Posted by:
-ryan-
at Sun Nov 20 17:52:00 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by -ryan- ]
You talk about 'forgetting about nature' when you yourself refuse to consider the fact that there is not that many live prey items available to bearded dragons on a regular basis. I think it is more natural for them to eat more vegetables than meat even at a young age. I think that letting them eat as much as they can is kind of the way people humanize them, because they feel that they need to feel full. However, in the wild, baby beardies are probably never full, and this keeps them on a quest to find more and more food items. I doubt wild baby bearded dragons have access to 25 live insects every day. Sure, they are out there, but then you have to factor in that the beardie cannot not find all of them, nor catch them. The dragons are not starving. In fact, the beardies at the pet shop I mentioned are actually nice and plump, and not very far off the regular growth curve for their ages (they are all about 8-10" long, and a little under 6 monthes old). People feed large constrictors a lot if they want them to grow to a good size, and usually the snakes are all too eager to eat the food. In the wild they will often go monthes before finding a good meal.
Besides, there are reports from australia of bearded dragons living over 15 years. I think this is more on the right track, however it is just a theory. I think too many people fall into the idea that captive care of reptiles needs no improvement. There is always room for improvement though. For instance, the existance of substrate impactions shows that there are problems in husbandry, because lizards that have all other needs taken care of correctly do not become impacted. The reason many do is because of dehydration. No desert reptile really lives in low humidity. They all (bearded dragons included) utilize areas of higher humidity by burying themselves underneath things or digging burrows. Otherwise they would not survive.
I think this is a good debate though, because it's something that not a lot of people really sit down and think about. The vast majority of owners just rely on care sheets.
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RE: Bearded dragons typically fed too much???.... - -ryan-, Sun Nov 20 17:52:00 2005