Pygmy bearded dragons, also called dwarf or Rankin’s dragons, eat a mix of insects and plants, like their larger cousins. Hatchlings and juveniles eat mostly insects. Adults eat mostly leafy greens and vegetables with insects as a smaller part. Exact amounts vary by animal, so follow your reptile vet’s advice.
Baby and Juvenile Diet
Young dragons grow fast and need lots of protein. Offer small live insects once or more a day, plus a little chopped salad every day. Good choices are:
- Dubia roaches and small crickets
- Black soldier fly larvae
- Small, soft insects sized no bigger than the space between the dragon’s eyes
Adult Diet
Adults need far fewer insects. Plan on a salad of greens and vegetables as the base, with insects a couple of times a week or more as your vet suggests.
- Greens: collard, mustard, and turnip greens, dandelion leaves, endive, and escarole.
- Vegetables: butternut squash, bell pepper, and shredded carrot in small amounts.
- Fruit: an occasional small treat, such as berries, because of the sugar.
Foods to Limit or Avoid
- Spinach, beet greens, and chard: high in oxalates that block calcium. Use rarely.
- Kale, cabbage, and broccoli: contain compounds that can affect thyroid function in large amounts. Serve occasionally.
- Iceberg lettuce: little nutrition.
- Fireflies and wild-caught bugs: fireflies are toxic, and wild insects can carry pesticides and parasites.
- Avocado and rhubarb: toxic.
- Large or hard insects: risk of choking or impaction, especially for babies.
Calcium, Vitamins, and UVB
Dust insects and salad with calcium powder most days for growing dragons and less often for adults, and use a reptile multivitamin on a schedule your vet suggests. Strong UVB light and basking heat are essential for digestion and calcium use. Without them, dragons can develop metabolic bone disease.
Water
Offer a shallow dish of clean water, and mist the greens lightly. Many dragons also drink from droplets.
Related Reading
See our posts on bearded dragon bread and olive oil for bearded dragons, and the Hikari bearded dragon diet.
Bottom Line
Feed baby pygmy dragons mostly small insects, move adults toward a salad-based diet, dust with calcium, and provide UVB. If your dragon stops eating, loses weight, or has swollen limbs, see a reptile vet.
This article is general information, not veterinary advice.
