Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our 5 month old beardie still eats stinky crickets and superworms. We would like to get him eating a diet of 100% pellets/greens. Of course, he would get occassional snacks of worms. Does anyone have any helpful hints on getting my guy off of the bugs and onto the pellets? Is there a certain brand of pellets that beardies like over others?

Thanks

The only brand that everyone here will eat is rep cal. You can try soaking them in apple juice or some other juice he likes. I find that the key to switching them over is movement.... Drop them one at a time into his tank and they will bounce or roll. Usually they will run after it and eat it. Then drop another and repeat over and over. You could also leave a dish of dry pellets in his tank at all times. Also, you could Put some on top of his veggies in the morning. Handfeeding sometimes works too!

My adults get super worms or other feeders 2-3 x weekly the rest of the time they have veggies and pellets. ALL of my dragons were eating live foods when they first came to me.

>>Our 5 month old beardie still eats stinky crickets and superworms. We would like to get him eating a diet of 100% pellets/greens. Of course, he would get occassional snacks of worms. Does anyone have any helpful hints on getting my guy off of the bugs and onto the pellets? Is there a certain brand of pellets that beardies like over others?
>>
>>Thanks
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Thanks for the helpful hints, Lisa!! I have heard that RepCal is the best. Funny, but I can't find it around here anywhere. I guess I will have to order it over the net.

Dawn

Or you could use the Kaytee brand pellets. My dragons love those, all i have to do is soak them in water, or some diluted Gatorade. It also smells better. I've heard repcal cna be pretty stinky. When you soak Kaytee pellets in water, they get a fruity smell which i think attracts the Bearded Dragons also. Good luck
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Julie

Rep cal pellets smell fruity also. They actually smell exactly the same as "pretty bird" and "Kaytee" and some of those other bird pellets.
The only time they get "stinky" is if they are soaked and left to sit overnight or something. You open a bag of Rep cal and think of fruity pebbles cereal LOL

>>Or you could use the Kaytee brand pellets. My dragons love those, all i have to do is soak them in water, or some diluted Gatorade. It also smells better. I've heard repcal cna be pretty stinky. When you soak Kaytee pellets in water, they get a fruity smell which i think attracts the Bearded Dragons also. Good luck
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>>Julie
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

>>My largest beardie only likes the red pellets ( RepCal )
The two little guys prefer the red pellets but will take a few of the green ones also.
None of them will eat the tans ones.
I just soak them in water. I guess I will have to try fruit juices. They just don't put enough red pellets in a batch.
Luckily my Red-Foot Tortoise and my aquatic turtles will eat any extra pellets.
Have you ever tried the Nature's Zone soft cubes?
I have been waiting for a smaple to arrive in the mail but I think they must have forgotten to send it.
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Remember, my posts are MY opinion only.
Jimmy (draybar)

The pellets that I get for my dragons are zoomed bearded dragon pellets, or even the juvenile iguana pellets from zoomed. I personally think the ingredients are better and my guys eat them as much as they eat rep-cal pellets or any other brands. The main ingredient is alfalfa which is pretty much one of the best greens for reptiles do to the cal/phos ratio, dandelion greens, mustard greens etc. I like it cause I know what's in it. Most other brands are mostly corn or wheat based which is not that healthy. All brands supplement the pellets with vitamins and calcium anyway, so I look at the main ingredients and decided on the zoomed pellets. I also don't feed a green/pellet staple diet mine get live foods as well as greens/pellets daily. I started to get mine to eat them by dropping them into their salads and the movement got them going for them.
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Mystical Dragons

My Dragons love the Rep Cal Bearded Dragon pellets
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-Lauren

~ Lauren's Lizards ~

groups.yahoo.com/group/LaurensLizards

I switched to pellets when Doodle was about the same age, I was so glad to not have crix in the house! I switched him by getting him eating greens well, then hiding soaked pellets in his greens as a garnish. I still put his pellets in with his greens, but now that he's used to them, he's not quite so sneaky about leaving them He loves Rep-Cal pellets, but only the red and green ones... for some wierd reason he always leaves the yellow ones unless I hand feed those. Good luck!