Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am trying to transfer my beardie, bud to a commercial diet and am wanting suggestions he's currently eating the heck out of romaine lettuice. also, i think he might be a she, its only about 5 inches long so it isn't quite long enough to tell from under its tail, does anyone know any other ways to determine sex?

Hello,

Do you mean a pellet only diet? I wouldn't do this. You can use pellets to supplement their current diet, but a diet exclusively of pellets wouldn't be too good for him. He needs LOTS of appropriately size insects, small crickets, silkworms, roaches...etc. Romaine lettuce is also nutritional poor and can give them diarrhea. www.beautifuldragons.com is the best site to go to for nutritional information.
It's also difficult to sex them under 8 inches long. Some males take longer to develop their hemipenes than others, so he's can look like she's for quite some time. Other than that, a female's head will generally be smaller in proportion to her body than a male...females tend to be heavier-bodied, and her tail will taper more sharply than a male's. But with a baby, very hard to tell. You'll have to wait until he/she does some growing.
-Nicky
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Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...

2.1 Bearded Dragons: Gordo, Layne, & Chiquita
2.4 Cats: Zeus, Remi, Kiki, Delilah, Sadie & Cheyenne
1.0 Betta: Mr. Purple

First off, ditch the lettuce! Feed greens: collard, mustard, dandelion, etc., Summer squash. those types of DARK greens (limit spinach & clover). Offer the pellets all day in a dish and you can try putting some of the greens on top of it. They should eventually get the idea. Also, I wouldn't cut out the insects at such a young age no matter what the labels say... BD's do a LOT of growing in the first few months and need the best nutrition possible during this time for its future health.

-Bonnie

Yea, I agree. I'd wait until your beardie is around 10" before doing this. Even then, they are still growing pretty rapidly.
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0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 Ball python
0.3 Crested Geckos
2.2.7 Leopard Geckos (male-jungle, hypo tangerine carrot tail. female-normal, albino. babies-leucistic, blizzard, normal)
0.1 Western Hognose snake
1.0 Eastern Milksnake (currently free roaming in my home =/)
1.0 Albino Lavender California Kingsnake
1.1 Bearded Dragons
0.2 Water turtles
1.0 Umbrella Cockatoo (belongs to my mom and I)

I know that it is still young, but here are some photos to help you make a guess at the sex.
http://www.dachiu.com/sexing.html

You may want to wait a while before transferring her. Since she is young....crickets are still good.

Anyways, what I did, was let my beardies go hungry for couple of days, then I introduced pellets and "salad". They are now exclusive pellet/salad eaters, with the occasional worm/pinkie.
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0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 Ball python
0.3 Crested Geckos
2.2.7 Leopard Geckos (male-jungle, hypo tangerine carrot tail. female-normal, albino. babies-leucistic, blizzard, normal)
0.1 Western Hognose snake
1.0 Eastern Milksnake (currently free roaming in my home =/)
1.0 Albino Lavender California Kingsnake
1.1 Bearded Dragons
0.2 Water turtles
1.0 Umbrella Cockatoo (belongs to my mom and I)