Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone. i have a question or a concern.. my 2 beardies are 8 months old and they easily eat 50-60 crickets per day. its quite expensive when everythign adds up. so ive cut back to 50 crickets 2 days a week with calcium powder.. but also durring the day they eat 1-2 personal salad bowl size servings of kale and veggies and also a dish or some kind of fruit... is this balanced enough for them. im a little concerned because my male has always been smaller than my female.. and all of a sudden hes growing like a wild weed but my female isnt... should i consider feeding her when shes alone in the tank to make sure shes eating enough...? i have a fear my male is eating her food.

cutting back on their food probably won't hurt to bad. Have you checked alternative crickets sources? like buying a box of 1000 off the internet? I know that www.nyworms.com had a deal for a box of 2,000 crix for like $26 with shipping included in the $26. Also, you may want to check up on silk worms. Many people here use them. I haven't so I'm not sure of any benefits.

i'd cut back on feeding them kale if you are doing it often. I've heard that it will absorb calcium and make it unavailable for the dragon to uptake the needed calcium. You can do it once in a while, but not as a main staple. Like, I'll give my dragons some when i make home made soup that has kale in it.

another concern you may want to be aware of is that your male growing like a weed might mean that he is approaching sexual maturity. 99% of the time, you shouldn't keep males with females. Although some people can get away with it, in most cases the male will try to mate with the female ALL DAY LONG! This will stress your female and lead to a shorter life for her.

jake
-----
a free range dragon is a happy dragon

thanks for the info on the kale... i didnt know it can absorb the calcium.. i have bought 1000 crix for 30 bucks form a supplier but well we had about 300 escapees in our garage and around our house...still they only lasted us 2 weeks.... but we also were babysitting a duck... YES A PET DUCK. AND THE DUCK GOT INTO THE CONTAINER... i thoguht it was kinda cute tho. i dont wanna buy crix in bulk again.. cause theres alot of mess n shed and dead ones in there.also, my male is actually the more laid back of the 2 and he has never tried to boss the female.. usually its the other way around cause she was in the tank 1st im guessing.. they love eachother its too cute to watch.. but i still wonder why my femaile isnt growing cause usually shes the one always growing like crazy..

ps. u seem to be a fountain of info.. can i get ur email incase i have any more concerns?

MY beardies are about the same age as yours, I have them together but I feed them one at a time. Just get yourself a spare 10 gallon or some cheap rubber maid [bleep] at the wal-mart or whatever.

Good Lucl

Holy 50 to 60 crickets a day!!!!! my beardie gets like 12 at the max, How do they fit it in their little bellies??? Maybe you need bigger crickets or sumthing, but that doesn't seem right to me. If I had to feed mine that many, with how much they cost up here (Canada, In da sticks), well it would be cheaper to own 10 dogs!!

My dragon was so little I had to use the small crickets for a long time. The closet place to buy them had them for fifteen cents EACH. Yes, that's right...fifteen cents each. LOL I finally went online and saved some. Zilla was a cricket eating machine. Now, at 7 months, he gets crickets a couple of times a week, a few mealworms and lots of fruits and veggies. Lele, you're right about the expense. No one tells you up front how expensive it is to own reptiles and do it right. I've had to have my Russian tortoise to the vet twice since I've had her...at about $70 a pop. If I hadn't taken her, she'd be dead. 10 dogs would be cheaper to own. LOL

Just my humble opinion.

Have a look at your beardie, and take a guess at how big the stomach is! I would suggest 20 adult crickets per day (increasing with size, of course). Always supply fresh fruit and veg and water. Bearded dragons don't have a great system for homeostasis. They have poor livers. When they eat too much fat, their body cannot handle it. You could wake up one day and have what seemed to be a perfectly healthy beardie limp and dead - I learned this the hard way.

Also, all crickets should be dusted. Once again, beardies are very poor at maintaining calcium levels. You should avoid all foods that are high in Phosphorus. It lowers a beardie's ability to harness the calcium it eats/produces.

There's a crapload of info available for free online. All will tell you different things. Many worth reading, though.

Cheers,
Aaron.