Reptile & Amphibian Forums

latley I have seen a few of you post how you dont feed your dragons live food (Crickets, meal worms, silk worms, etc etc).
Or if you do it is very limited.

I imagine if you do this then their diet has to be rich in other products and greens.

I was wondering if some of you can give me detailed info as to how you go about preparing their meals (what products you use, how you apply them to the salads etc etc)

Also do you notice a difference in your dragons (size, weight, growth rate etc etc)?

also if you do start them off on crickets and other live feeders and eventually move them onto a "non live feeder" diet... when do you usually make the switch over?

sorry about all the questions... just trying to further educate myself

thanks again...

Lou

I don't know if this will help, but here is what I feed....

Adult / Juvi:
They get salad daily which generally contains a mix of mustard greens, endive, turnip greens, escarole, squash, plus other such things. I usually lightly calcium dust their salads and add a multivitamin once a week.
In their cages they have a dish of dry rep cal pellets. This dish is left in 24/7 and refilled when empty.
Twice a week they get mealies, supers, mealie bugs, or other such live feeder. (No crickets)I always dust these feeders.

The babies are also getting salad daily and in another dish they have moistened pellets. I change both dishes out twice a day. Once they reach about 4 weeks old, I will try them on some live feeders.... again, no crickets. LOL

My 6 year old daughter hates crickets with a passion and I use anything except them!

Since cutting out crickets, I have actually noticed a general better appearance, health and weight gain. It is strange, but my dragons seem to be doing a whole lot better without the crix.

Oh, I also have some ectotherm dragon yummies and I sometimes chop them up and add them to their salads also.

I have one adult female here that never seemed to gain any weight or length.... After taking crix out of the diet and doing things the way I now do, she has started gaining both weight and length and has a better all over coloring to her. It may just be a "fluke", but when I have 7 adult / sub adult dragons all doing very well on this diet.... it makes me think otherwise.

Hope I helped a little bit

>>latley I have seen a few of you post how you dont feed your dragons live food (Crickets, meal worms, silk worms, etc etc).
>>Or if you do it is very limited.
>>
>>I imagine if you do this then their diet has to be rich in other products and greens.
>>
>>I was wondering if some of you can give me detailed info as to how you go about preparing their meals (what products you use, how you apply them to the salads etc etc)
>>
>>Also do you notice a difference in your dragons (size, weight, growth rate etc etc)?
>>
>>also if you do start them off on crickets and other live feeders and eventually move them onto a "non live feeder" diet... when do you usually make the switch over?
>>
>>sorry about all the questions... just trying to further educate myself
>>
>>thanks again...
>>
>>Lou

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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

You said you have a dish of dry pellets in the Adults cage 24/7, do you mean the Adult pellets or juvenile pellets??? The Adult pellets are so large I don't know how they could eat them dry? I hand feed my adults their pellets(soaked in juice) every evening and give them their salad with supplements every morning.

Sorry, no.

I should make that clear... I do not buy the adult pellets at all. I only buy the juvi pellets. Not only are they much smaller and easier for the dragons to handle, but they have a higher protein level. The adult variety has a higher fiber level and less protien.

>>You said you have a dish of dry pellets in the Adults cage 24/7, do you mean the Adult pellets or juvenile pellets??? The Adult pellets are so large I don't know how they could eat them dry? I hand feed my adults their pellets(soaked in juice) every evening and give them their salad with supplements every morning.
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Adult - 13% fiber 24% protein 2% fat

Juvi - 12% fiber 29% protein 2% fat

>>Sorry, no.
>>
>>I should make that clear... I do not buy the adult pellets at all. I only buy the juvi pellets. Not only are they much smaller and easier for the dragons to handle, but they have a higher protein level. The adult variety has a higher fiber level and less protien.
>>
>>
>>>>You said you have a dish of dry pellets in the Adults cage 24/7, do you mean the Adult pellets or juvenile pellets??? The Adult pellets are so large I don't know how they could eat them dry? I hand feed my adults their pellets(soaked in juice) every evening and give them their salad with supplements every morning.
>>-----
>>Lisa
>>www.beginnersbasics.com
>>
>>
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

my baby daigh, he just loves the adult ones all nice and soaked, he eats the juvi ones also, he just mows through them, eating them bite for bite attacking like crickets, hes funny, my adults on the other hand.. well they arent fond of pellets, especially the adult ones, my one adult wont even eat her salad if the pellets are in there, silly dragons.
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reiko
photos

thanks for the replies everyone (Especially Lisa for the nice detailed response)

seems like the diet is a lot healthier...

anyone else out there have some good "non or limited" live food diets?

just would like to compare... I believe JoelR follows a diet like this...

-Lou

im not a beleiver in a non live food diet, espeically for babies and juvi's, they need the proteins to grow and i beleive that hunting is a natural part of a dragons existance that we shouldnt take away from them, as a horse loves to run, a dragon loves to hunt, its natural and tehy are born with the instinct, we need to think about their mental health along with the physical. a main diet for adults of salads and pellets seems fine with the 3 times a week feeding of live prey of your choice, all my dragons still get crickets, supers, butterworms, silkworms, roaches and the odd green giant as a treat, my adults get a small amount of live feeders each day, its what they look forward to, their eyes brighten as soon as they know its feeding time. my baby lives for his crickets, although he eats a ton of pellets also, along with the pellets (eating about 4 adult pellets and 20 juvi on average) he eats about 60 - 80 crickets a day, along with salad. i know live feeders are a pain in the butt, but what would our lives be without ice cream? or our favorite food? what if we could only eat a dish of soaked pellets each day, it would be pretty drab. as for parasites in live feeders,with a little more effort on our part we can control these parasites,(parazap, probiotics, etc) its well worth it. this is just my opinion, its really up to the individual and what tehy think is best for their dragon.
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reiko
photos

IMO, there is nothing wrong with a non live feeder diet. I do the same thing, I leave pellets in 24/7 and give them salads and ectotherm dragon bites. I dont believe a bearded dragon "loves to hunt." Watch your beardies eat, most of them stand in one place, waiting for their food to come by, then they eat it. And instinct is something that they know to do, something that they wouldn't even consider changing. I don't shove pellets in their mouths, they voluntarily eat them. That's their instinct too. Animals in captivity, almsot always live long then those that are wild. This is because of the improved lifestyle we provide them. Pellets are made to meet needs, without other risks. Becuase of this, they are living longer and healthier. This is just my opinion. I'm nto expressing it to change your mind, just to say what I think. And thanks Reiko, I love hearing different opinions. And Before I go, I just want to say, I do feed my dragons occasional crickets, waxworms, mealworms, etc. They do need a treat here and there.
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~Julie~