Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 3 adult dragons.. 2 Females in 1 cage, and 1 male in another. I consider them pretty healthy but wanted to ask as the answers will problably vary alot... What do you feed an adult dragon and how much? I want to see variations and maybe pick up some suggestions. Does anyone feed them bearded dragon pellets? How often do you dust their food? How often do you bath them, and can you over hydrate them? I feed mine small grasshoppers, and occasionally wax worms as a treat. Everyday they get a mixture of fruit and vegetables. I bath them once a week, and sometimes 2 times. I dust their food 3 times a week. I also was considering adding crickets maybe once a week instead of grasshoppers. Thanks

Adult dragons should get 90% of their food in greens and vegetables, with some fruit (but very little on the fruit). A single feeding once a day is fine for each dragon with a few scattered insects. Adding crickets, silkworms, roaches, butterworms, superworms etc to the diet is good to, but try to keep the insect amount no more than 10-20% of their daily intake of food. (breeding/clutching females should get a bit more insects (ie the 20% amount) to help with egg production. THey should also have 2-3 dustings of calcium powder as well. The male and non breeding/egg laying females, are fine with one or two dustings a week of vitamins and calcium D3.

For a good ideal on what greens/vegetables to feed daily and to mix it up for variety, the website below is perfect.

To me dragons shouldn't be bathed at all except to clean them up if they happen to drag themselves into their own poop or are dirty otherwise. A healthy eating dragon will get all the moisture they need from fresh greens. But each dragon is different and if your dragon appears to enjoy the baths (some hate it with a passion) once a week is fine.

As for the amount of food, it really depends on your animals. I suggest about half a cup or so per adult dragon of chopped greens/veggies. More offered to breeding/egglaying females. However, monitoring their weight and condition and adjust amount of food and types of food offered accordingly. A too fat dragon is just as unhealthy as a too skinny one. A healthy weight dragon should look well filled out with a thick tail base and little to a slight roundness of the fat pads behind the eyes.

Posting pictures will make it easier to gauge if your dragon looks underweight, overweight or perfect. Take pictures from above and sides with a good look of the head and tail base.
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PHLdyPayne

Sorry, forgot to post the website link:

www.beautifuldragons.com

I haven't used the pellets much with my bearded dragons. The one time I tried, my dragon wouldn't eat them at all. I wound up feeding the pellets to her crickets instead. I haven't bought any since then. I know others have used pellets as a topping on salads and never had problems. I just recommend ensuring your dragon is well hydrated, as pellets are dry, even if soaked first.
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PHLdyPayne

Where do you get the grasshoppers?

I get the grasshoppers in the pet store. I'm in Germany, so now another question arises. Can you get grasshoppers in pet stores in USA? Our dragons seem to prefer them over crickets.

I've never seen live grasshoppers for sale anywhere.

I believe there are alot of restrictions on getting/selling live grasshoppers in north America. I believe some people breed local grasshoppers but most consider them not always the best feeder insects due to the sharp spines on the rear legs.
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PHLdyPayne

Here they sell three different kinds. Small brownish ones which are slightly bigger then crickets. Larger greenish yellow ones that are slightly larger, and then large light brown ones. The first two the dragons seem to really enjoy, but the largest ones have large wings and the dragons don't seem to like them as much. I don't know how to post pictures so if you want to see them I will send pics if you would like.