give him his crickets and he would get a few and hunt for them for a little while then just give up, leaving me to fish out some pretty quick crickets from his tank. If I fed them to him with tongs he ate them. What I started doing was when I put them in a container to dust them I gave it a good shake, kind of stunning the crickets and dumped them out in front of him making it easier for him to nab them since they were dazed. Just a thought

 

[stijngh]

How do they even survive in nature? I've put 5 crickets in his tank but he seems to be unable to notice them. Instead he keeps staring at me like he "wants" more, which he has.

Silly guy

Also, putting him in a different tank (shoebox/aquarium unfilled) doesn't really help. He is more stressed out about trying to get out than eating a single cricket/beetle. Today I threw some crickets in his tank and atleast he managed to eat 5 to 10, with much of my help "finding" them (by making the crickets jump around him). However when it takes me too long for him to notice them he just goes back to his branch, and we both kind of get disappointed and "walk it off".

 

[cricket05]

I have had my beardie for almost 2 months exactly today. We got him as a baby, and I also felt like he got overwhelmed at first with trying to catch the crickets. I use repti carpet -- I would definitely recommend it over sand. When he was younger, what I typically would do was feed him 3 times a day -- and remove some of the items from his tank so that there were less places for the crickets to hide. Also -- I would dust them really good with calcium/vitamin powder. I think that when the crickets are dusted, Murray (my beardie) can see them much better against the substrate...it also slows the crickets a bit. (That might sound silly, but honestly, he goes after them much more aggressively when they are dusted). As far as the greens go, he will eat collard greens about every other day (that I see). I put them in a dish with some water, so they stay fresher longer and he gets water that way when he eats them...hope that is helpful!

 

[stijngh]

Thank you for the reply.

So far, mine hasn't touched any greens yet, except for some grass that fell in the cage while feeding crickets. He was browsing the floor/sand and saw the grass. I've only had him for 6 days but I'm kind of getting worried as his beard is starting to show this very very very light dark spots

Like I said, today was a "good" day as he managed to eat 5 to 10 crickets and I got to stroke him a little. However I'm afraid he doesn't like me to stroke him yet. It's hard to read this little guy's mind and I'm not sure whether he likes the attention I try to give him or not. He seems to be backing up sometimes.

As soon as he gets through this kind of difficult/new period I might buy him the repti carpet and put it on top of the sand. (I'm just a little sad atm for spending over 1,000 euro's while he seems to be kind of stubborn.)

 

[cricket05]

Well, don't let yourself get too frustrated. A baby beardie is harder to care for than an adult, and there is always an adjustment period when they are in their new home. One thing I did was hold Murray at night, right before his typical bedtime. He would fall asleep on my hand...I think it helps build trust.

 

[alalsip]

Number one recommendation, get him off that sand. Babies end up with impaction so fast :-( They live in packed desert, not and desert so they don't have a lot of loose sub. I have tile in the floor of my enclosure, easier to clean then sand or repti carpet. I can't stand repti carpet because it's such a pain to clean, we've had it before with our corn snake. Also, crickets can move a little to fast for babies, rip their hind legs off and that will help. You can get a bowl that they won't get out of too. Anyway, I highly recommend getting rid of the sub, especially if you are feeding you baby in its enclosure on the sub.

 

[stijngh]

Ok. The first thing I'm going to buy when going after new crickets is the reptile carpet.

Meanwhile my beardie is capable of catching crickets no problem (if they're moving around)

 

[alalsip]

Awesome, have your tried small super worms? My baby loves them!

 

[stijngh]

The only worms in our local pet store are waxworms. It was one the first things my beardie ate out of my hand when I first got him (maybe because he was kind of starving when I got him), but now he seems to have lost interest in them... I assume because they move very slowly, and thereby he is unable to notice them?

He loves crickets and black crickets though, but I guess every beardie does
(He loves them the most when they run for their lives)