A straight forward alphabetical guide to what Bearded Dragons can and can not eat. It’s a non-exhaustive list and I’ll keep updating it

In terms of vegetables and fruits remember that they will have a high water content so feed in small quantities to avoid diarrhea. If you’re keeping your beardies on soil or sand based substrate then you’ll want to feed them in a high rim bowl to stop them getting dirt over those sticky, juicy pieces of fruit! Focus more on leafy greens with occasional fruit and occaisonally use a multivitamin dusting supplement, but be careful to check what’s in it first.

Consistently high levels of the following may cause long term health problems for your pet, so moderation is the key

• Goitrogens – Inhibits intake of Iodine that then causes problems with the Thyroid Gland such as swelling
• Oxalic Acid – Binds with calcium to form calcium oxalate which is fairly insoluble and stops it being absorbed
• Phosphorus – Blocks intake/ conversion of calcium, for every gram of phosphorus there needs to be 2 grams of calcium
• Vitamin A and D3 – Bearded dragons can potentially overdose on these unlike vitamin C, they get vitamin D3 from the UVB so you don’t want a vitamin supplement with this in.

To avoid low calcium in the diet, remember to regularly dust the insects with calcium powder.

Avoid freezing vegetables or feeding any pre-frozen vegetables as any vitamins (B1) are generally lost.

Remember any plants that you take leaves or flowers from, will potentially contain pesticides, fertilisers from the soil in them, so you’ll need to ideally transplant the plant into a clean environment and leave 6-12 weeks for the nasty chemicals to leave the plants.

You should never feed insects that you’ve caught from the wild, especially anything that may be poisonous or stings. Even if it’s a spider living in your house, best to avoid it as you don’t know what it’s been crawling in.

The golden rule for fruit and vegetables is: variation and moderation!

Can Bearded Dragons eat Apples?

Yes, occasionally but remove the peel first.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Asparagus?

Yes, occasionally and a good source of protein for younger dragons.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Avocado?

Absolutely not, this can be fatal. Very toxic to lizards.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Bananas?

Yes, but they’re high in phosphorus which binds with calcium and can cause Metabolic Bone Disease (MBT), so should be fed rarely.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Basil?

Yes, daily a few fresh leaves are a great source of calcium and vitamin A.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Beetroot?

Yes, rarely, high water and oxalic acid content so very small amounts only (oxalic acid binds with calcium)

Can Bearded Dragons eat Bell Peppers?

Yes, occasionally, red peppers may interest your bearded dragons more than the green and are higher in vitamin C to offset the content of oxalic acid.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Blackberries?

Yes, occasionally, should be fed as a treat due to calcium to phosphorus ratio and oxalic acid but good source of vitamin C

Can Bearded Dragons eat Blueberries?

Yes, occasionally

Can Bearded Dragons eat Broccoli?

Yes, rarely. Very high in vitamin C but also contains oxalates and goitrogen

Can Bearded Dragons eat Brussel Sprouts?

Yes, rarely, high in vitamins but also has goitrogen

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cabbage?

Yes, rarely but can cause Anaemia, best fed to the insects due to lower vitamin content when compared to sprouts.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Carrots?

Yes, occasionally, really high in vitamin A which offsets the oxalates in them

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cauliflower?

Yes, rarely in small amounts as it contains goitrogens which block iodine intake which potentially can cause issues with the Thyroid Gland as a result

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cauliflower Leaves?

Yes, occasionally, but better fed to the insects

Can Bearded Dragons eat Celery?

Yes, occasionally – quite fiberous so very finely chop it up to avoid digestive issues

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cherry Tomatoes?

Yes, rarely but high acid content so small pieces – also it’s best to leave the seeds/ juice out if not hand feeding

Can Bearded Dragons eat Chicken?

No. While it may be high in protein, it’s high in phosphorus. Raw chicken is a salmonella risk of which dragons are at high risk to. Cooked chicken is questionable.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Corn?

Rarely as it’s very, very high in phosphorus and oxalates. Generally avoid feeding them this.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cranberries?

Yes, occasionally, high in fibre and almost even mix of calcium and phosphorus

Can Bearded Dragons eat Crickets?

Yes, daily. Black or brown crickets, remember to dust a few eery few days – more often for babies. Also gut load them e.g. feed them vegetables an hour before feeding to the lizard. Best bet is to buy them live rather than frozen, always get them from pet shops or suppliers rather than from the wild

Can Bearded Dragons eat Cucumbers?

Yes, occasionally but not much nutritional value, better as a source of water

Can Bearded Dragons eat Dandelions?

Yes, daily – a great source of calcium and vitamin A in the leaves but be very careful of pesticides. Flowers are also edible.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Earthworms?

No. Stick to mealworms. Do not buy worms from fishing bait shops either or capture from the wild/ garden.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Eggs?

Hardboiled only, in small quantities rarely as a treat.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Fish?

No. The small bones may cause impaction and the fish will generally be a big parasite risk.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Grapes?

Yes, occasionally, green or red probably best to cut the grapes in small pieces. Good for fiber and water, but high in sugars and oxalates.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Grasshoppers?

Stick to Locusts, but if a reptile store is providing them I don’t see why not. But certainly don’t catch them from the wild/ your garden.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Lettuce?

No, never. No nutritonal value and most likely to cause diarrhea.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Locusts?

Yes, daily. You must always gut load the locusts as without them feeding on greens they have very little nutrition for the dragon. Remember to frequently dust with calcium as well.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Kale?

Yes, occasionally – high in calcium and vitamin A but also high in goitrogens and oxalates.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Mealworms?

Infrequent, high in fat and phosphorates, but low in calcium – dust them with calcium and they’re good a s supplement for dragons to put on some weight. Avoid feeding them mealworms that are due to malt as the hard skin/ chitin will cause digestive issues.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Mice?

Very rarely as a treat but only pinkie mice and only for fully grown adult bearded dragons.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Mushrooms?

No, avoid. Mushrooms can be poisonous and are high in phosphorus.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Oranges?

No, because of the high volume of citric acid which can cause problems with their digestive system especially when you can get the vitamin C and A from safer vegetables. Avoid citrus fruits.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Pears?

Yes, occasionally but high in oxalic acid. Never, ever feed Bearded Dragons Avacados

Can Bearded Dragons eat Peas?

Yes, but rarely since it has a very high phosphorus to calcium ratio. Better off feeding them the leaves and pods which are much safer.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Pineapple?

Yes, occasionally

Can Bearded Dragons eat Plums?

Yes, occasionally

Can Bearded Dragons eat Pumpkin?

Yes, occasionally, most squashes seem to be fine and high in fibre, vitamin A and calcium

Can Bearded Dragons eat Rhubarb?

No, this can be fatal, highly toxic and amazingly high in oxalates.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Rocket?

Yes, daily.

Can Bearded Dragons eat Rose petals?

Yes, occasionally, they tend to love these but remember that any fertilisers/ pesticides in the soils will be in the flowers

Can Bearded Dragons eat Spiders?

Yes, but best to avoid since spiders can be venomous and you don’t know where they’ve been, if they’ve got parasites etc…

Can Bearded Dragons eat Spinach?

No, never, while it’s a good source of calcium it also binds with free calcium causing potential problems

Can Bearded Dragons eat Strawberries?

Yes, occasionally – dragons will end up looking like they’re wearing lipstick which is quite amusing

Can Bearded Dragons eat Tomatoes?

Yes, occasionally but high in acid so small pieces – best to leave the seeds/ juice out if not hand feeding

Can Bearded Dragons eat Watercress?

Yes, occasionally. High in vitamin A and C but also very high in oxalic acid

Can Bearded Dragons eat Watermelon?

Yes, occasionally.

Bearded Dragons (Pogona) are omnivorous, they’ll pretty much eat anything that they can get in their mouths!

All the items listed you should be able to find in any pet shop, supermarket or buy online, if it’s not on these lists then check first before feeding, chances are it could be poisonous.

Insects

As a rule, don’t feed any insect that’s longer than the width between the dragons eyes, it’s worked well for mine, but I’ve never seen any scientific evidence. Also insects have tough exoskeletons so when feeding, try to pick the ones that have recently malted to help your beardies digestion, especially if young.

Before feeding, ensure that the insects have been gut loaded – basically a day before, feed the insects some greens to ensure they carry nutrition. Add a supplement by dusting a few of the insects every few days, alternating between calcium and occasionally a multivitamin.

Do not feed wild insects as they are more likely to carry parasites and toxins such as pesticides.

Insects that Bearded Dragons eat

Most insects will come in tubs and depending upon the size you’ll get varying amounts. You’ll get 25 medium locusts in a tub or 50 small or 100 hatchlings for instance. Locusts are generally easier to dust, handle, feed and catch any surplus in the tank whereas crickets are very fast and difficult to catch and they are noisy, especially if one escapes under the fridge and just won’t shut up! Worms on the other hand are financially the best bet since you get 100′s for your cash, however, they are more of a treat item due to their fatty content – great though for young dragons that need to put on weight. If you have more than 1 Bearded Dragon, then it’s worth buying in bulk as you’ll save a bit of cash and won’t need to visit the pet shop every other day.

If the insects are a bit feisty then put them in the fridge for 5 minutes (still in their tub!) and this will cool them down and slow their metabolisms making them easier to handle.

What do you feed the insects?

Remember that while you may be repulsed by having to keep insects alive to feed your dragon, looking after them keeping them clean and well fed and hydrated will mean a healthy dragon.

There are a few options here, first you can add in some fibre such as Bug Grub or other purpose made insects food, but if you yourself have a healthy diet and eat vegetables then you can feed the insects the waste, such as leaves and some peelings etc… just make sure it’s raw – I’ve yet to see a fussy insect.

Vegetation

They love to eat greens, but this should really make up about 30% of the bearded dragon diet for the young, as they get older they’ll eat up to 70% veg, and appetite will vary depending on the age and the dragon – most of my dragons are ravenous for greens no matter how many insects they eat. Also remember to wash/rinse any vegetables and try not to feed anything with a high water content too often.

Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables for Bearded Dragons

Variation is the main thing to remember, leaves are pretty much the staple with a mixture of any of the others and avoid feeding items with high water content too often, e.g. grapes etc… unless you like cleaning up runny poo!

Also worth noting is that some fruit juice will stain and result in your Bearded Dragon looking like she has lipstick on when she’s been eating strawberries!

On a serious note, it’s best to keep any vegetation finely chopped and in a bowl away from the substrate. Sticky, juicy fruits are best hand fed to avoid the lizard getting a mouthful of dirt and always provide fresh vegetation everyday, avoid it sitting there rotting away.

Edible plants for Bearded Dragons

You won’t have much luck growing some of these in the vivarium due to the heat and lack of humidity you need to keep but you may have some of these plants in the garden or find them in a garden store. Avoid feeding cuttings from the garden, because it can contain toxins from pesticides. Plants take up minerals etc… from their roots and store them, including pesticides – if it’s in the soil the plant will take it in. So it’s best to re-pot the plant, rinsing away most of the old soil and replant in clean soil and leave for around 6 weeks for the pesticides left in the plant to be expelled.

Other treats for Beardies

As well as the above, you can also feed Bearded Dragons pinkie/ baby mice as well as the occasional pieces of hard boiled egg.

How often should I feed my Bearded Dragon?

The above of course is a guide, for instance I feed insects to my adult beardies daily but in reduced quantities, purely for daily handling.

What times should I feed my lizards?

Generally you should feed at least an hour after the lights/ heat have been on and an hour before they are due to turn off. This gives plenty of time for the dragon to digest and metabolise the food rather than leave it sit in their bellies for 12 hours or having to wait until there is enough warmth in order to do so.

This guide is specifically for feeding baby Bearded Dragons up to 12 months old and what you should look for to avoid over feeding, under feeding, poor nutrition and exactly what to feed your Beardie.

I’ve not yet had ANY bearded dragon from birth die, go to the vets or fail to eat, worst thing is a few toes have been nipped.

Chances are that if you have a dragon that’s less than 8 weeks old then you’re breeding Bearded Dragons, otherwise you shouldn’t have brought one at such a young age and it’s irresponsible for anyone to sell or give a dragon that’s under 8 weeks/ 2 months old. For completeness (and new dragon breeders) I’ll go through the feeding and diets from birth.

Before we go into detail on the diets for baby beardies, please remember one thing: Do not keep your juveniles (<6 months) on any kind of substrate, especially Calci-sand. On dirt they can be messy eaters and generally very excited and will get a mouthful of dirt when catching insects as they lunge for them, they’ll never wait for that locust to climb off the sand/ soil. At such a small size and age, the sand will clog them up and they may die from impaction and there’s nothing that can be done to heal them at this age. It’s best to keep them on newspaper or kitchen towel (and it’s cheaper as well) as they’ll be pooing very often so you want to be changing the substrate almost daily to avoid them catching parasites and diseases. It seems such an odd thing since in the wild they live on dirt/sand but in the natural environment this is probably one of the mechanisms that works as population/ birth control, not all dragons that hatch are destined to live. However, we want to avoid this since it’s your new best friend.

Remember also that you need a proper vivarium setup with regulated lighting and UVB, for babies I try to keep them in small groups in fairly small enclosures so they can find food quicker, subdividing a larger vivarium as I need to.

If your dragon is more than 6 months, please still read the whole article since it may give you new information, for more generic feeding tips, please read my guide on what bearded dragons can eat.

Baby Bearded Dragon Diet

Remember with whichever insects you use to ensure that they’re gut loaded e.g. you’ve fed them up on greens etc… the day before you feed them to your dragons. An empty Cricket apparently has more nutrition than a Locust, but a gut loaded/ well fed Locust is far more nutritious than a Cricket (due to the length of their gut).

0-2 weeks

This really is no different to feeding an adult just in a more basic way, you feed smaller amounts more often and in smaller pieces. From birth they can eat insects but may be less keen upon vegetation to start with – you’ll soon find that they try to eat anything that’s smaller than them and moving. Still offer vegetation though, just simple finely shredded greens – cutting up the leaves just makes sure every dragon can get some without fights.

When they hatch they’ll have some nutrition from their egg and they’ll also be pretty exhausted so need some time to recover and charge up before gaining an appetite. Don’t be alarmed if the hatchling Beardie doesn’t eat in the first 48 hours, it’s fairly normal. They’ll also not want to move too much so remember not to disturb them.

When feeding them insects, ideally try hatchling locusts/ hoppers if you can get them, failing that use crickets. Whatever you feed your Bearded Dragon, it’s often said it needs to be shorter in length than the width between the dragons eyes, otherwise they may get impacted, I’ve followed this rule of thumb and it’s worked out well every time for me, but I’ve never seen any scientific data regarding this. They’re not fussy about size and will try to eat anything that’s bigger than themselves.

With adults I’ve fed insects longer than the width of the eyes with no problems as they tend to chew the insects pretty well – however, once or twice I’ve had an adult not able to cope with adult/ full grown Locusts.

With a baby dragon hatchling I would air on the side of caution, but it depends on how you feed them as well. If you’re offering the insects in a bowl then you can keep them smaller as not much energy will be spent in hunting them, if they’re left to find them you may want to use the next size up given the energy expended to catch the prey – there’s not much difference in the size really.

I used to recommend getting the Brown or Black Crickets, while they are harder to feed and dust individually with calcium/ multivitamin powder but generally worked out much cheaper in the long run. However, they are less likely to have more nutrition in them than a Locust after gut loading – although are meant to be high in iron. The other trouble is, being so small they will escape into your house, Locusts are far more docile. You can’t really avoid Crickets escaping but to make it easier you could put your Crickets in the fridge for around 5 minutes, this will cool them down and they’ll become a bit easier to handle – also get a few Cricket traps around the house.

The other downside with Crickets is that I’ve heard that if any are uneaten and not removed they can chew on your dragon and create open wounds on a baby.

To feed the tiny Crickets to the dragon, I recommend ‘pouring’ the insects from the tub into a small bowl, about 6cm in diameter and about 3cm tall – big enough to stop them escaping. I then add in a small pinch of calcium powder and multivitamin every other day – the insects will run through this and then dust themselves (you can also shake the bowl a bit). I then tip the bowl up slightly in front of the baby beardie so it can see them and get to them, this provides a nice controlled way to feed them and they don’t have to expend important energy in their first few weeks hunting. This method works for 1 or 2 dragons in a vivarium, but for larger groups it tends to promote dominant behaviour so should be avoided. I used to dust the insects in the same way but then pour them into the vivarium for the dragons to chase and catch, watching for any bullying and making sure they all get the same. But it worked out better to use several bowls with the small Crickets in there. Again Locusts are easier to catch and will be more enery efficient so if you can afford it I’d go that route – I’m happy to pay the extra for the hoppers and have less hassle than Crickets.

When feeding you’re looking to spend about 10-15 minutes to allow them to catch the insects and feeding twice a day, at this age you shouldn’t be handling them. Remember to remove any uneaten insects.

The below chart should give you an idea of the size of insect versus the age of the Bearded Dragon.

2-4 weeks

After the first 2 weeks have passed continue with vegetation every day, nothing fancy just some basic salad leaves (not lettuce! or anything that will bind with Calcium), but you’ll need to cut up the leaves into small pieces. I normally finely shred up the leaves into a shallow bowl and then leave that for them to find and eat – this works out really well where you have a lot of babies in one vivarium. The young generally should be eating more insects than vegetation, but it’s important this is offered.

At this point you’ll also want to think about separating them into smaller groups.

The same feeding process applies, just allowing more space.

4-8 weeks

Again keeping with the smaller sized insects, they should be eating more and you should be able to see that they have nice, bright and alert orange eyes. While you don’t want to handle them, you can start to try to hand feed them leaves and insects to get them used to human hands. Avoid feeding from above – any moving shape above them is seen as a predator, so instead feed them with your hand close to the ground in front of them.

At these age you should be able to see any defects, but providing you followed the above you shouldn’t have an issue though you should be able to spot any signs of stress, bullying and malnutrition easily. A good sign to look for is fat in the base of the tail for whether they’re getting enough food.

8 – 16 weeks

This will be the youngest that you should buy a dragon, it’s the earliest that they can be sexed and also held, at this age they are also more likely to adapt to a new owner and develop their individual personalities.

In case you skipped the above, you want to be feeding your baby dragon twice every day with locusts/hoppers or crickets, dusted every other day and with vegetables/ leaves offered every other day as well.

At this age it now becomes more economical to also start feeding mini/ micro meal worms every few days – these are generally no more than 2cm big and you can leave a bowl for them to feed on, just make sure that you pick out any worm that looks like its due to malt as that chitin (the skin) will be really hard for a dragon to digest. This also allows the baby to put on more fat, you’ll soon know if there’s a problem digesting the worms as their faeces will contain recognisable parts of the worms – the adults also suffer from this if they eat the worms too fast. To be safe feed the worms in small quantities. You can buy these worms in a big bulk bag, which is handy if you’re breeding many dragons and works out really cheap. But remember there won’t be as much nutrition as the Locusts and mealworms should be fed in moderation.

I also still feed Locusts/ hoppers, the hoppers are easy to leave for the Bearded Dragons to hunt/ stalk and catch – crickets I would still feed in a bowl due to their speed and the mini worms I leave in a bowl in the morning for them eat during the day – but remember only put a few in there, don’t fill the bowl!

I also offer vegetation more freqently sometimes replacing a meal of insects, purely with vegetation but still feeding twice daily. At this age you can also begin to hold them, so I’ll start hand feeding leaves more often and picking the Beardie up and feeding outside the viv. It takes some patience before they’ll get confident to feed from your hand outside the vivarium but bare with it.

16+ weeks

Keep up with the feeding regime, you can now begin to skip a feeding occasionally, feeding them once a day and missing out a day of feeding entirely. This also helps to keep your dragon eager and ready to greet you when you have food, making it easier to tame them.

At this point you’ll be buying slightly bigger locusts/ hoppers and this will be the most expensive time for feeding as they’ll still be eating a lot but need the larger insects.

Also at this age you’ve probably got your Bearded Dragon from the pet shop, if that’s the case then it’s really important to keep a look out for any health issues, moving them to a new home can be stressful. They may also have parasites and need worming for which you can get some tablets from the vets. Keep an eye out on their poo, if it’s reddish coloured or the urate (the white bit) is really yellow then you may have some problems so pay close attention. Otherwise the above feeding rules all hold true.
6 months and onwards

You can now start feeding once a day and skipping a day now and then, remember to keep the insects dusted every few days, but you can now decrease the frequency in which you dust the insects, it becomes slightly less important. I’d now also offer vegetation daily, and I’d also stop cutting the leaves up into small pieces. You can now also feed them some other things as treats such as strawberries, grapes, carrot etc… By 9 months, your dragon will be tearing up the newspaper/ kitchen towel and it’s time to start thinking about giving them some sand to dig in. You can read more on this site about the ideal bearded dragon substrate.

Feeding Bearded Dragons is really very simple and straightforward, as long as you follow a few simple steps.

Bearded Dragon diet

Bearded Dragons are omnivorous and will readily eat most things – whether you want them to or not! Typically they will eat a mixture of insects such as crickets, roaches, locusts, mealworms, waxworms, morioworms and you can buy these in any reptile shop, or like me, order them online which works out a bit cheaper.

It may not sound too appealing but you also have to look after any live food you feed to your Pogona, since whatever the prey has eaten will then be passed on to your pet. For this reason it is ill-advised to feed anything, including vegetation, that you’ve caught from outside since it could contain pesticides etc…

Insects and worms

To aid your Bearded Dragons nutrition, you should feed the prey a variety of greens – left over peelings, apple cores etc… is fine and you can get some bug food supplements that help the insect to develop proteins and vitamins. All this nutrition is then passed on to the Dragon and is known as ‘gut loading’. When you buy insects you should never feed them straight away to your Beardie, always gut load them, as there will be little nutrition in the prey otherwise. If you can’t wait then typically brown crickets will have more nutrition than a locust if fed nothing, however, locusts will retain more nutrition apparently after being fed than a cricket.

You should avoid feeding your pet insects that are too large as this can cause impaction, choking, paralysis and even death – a rule of thumb is to never feed a Dragon an insect that is longer than the width of the back of the Dragons jaw.
Bearded Dragon Eating Meal Worms

Vegetation

Beardies will eat a very wide range of vegetation, although avoid lettuce as there is nothing nutritional in there for them and don’t feed anything too often that has a high water content. A short Bearded Dragon diet list:

Mains

• Cabbage
• Clover
• Dandelion
• Rocket
• Watercress

Treats

• Apple
• Carrot
• Grapes
• Hibiscus flowers
• Rose petals
• Spinach (don’t feed to often as Spinach binds with Calcium)

There are many, many more plants that they will eat but be sure that whatever you provide has been thoroughly rinsed and washed to ensure no pesticides are ingested as well, more information on what Bearded Dragons can eat.

Water

In the wild, Dragons will get their water from dew, rainfall and from vegetation and prey. To keep them hydrated provide a small shallow dish of water and change every day, or use a dripping system.

However, I find that giving them a shallow bath every week or two provides them with enough hydration, removes any dirt, helps with shedding and for a desert dwelling animal it would seem that they know how to swim and enjoy doing laps of my bath tub so it works as enrichment too.

You can tell whether your Bearded Dragon is getting enough water by the urate in their excrement – that’s the small white part of it. When it is fresh, if it’s not white then they are dehydrated and if there is no urate then there is a problem.

How often to feed

It depends on the age, size and condition of the Pogona. For new born and young it should be around twice a day with a mixture of greens, insects and worms – but in small portions. As they get older they can eat larger amounts but less frequently – I still feed daily for the interaction, for instance the adults will eat around 6-8 large locusts daily and some vegetation – some days they don’t eat as much and the female that I have won’t stop eating when she has eggs, there seems to be no end to the amount she wants to eat. Typically though vegetation is offered every other day for adults. Juveniles seem to much keener to eat leaves and vegetables than the adults – except the pregnant female who just eats anything.

If you look at the width of the Beardies tail it will give you an idea of the fat reserves it has – some can go for weeks without eating, also it will show you if you’re overfeeding or not.

You should also feed them at least couple of hours before the lights go out as they will need time to metabolise their meal properly by sitting under the UVB and basking in the heat.

Tips for Bearded Dragon feeding

For new dragons, to get them used to you, try hand feeding – a locust will normally sit on your hand and await it’s impending demise and the Dragons normally are very gentle feeders.

To encourage exercise and enrichment of their captivity, I also let them roam the living room and chase after insects – Beardies can be astonishingly fast when they want to be. I also try to encourage some climbing and jumping as well when they are being fed – basically putting the locusts at different heights etc… Also be careful that if you do feed them outside the vivarium/ terrarium, then there is nothing else around for them to try and eat, things such as long hair, crumbs, dirt etc…

Also you’ll find from this that your lizards then begin to more actively stalk their prey and nine times out of ten, they will always find out where you keep the insects and will spot the one cricket that got away – the Bearded Dragons eyesight is phenomenal

If you feed in the enclosure they will always eat part of the substrate as they lunge for the food, but it’s never normally an issue unless you’re using Calci-sand. To minimise risk of impaction from eating too much of the substrate ensure there are plenty of branches, stones, plants and pieces of bark for the insects to hide and sit on, rather than just sit on the vivarium floor.

After feeding, never leave leftover live food in the tank with them as it will stress them out, also for juveniles the insects can bite and cause infection, nipped tails etc…

Supplements

If your lizard has an adequate UVB bulb and you vary it’s diet and gut load the live food, you won’t need to supplement their diet too much with additional calcium and vitamins.

Instead get some dusting powder and dust a few insects every other feeding, alternating between calcium and a multivitamin. Younger Dragons will require more vitamins and minerals frequently to ensure that they develop good healthy bones. Breeding/ egg laying females should be supplemented daily to ensure good egg production and that they won’t lose any calcium from their bones during this time.