Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, my school has a bearded dragon in the science lab (along with a ratsnake, ball python, and rats) (im not in this class) that I had agreed to take care of. The dragon is in bad condition. I had seen it before, but could not stay long because the principal was just introducing me the the teacher, but today I went to the store and got crickets, and fed him. As he was eating I was watching him and he is very very underweight. (i dont know his age, tomorrow I will try to get that and his weight) the science teacher told me to feed him 7 crickets(yes, dusted) and that seemed low to me, I gave him eight. He gobbled them up and was looking around for more, so I told the teacher that I was going to keep feeding him as much as he can eat in about 10min. as i was watching him i could see his hip bones, and his body is not very round. he is active and attentive, his tail was curled upwards while he was "hunting". and when I picked him up he strugled to get back down so he could eat some more (i thought he was done). I was just wondering what I can feed him to bring his weight back up and how long it will take. again, i will get the age and weight tomorrow.

Thanx. and sorry if it was long and a bit incoherent, school sucks and im tired

How big is he? if he's sub adult or adult you can give him 1-2 pinkies a week along with a regular suply of crickets.

Best and first thing you should do is to get a fecal done to make sure he does not have any parasites. I would also feed him as many crickets as he can eat in 10 min. You might even want to do that a couple of times a day, just make sure you feed him in a different tank/enclosure as loose crickets will stress the little guy more then he already is.

Good luck and keep us posted...

7 crickets is not nearly enough, when i had beardies they could easily eat 50 crickets each. If the school wont let you feed the bearded dragon pinkies try wax worms. If it is just a hatchling then i guess 7 crix is ok but that is only for hatchlings.

My Beardeds Can go through anywhere from 15 to 30 crickets in ONE sitting! They also get a Salad of Collards, Mustard, turnip, and dandelion greens, Veggies like bell pepper, Peas (a favorite) and different squashs, and a TINY bit of Fruit (Too much gives them the runs). They also can have Super Worms, Meal Worms, Wax Worms, Silk Worms, and....Roaches( YUCK! I don't feed them.... ICK!). To fatten Him up, One person said Pinkies. I haven't fed them but I've heard it's good for them. Hope this helps. Keep us updated....
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.1 Beardies, 0.2 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.1 Leo, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.3 eastern garters (plus 24 babies!!!!), 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

Giant mealwormms, depending on his size, ground beef low fat, Sardines (canned), egg hard boiled, superworm, Zophobas Worms, waxworm, silkworm, swiss cheese, avacodo and olive. All of these have a high or medium fat content (10% fat)I got all of these from beutifuldragons.com go to nutrition content.
Beautiful Dragon site

I wouldn't even give hatchlings 7 crickets. My 2 week beardies go through about 15-30 crickets at one feeding, and I feed them twice a day, along with their veggies. I get all my beardies on pellets eentually, you might want to try that.
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~Julie~

feed these items to a bearded dragon?

Please read and understand something before you advise others to give it to their animals. Following those food directions will only harm an animal.

A balanced diet of PROPER foods is what he needs, not high fats that will put him into liver disease and kidney failure within days.

Bearded Dragon Diet
Dr Tosneys Insects and Greens for bearded dragons
Bearded Dragon Care and Feeding

I'm sorry if you misunderstood my nutrition content page... Please be advised that the items in blue are to be fed rarely. Ground beef is high in phosphorus (15 times more phosphorus than calcium) and should be fed rarely or never, eggs, avocados, and olives should all be fed rarely, swiss cheese has a high amount of vitamin A in it so it should be fed rarely.

I included these items on my nutrition page because I was curious about how good they were for beardies. And I knew that others would be curious too. Several years ago I fed my beardies a treat of cooked chicken about once a week because a vet told me I could. I didn't know that chicken had a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 1:16.7!!! Yikes! Since it's not lethal in small amounts, I couldn't say to never feed it. That's why the "feed rarely" items were chosen to be in that category. In small doses they are ok - as treats - but feeding on a daily basis, even weekly basis, can prove to have negative effects in the long run.

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

some things to help you with this:

1) ask nicely "why are 7 crickets sufficent?"
2) take the tracher to this site and have him/her read this message thread.
3) get the teacher to read this book:

ISBN 1-882770-59-5
The Bearded Dragon Manual
www.avsbooks.com
retail cost 14.95 USD

if the dragon is at least 9 months old it should be about 19 inches long and be around 200-250 grams weight depending on length etc...

also if explain about the fat pads behind the eyes...
should be plump and slightly bulging (just a tad)
if they are sunken then he needs to gain....

explain they are one of the "Visible reserves" on a BD and should be checked every week....
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7 crickets is not enough for any growing dragon. Deffinitely stick to feeding him as much crickets as he wants in 10 minutes, just make sure they are no bigger than the space between his eyes. Don't both with pinkies...they are high fat (same with waxworms). Put in a mixed salad of greens, as already suggested, first thing in the morning when you arrive at school. Leave it in with him all day. If he is under a year old (and even if he is, till he is back to his proper weight) feed him crickets (and fresh greens) again at the end of the school day. Dust crickets once every other day. Find out about his lightening as well. Does he have a UVB bulb/tube that is no more than 6 months old? Check basking temps as well. (should be between 95-110 F, around 80 ambient temperature).

Silkworms and hornworms are great to feed any reptile, they are high in just about everything good, except fat. You can also leave the worms in the cage without worry that they will eat your dragon during the night (crickets will snack on dragons if they have no other food source).

Make sure he is fed over the weekend and holidays.

I know 7 crickets is not enough, and I told the teacher once I found out. I feed him as much as he could eat in about 15min that day. I found out he is 6 years old (dont know lenght and weight yet, underclassmen were in the class, and did not want to bring him out) wax worms are out of season, once it gets colder they will be available for sell. The teacher also had pinkie mice about a week ago, I checked up on them and they are now WAY to big. Its amazing how fast those damn things grow! He said he is going to breed some more. I dont know where to get the worms. There is only one store here for exotic pets, and they only have crickets right now. I'll ask about mail-ordering, but the school will have to do that, because I cant afford to feed that dragon AND the 2 that im getting in about 3 days.

The dragon doenst have a basking light, but does have a uvb and full spectrum fluroescent. I dont know the temp of the cage. If im not over-loaded on homework tommorow, or if I have enough time before class class starts (I dont have this teacher or this classroom, its quite a trip to my class). I'll see if I could fit a basking light in there, Its difficult to see the top of the cage (is a custom built 3 stacked cage shelf and he is at the middle)

Hope I did not leave anything out, and thanks for the help