Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey ya'll!! First off..my guy is 17 inches and 220g as of last week.(he's 4months) Yesturday when I was cleaning his cage, I reached down to stroke his head...he started shaking..almost vibrating, if you will(but just his head..not the whole body) I don't know if that was just a "I don't feel like being touched today" kinda thing? he's also in shed again..don't know if that's why he would be "moody". He didn't run away just stayed there and watched me finish. Anyway it kinda creeped me out. Usually he doesn't care if I or my hubby give him a rub or hold him..so kinda at a loss here!
Also I've been giving him about 5 large phoenix worms at his 2 feedings along with his crickets. Is this enough or too many? He absolutely loves them and almost "begs" for more! do you think that 220g is a healthy weight? here's a pic of my guy! thanks!!

The vibrating/shaking thing sounds like what they do when a cricket is on their head and their trying to get it off. I don't think I'd worry about it too much. I have a male dragon that just hates to have his head touched. lol.

You'll probably have to decide on the Phoenix worm thing yourself. I don't feed them anymore because the often come out looking the same as they went in if you know what I mean. This leads me to believe that they don't digest them very well. At this point in my life I have way too many dragons to feed such small food anyway.

I think your dragon looks very healthy. I'm surprised he only weighs 220 at 17" looking at him.

phoenix worms are fine to feed a bearded dragon but at that size, the worms really are too small. The worms are great for smaller bearded dragons.

He looks slim for his size and light on the weight..hard to tell if he is underweight from the picture though.

How much are you feeding him daily? At 4 months of age he should still be getting two feeding of insects a day plus a salad available all day long. Feed as many insects he can eat in a 5-10 minute period, per feeding. Once he is about 8 months old cut back to one feeding of insects a day...once about 12-14 months old, only a few insects daily (about 10% of his daily food intake) or a couple feedings per week. Salad daily as usual.

Good insects to offer other than crickets, are silkworms, hornworms, butterworms, some roaches (the smaller softer shelled ones are better), superworms (as treats more than a staple).
-----
PHLdyPayne

he does eat twice a day..I was told to cut back to 2 b/c I was still feeding 3 a couple of weeks ago. he eats about 30 crickets per feeding, along with the phoenix worms, and salad all day and gobbles EVERYTHING up. I just recently switched to the Dole packaged salad (spring mix)and still feeding mustard greens. I weighed him basically with a kitchen scale the first time and might not have gotten a good reading b/c he was moving too much but I just weighed him again and he's 280g. so superworms are ok at this point now? I'm always scared that he'll get impacted or that something will chew through his belly...LOL here's a couple more pictures...thanks for all your help!

At 280 he can eat adult crickets, silkworms, superworms, pretty much everything except for large roaches and full size hornworms might be a little much too.

Pretty soon you can think about starting to feed him live food just once a day in the am.

awesome! I was going to ask about cricket size but decided not to!! I just got his crickets(1500) 2 days ago and they are all 1/2"...very very good to know!! thanks!!!

1/2" is different depending on supplier too. For him I'd order 3/4" in bulk since they'll live for up to about a month at that size.