Aside from freshwater, you should also consider giving your beardie some essential crickets or earthworms. Beardies like to eat these foods because they are rich in calcium and other nutrients. However, if your beardie doesn’t seem to like the food that you give it, don’t worry! Just read on and learn how to feed your beardie. You will be amazed at how easy it is! And it doesn’t have to cost a lot either.
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Freshwater for a bearded dragon
Bearded dragons rarely drink water from bowls on their own. They prefer water that moves and drips. Fresh vegetation and insects are excellent sources of fluids for your pet. If you’re having trouble getting your beardie to drink from its bowl, you can add juice or other liquids to its water. For best results, offer freshwater at least twice a week. If your beardie is still not drinking water from its bowl, you can squirt it with a spray bottle or pour it directly into the enclosure. But be patient and give it weeks or months to drink from his water bowl.
A Bearded dragon needs freshwater daily to keep it healthy. It needs about 10-30 ml per kilogram of weight, or about two teaspoons worth of water each day. However, the amount of freshwater your beardie drinks daily will vary according to its age and size. Remember that the amount of fresh water your beardie needs will increase as it gets older. Always follow the instructions of your vet when offering freshwater to your beardie.
Vegetables
If you are looking for an easy and healthy diet for your pet bearded dragon, you may consider giving him or her vegetables. Bearded dragons are omnivores, which means they like both plants and animals. In addition to a diet consisting mostly of vegetables, a beardie will also consume insects and small animals. Most commonly, beardies will consume roaches, crickets, and dubia roaches.
Depending on your beardie’s stage of development, you can gradually increase the amount of vegetables you feed them. A subadult should eat 30% insects, while an adult should consume at least 80% vegetables. Salads are especially important for adult bearded dragons, so try to make them layered, filled with colorful vegetables and fruits. The options for plant medleys are endless. Just remember to keep the sizes of the veggies and fruits smaller than the distance between the dragon’s eyes.
Meat
When you’re planning on feeding your adult bearded dragon a vegetarian diet, keep in mind that it will require more calcium and phosphorus in its diet than you may realize. For this reason, you’ll want to sprinkle calcium powder onto their food at least twice a week, and if possible, include some vitamin D3 in their diet as well. To keep phosphorus levels low, you can also sprinkle general reptile mineral supplements on their food, which are best served on a small piece of salad.
In general, meats are higher in phosphorus than calcium, and dragons can develop long-term health problems if they don’t get the proper balance of both. Insects, meanwhile, contain different vitamins and minerals than meats. This imbalance can lead to disease and other abnormalities. In addition, feeding meat to your beardie will deplete the amount of calcium in your beardie’s body, which can lead to an imbalanced diet.
Vital crickets
A diet high in protein and greens can be beneficial to adult bearded dragons. Crickets provide a lot of exercise and enrichment for your pet, and they are inexpensive and readily available. Many bearded dragon owners worry about Dubia roaches, but crickets are a safer option. Besides, they are easy to handle, so they are an affordable and convenient source of food.
An adult bearded dragon should be fed approximately 30 to 60 crickets in an eight-to-10-minute feeding window. You can reduce the number of crickets fed to two or three per session when your pet is at least six months old. Ideally, their diet should be twenty percent insects and eighty percent vegetables and fruits. However, baby beardies still need some greens every day. However, their daily requirements are much lower than those of an adult bearded dragon.
Calcium supplement
A calcium supplement for adult bearded dragon can help your pet grow stronger bones. Unlike pet dragons, adult beardies are exposed to more types of food and have higher calcium intakes. If you have a beardie, you should supplement its diet with calcium and vitamin D3 supplements on a regular basis. A calcium supplement can be easily given by lightly dusting it on your beardie’s food. It is best to give the supplement on greens and vegetables first, to ensure your beardie is getting enough calcium.
Signs of calcium deficiency in your beardie may be difficult to spot. Generally, they show signs of weakness, stiff muscles, constipation, seizures, and spinal deformities. If left untreated, these symptoms could lead to metabolic bone disease or nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism. Both the deficiency and overdose signs may be present simultaneously or they may occur in separate stages.
