Did you know that bearded dragons can live to be 15 years old or older? These popular little reptiles make fantastic pets, and bearded dragon care isn’t complicated once you know the basics.
We’re here to talk about how to choose the right bearded dragon food for your reptile companion. Read on to learn more.
What Type of Diet Should a Bearded Dragon Have?
Bearded dragons, like many other reptiles, are omnivores. This means that they eat both plants and other creatures (like insects). Healthy bearded dragons should have fairly diverse diets.
Bearded dragons can eat insects, worms, greens, vegetables, fruits, and even specially-made reptile food. Even if you give your bearded dragon packaged food, make sure you’re supplementing it with other things.
Bearded Dragon Diet By Age
What your bearded dragon eats will change as it gets older. If you have a young bearded dragon now, it needs a special diet. Here’s a quick breakdown of bearded dragon food for juveniles and adults.
Young Bearded Dragons
Bearded dragons are juveniles until they’re about a year old. As they get older, you can slowly transition them to an adult diet before the one-year mark.
Juvenile bearded dragons are more on the carnivorous side. Their diet should consist of about 80% insects like mealworms, crickets, and roaches. The other 20% of their diet should consist of greens and vegetables.
Young bearded dragons can eat fruit, but you shouldn’t give them too much of it. Too much sugar can be bad for them.
Adult Bearded Dragons
Adult bearded dragons have opposite diets from young bearded dragons. Instead of 80% insects and 20% plants, they need 80% plants and 20% insects.
Of course, these are estimates and if you are a few percentage points off, it’s okay.
If adult bearded dragons have too many insects, they can become overweight. If your bearded dragon is gaining noticeable weight, cut down on the insects!
Live insects, like crickets, can be good for maintaining a bearded dragon’s weight because they require some effort on the bearded dragon’s part. They’re also great for intellectual stimulation. Large live insects could harm your bearded dragon, however.
How Much Should a Bearded Dragon Eat?
Bearded dragons tend to stop eating when they’re hungry once they reach maturity, so they’ll let you know when enough is enough. That said, you don’t want to waste food, so here’s a quick trick you can use to gauge how much food they need.
They eat about twice per day. Put insects and plants (in the aforementioned ratios) in the bearded dragon’s enclosure. Remove uneaten insects after 10 minutes and plants after 30 minutes.
This will let you know how much excess you gave your bearded dragon. Next time, try a bit less. If your bearded dragon eats everything, try a bit more.
Well-Fed Bearded Dragons are Happy Bearded Dragons
Bearded dragons make great little pets and their diverse diets make them easy to feed and care for. Keep your bearded dragon happy and healthy by feeding it right!
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