Reptile & Amphibian Forums

omg... Z is eating me out of house and home. he's only 11 1/2 inches snout to tail and he eats like he's 10 times that size. and he begs for food. i can't even walk by the cricket cage without him going INSANE. i feed him greens daily and try to keep him on about 15 to 20 crickets a day and a couple of mealworms and occassionally a waxworm. how much should he be eating really??? he's 11 1/2 inches and he's about 50 grams maybe a little more.

amy

Feed hom more crickets! Mine eats like 30-40 a day plus veggies
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I keep reading about everyone's beardies eating 30 - 40 crickets a day, but no one mentions what size their beardie is or how big the crickets are. I thought mine had parasites because of the lack of crickets eaten compared to everyone elses. But after a vet visit and a negative fecal sample I'm wondering if this is the case. The vet said that Zeffer appeared to be extremely healthy and I was doing a superb job of raising him. He only eats about 7 - 10 crickets a day but they're of a nice size. He won't touch the smaller ones I ordered. So if anyone can post what size beardie/cricket and the amount a day I would really appreciate it.

My dragon is almost a year old and 18 inches long. She has always been a big eater tho, ever since she was a baby. The crickets are now between 1/2 and 3/4 inches, I order the 1/2 inch but their size tends to vary.
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I start my hatchlings out on 1/4-3/8" crickets. Once they are about a month old they get half inch. Once they get about 100 grams they go over to adult crickets. And stay there. What my adults eat depends on their mood. Pregnant females will devour over 40 crickets easy money. I tend to feed as much as they will eat.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

As many as he wants!!

Your dragon is about the same size as mine when I decided to feed him more...best thing to do is keep giving him crickets (1/2 inch to 3/4 inch, well fed crickets (ie feed them same greens you give your dragon and any store bought gutload (or make your own)). Feed him as many as he can eat in about 10-15 minutes or till he just won't eat any more. Leave a nice amount of greens so he can pig out on those later on if he gets hungry.

I am assuming he is under a year old, so I would feed him twice a day, morning and at 5pm or so (just make sure he has at least an hour to digest before lights out). Again feed both greens and as many crickets he wants.

You can also give him silkworms..they get along bigger than crickets but have much more nutrients than a cricket. I have been feeding mine silkworms for a week now and he loves them. He only eats 3-5 of them per meal but that's because they fill him up quick. He then eats all his greens too. He's really growing now to, up to 13 inches from 10 in about two weeks.