Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,
I searched the forums, but really couldn't come up with anything on this. I always thought that Pellet Diets for herps were bad and a no no. Now I see breeders switching their dragons to pellets and advertising cricket-free babies and such. I have an adult Dragon who's about one and half years old and who grew up on crickets. Now she eats mostly leafy greens e.g. Collards escarole chicory etc. She has treats of fruits and insects a few times a week e.g. bananas, peaches, crickets, wax worms, small mealworms. I have another beardie on the way, whom I'll have in a week. He/she is just a baby, perhaps 2 months old. I guess my question is, is a pellet diet REALLY good for them? Long Term? Will a hatchling who never sees a cricket grow up to normal size and be healthy?
Also, everyone says Rep-Cal is the best brand of pellets out there. I was looking at the label and the ingredients don't seem so appetizing:ground wheat, corn, poultry by-products and etc. Is this stuff really good for our babies? I was reading the ingredients for the Fluker's brand Juvenile Beardie food and the 5th ingredient is ground crickets, wouldn't something like this be better for beardies? Call me a really hard skeptic, but I guess I wanna hear from from fellow dragon keepers on this one. Anybody have info or "proof" that a heavy percentage pellet diet(more than 50%) is ok for them?
Anywho, I love my dragon and the one I'll have in a week from now and want them to have the best. If pellets are the best then I'll do what it takes and get them on a pellet diet, but I guess I just want hard proof. As fellow herpers I'm sure you can sympathize with the fact that from day one, we're taught to be skeptical of what "the package says" so to speak as far as commercial products go. Thanks for reading and any info would be great!

-Cathy
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Cathy Hrusa
poetichusky@hotmail.

~My Ever-growing herp Collection~
1.0 Albino Green Burmese Python
0.1 Green Het for Albino Burmese Python
1.0 Het for Albino Ball Python
0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.3 Normal Leopard geckos
0.0.1 Albino Leopard Gecko
0.1 FL Cooter
1.0 Sunburst X Blue Veiled Chameleon

I dont know much about the pellet diets, and I am new to beardies, but heres my take from experience. I started using zoo meds pellets for juveniles. They claim to be semi moist, but they were hard and my dragon wouldnt eat them, so I soaked them. He did eat them then, but his stools started getting quite loose, so I stopped, and they have not cleared up much since. I dont know if it was the pellets for sure, but that was really the only thing I had changed. I did however run out of the freeze dried crickets that I usually use, that could have made a difference maybe. But he is getting those again, and he hasnt had stool to compare yet.

Though I don't use the pellets for my dragons, (mine wouldn't even touch them, dry, soaked in water or juice etc. and the only time she did eat some from my hand after I tricked her into thinking it was a mealworm, she gave me such a dirty look then completely refused to eat anything from my hand for the next week LOL) but have read many here who have tried it and had great success with healthy dragons.

Most seem to use the Rep Cal pellets instead of the zoo-med (which was also the kind my girl refused..but crickets eat it no problem) but I haven't personally tried any of the other brands. Didn't want to waste another $6 on pellets if my dragon refused them as well. Anyway, from what I have read, most bearded dragons fed pellets at an early age don't grow as fast but later on, catch up to siblings fed on crickets. I haven't heard of any other noticeable side effects from any of the pellets but have always heard they should be soaked for several minutes in either plain water, diluted juice (non citrus, ie orange, lemon etc) then offered to your dragon, either ontop of their regular salad or alone.

I believe most people who use pellets use them ontop of a regular mix of healthy greens, using them more as an insect replacement than a salad replacement though most pellets are packaged as a complete meal suppliment, needing nothing else. Personally I feel pellets are better as food for young adults and older dragons to hold them when you have to be away for a day or two, like a weekend, if they are willing to eat them.

Sounds about right... that's what I do. I'll mix up Patchy's salad and sprinkle the soaked pellets on top. He tends to eat them without realizing they're there half the time.

Nutritionally, however, most of the diets are pretty good from what I've seen.

I use both, pellets and crickets. I feed my two beardies soaked pellets mixed in a salad in the morning and crickets in the afternoon. I still feed my adult juvenile pellets and she loves them. I've never had a problem, and my two dragon are perfectly healthly and full-size.

Khandof