Help! The more I read, the more questions I have!

[Trickseedog]

Breyas is growing one inch to one and a half inch almost weekly right now. He is currently sixteen inches long. He also looks like the BD version of Santa Claus- -HUGE belly!

Salad- I've been giving him about a half cup of salad greens (turnip, kale, collard) each morning. Should I be feeding more veggies? So far, greens are the only veggies he really likes, and he has no interest in fruit at all. (I've tried apples, banana slice, and grapes.)

Crickets- I'm still offering an all-you-can-eat cricket bar twice per day. I graduated him from small crickets to large (usually about three-quarter inch) a couple of weeks ago. Breyas prefers his crickets not moving, so I keep a bunch of them refridgerated and serve them in a dish. If he empties the dish quickly, I offer a few more. I gut-load the crickets while they are in the cricket-keeper and dust them once or twice per week.

Mealworms- I've always limited the mealworms; no more than four or five when he was little and no more than about ten now.

Superworms- The "Lizard People" at the pet store recommended changing him to superworms, so I got some this week. Breyas LOVES them! I'm limiting him to tow or three at a time. Everything that I read says that superworms are better for beardies, but I'm concerned about their thick, hard exoskeletons. They seem like they would be far more difficult to digest than the mealworms, even if they do have higher nutritional value.

Note- It is very entertaining to watch Breyas "beg" for worms! He comes to the front of his habitat and frantically "dances" back and forth until he gets his worm.

Am I missing anything? Should I start limiting the number of bugs now? I'd appreciate any feedback. We love our spoiled dragon, so I want to do what's best for him!

 

[Jasper's Mom]

You're doing everything right. Greens are healthier for them than fruit anyway - fruit should be more of a treat, but they can have it several times per week. At 16", he's big enough for superworms. Keep doing as you are, just giving a couple at a time, and keep an eye on his poop. As long as you're not seeing a lot of undigested worm parts, then he's doing fine and you can keep going with the superworms. You may see the odd worm part even if he is digesting them well - my Jasper used to digest everything but the heads. :bleick:

How old is Breyas now? His age will determine when it's time to start cutting back on live feeders.

 

[Trickseedog]

Thank you for the reply! I'm not sure how old he is. We got him toward the end of September and he was about six inches long. Since we bought him at a pet store, I don't know the actual hatching date.

 

[laura_leigh]

You can try running the greens, veggies and fruits through a food processor or cheese shredder. I've just started doing this for Falcor as he picks around the veggies and fruits and just eats his greens....

 

[patrickb]

Mealworms- I've always limited the mealworms; no more than four or five when he was little and no more than about ten now.

Superworms- The "Lizard People" at the pet store recommended changing him to superworms, so I got some this week. Breyas LOVES them! I'm limiting him to tow or three at a time. Everything that I read says that superworms are better for beardies, but I'm concerned about their thick, hard exoskeletons. They seem like they would be far more difficult to digest than the mealworms, even if they do have higher nutritional value.

The thing with feeding either mealworms or superworms is that beardies have a natural kink in their intestinal tract that acts as a bottleneck for the chitin from feeders. Mealworms are very high in chitin:meat ratio and superworms are high in chitin:meat but not as much as mealworms. Once the dragon gets to around 16" in length roughly, that kink in their intestinal tract starts to straighten out and it now becomes safe to feed the mealworms or superworms at that point. Superworms may seem like they are harder than mealworms, but overall they pack more meat for the amount of chitin. As mentioned, feed him small amounts of supers for now and increase it slowly. Watch his poop for proper digestion.

I do believe now is when you can cut your live feeders back to 1x a day now. I may not be correct on that part, but by your description, sounds like he is packing on the pounds! heh Live feeders are much higher in fat and calories than veggies, so it should be about time to start transitioning him to that 80% veggie/20% live feeder diet slowly. Don't try to do it immediately, but over the course of say 6 months or so.

 

[Trickseedog]

Heh-heh! Poop has NEVER been a problem for Breyas! Usually one of those nauseating giant movements and one or two small movements every day. I clean up immediately so that I can always be sure he's not having difficulty, especially when adding a new food or changing proportions. Also, I lost a garter snake to infection many years ago because the store where I bought him didn't give me ANY good information on husbandry. Thank God for the internet and websites like this!

After looking through the visitor's gallery, I don't think he's that fat, after all! I do need to get him out for more exercise, though. I worry about him getting lost under furniture or (horrors!) having a run-in with my beagle-mix who REEEEALLY wants a lizard!