Can Beardies eat too much? More variety in food?

[alwayshotroddin]

Hi guys,

I have 2 female bearded dragons, 8 months old.  Currently they are fed green leaf lettuce and medium sized crickets.   I fill up their bowl for lettuce probably 2-3 times per day.  I was feeding them crickets everyday but have cut back to every other day (they eat about 40 medium crickets at a time, or 20 crickets each).  The reason I did this is because they are looking very fat. Their bellies drag to the ground and they just look chunky.  But at the same time, they are babies so wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. Can beardies become obese at 8 months old??

Also -- I know there is much debate on what types of greens to feed, but the reason I chose green leaf is because they eat it better than anything else and also it retains moisture really well compared to other greens at the store.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Furthermore, their poop has looked more runny lately. I don't know if you would consider it diarrhea, but it definitely isn't quite as solid as it usually is. Would this be due to not feeding crickets everyday like I was? Maybe too much lettuce or food in general? Not enough variety?

Please let me know what you guys think and what a good staple diet would be for an 8 month old dragon and how often/how many crickets you feed. Thanks everyone!!!

[9west2124]

everything iv heard and read says no lettuce. it has almost no nutricien at all. a good green is mustard or collard. a way to get them a little extra water is soke a little of the greens and leave them on there basking area. anether good thing that my beardie loves is green peppers but dont feed to much green peppers. i tend to do about a 80 20 mix every other day and add a little green peppers every other day. a good staple instead of crickets is phenoix worms or silk worms. or if u want to mix in some super worms now and agian thats fine as long as there dusted.

[JessieB]

I was wondering the same thing about a beardie getting overweight.  Mine won't really eat her greens too well.  Will eat some clover and dandelion greens if outside, sometimes a mulberry leaf, but not much else.  In her viv, I have only had success w/ green pepper.  She loves her "bugs" though.  She will woof down dubia roaches, silkworms, hornworms, and crickets.  I too think she looks like she's getting a big "fat."  She is about 15 mos old. 

[9west2124]

i found the best way to get your baby beardie to eat his or her greens is soak them a little in there water bowl then put it by the tip of her nose so ur dragon can get someof the water off of it and more then likly your draon will start eating or put a little on the basking area

[alwayshotroddin]

Thanks guys! I wish my dragons didn't eat so much of their greens -- but they CHOW them down. Go through at least 2 big bowls a day. I go to the store more for them then I do for myself lol! And crickets haha. I'm going to try and order silk and phoenix worms tho, I'm not sure the pet stores have them in my area? I would feed super worms but I had to do that for my gecko when there was a mealworm shortage a couple years back and that was positively horrible lol, those things bite!

[9west2124]

i get my stuff from http://www.mulberryfarms.com/ they have smaller super worms and i haven't seen them bite or anything plus they have the silk and pheonix worms for sale. i think there  out of silks rite now. dubia roaches r good to i wish i could get them but unfortunately they don't ship to Florida.

[alwayshotroddin]

If I order hornworms from their website, do you have to order food to go along with them?  My beardies usually eat about 20 medium sized crickets per feeding..... how many hornworms will they eat at a time?

[9west2124]

depends on size they get there and if u get the cups they come with food in them but hornworms r not a good staple due to the fat in them.