Posted by:
PHLdyPayne
at Sun Jun 17 13:05:20 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHLdyPayne ]
Your dragon is definitely at an age where she should be eating greens as well as insects.
What greens have you tried?
www.beautifuldragons.com has a great list of greens and vegetables and a guide on how often to feed each type of green.
Mixing greens up with a couple staple greens, is the best way to go, to expose your dragon to as much variety as possible. Same goes with insects.
From the post your friend hillbilly put up, he indicates you do not use any UVB/UVA lights, just supplements. Though it is possible to do this, I don't recommend it at all to people who are pretty new to keeping bearded dragons. The need of UVB and UVA exposure is not completely understood in reptiles but it is known that UVB is needed for proper production of vitamin D and calcium synthesis. Thus, I suggest you get her a UVB light, or take her outside for natural sunlight for about 30 mins a day or 4-5 hours a week (spread out over several days).
Make sure your dragon is hydrated. If she's only eating insects, she isn't getting as much moisture as she should. Dragons get the bulk of their moisture from their food and greens have a much higher moisture content on average than most insects. As BDLvr suggested, offer silkworms. These are great feeders, don't cause impaction, contain high amounts of water as well as calcium and protein. Drop a few of these on her greens...if she eats them, she's going to get a few greens anyway, as silkworms will cling to the greens they are on and if your greens are freshly washed or misted, these are likely to stick to the worms too.
Other insects foods that can be mixed into a dragon's diet are butter worms, hornworms, roaches and instead of mealworms, superworms though superworms shouldn't be a staple insect, but they are better than mealworms, more 'meat' than exoskeleton.
One last comment. The new cage. I am assuming the picture below is her in her new cage? If so, I suggest covering the back wall with black construction paper or bristol board, or even an aquarium/terrarium backdrop. Being exposed on all sides can be very stressful to a dragon which can use skittishness, lack of appetite etc. The fact she spends alot of time hiding, could be due to being stressed by all the activity around her.
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PHLdyPayne
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RE: My beardie wont eat - PHLdyPayne, Sun Jun 17 13:05:20 2007
