Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is their any way you over feed you're dragons what the average criicket a bearded dragon can eat? How do you know if they are overweight ?

Yes you can overfeed a dragon. Growing dragons during their first year are very difficult to over feed as they burn so much energy by growing nearly 500% of their birth size in their first year.

After they are a year old, growth slows down considerably and here is when its easy to get an overweight dragon. Feeding too many insects to adults certainly can put the weight on. Adults should only receive about 10-20% of their total daily intake as insects, the rest should be a mix of greens and vegetables. Clutching females can receive a little more insects than males and non clutching females.

Overweight dragons have large fat pads behind their eyes (these in a healthy weight dragon should barely be noticeable (if concave then you are looking at an underweight dragon). Really large tail base and thick rounded limbs and hugely sagging bellies are also signs of overweight dragons.

Keeping track of regular weigh ins of your dragon with a decent kitchen scale (preferably one that can weight in one gram increments) is a great way to see if they are gaining or loosing weight. As baby dragons grow so fast, there should never be any weight decrease between measurements. If there are, then either not enough food is being offered and eaten, or something else is wrong. For babies I suggest weighing once a week. Adults once a month should be fine, or every other week.

Feeding a healthy varied diet (of both insects and greens) with proper husbandry will ensure a healthy dragon. Weight gain in adults typical is due to feeding too much insects or high calorie containing fruits and vegetables.
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PHLdyPayne

Correct me if im wrongs guys. Some have different methods but generally feeding as many crickets as your dragon can consume in 15 minutes is a good rule of thumb fr how much to feed at one time.

feeding as many crickets a dragon can eat in 10-15 mins is fine for babies up to about 6 months old. At this point greens should also be available (good to have them available all the time from the day you get the dragon, even if ignored while the dragon is young). But the time a dragon is 8 months he should be eating about half greens, half insects. Hence why frequency of insect feedings are reduced, you don't want the dragons to fill on crickets and not touch their greens. Once adults, they should be eating 80-90% vegetation.
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PHLdyPayne

Oh ok I think one of my dragons might be overweight can anyone tell me they weight they should be every month if possible

How old, long, heavy? A picture would be good. There is no such thing as an overweight juvenile. Are we talking about an adult?