Feeding Your Bearded Dragon Like a Pro
Still delivering research
based information
so you can make
informed choices.
Feeding Your Bearded Dragon Like a Pro
Still delivering research based information so you can make informed choices.
Crafting the perfect bearded dragon diet doesn’t have to be overwhelming! With research backed tips and science based insights, we have got you covered from prepping bulk meals to choosing the best insects, leafy greens, and occasional fruits.
What’s Covered?
- How to prep foods in advance to save time.
- The best insects and veggies to feed your dragon.
- Which supplements are essential (and how often to use them).
- Toxic foods to avoid, and how to deal with tricky things like chitin.
- What to feed.
- How much to feed.
- And so much more.
Understanding Your Bearded Dragon's Diet: A Lifelong Journey
Bearded dragons are unique eaters! They start life as insectivores (loving protein-packed bugs) and gradually transition to omnivores as they grow. Here’s why this matters:
- Hatchlings to Adults: Your bearded dragon’s diet evolves over time.
- Variety is Vital: In the wild, bearded dragons are “generalist eaters,” meaning they munch on everything from insects to plants. Offering a wide range of foods is key to minimizing risks from any single food type.
The Hidden Risks of Poor Nutrition
Did you know that most reptile diseases are linked to diet? Research shows us that many pet bearded dragons suffer from preventable nutritional disorders (Boyer, 2015). But here’s the good news: with the right knowledge, you can easily avoid them!
Common Causes of Nutritional Disorders:
- Environmental Factors: Small enclosures, poor lighting, improper heating, and even substrate choice can all affect digestion and health.
- Dietary Mistakes: Overfeeding certain foods or skipping supplements can lead to imbalances.
Pro Tip: Think of your bearded dragon’s diet like a puzzle—each piece (insects, greens, supplements, lighting) needs to fit together to create the full picture of health!
Whats on the Menu for your Bearded Dragon
Creating a balanced diet for your bearded dragon is all about variety! From fresh greens to protein-packed insects and sweet treats, here’s how to build meals your dragon will love.
1. Plants and Treats – Greens and Fruits Your Dragon Will Love
Healthy Greens and Treats for a Happy Bearded Dragon
Fresh and frozen vegetables are the main stays of your bearded dragon’s diet as they mature into omnivores. Dark greens make up a big chunk of their meals, but the occassional fruits can be offered as a treat.
Safe Vegetables
- Collard greens
- Mustard greens
- Turnip greens
- Squash (butternut, spaghetti, acorn)
Pro Tip: Chop vegetables into bite-sized pieces and mix them into a colorful salad to keep your dragon interested. Rotate greens weekly for variety.
Occasional Treats: Fruits
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Mango
- Papaya
Fruits need to be fed sparingly due to their high sugar content and potential to cause digestive issues. Mott, Pellet and Hedley (2020) found that bearded dragons fed fruit had three times more risk of getting dental disease.
How to Serve Fruits:
Offer a single berry or cube of fruit by hand to bond with your bearded dragon during snack time. Fruits are high in sugar, so keep portions small!
Avoid These Foods
- Iceberg lettuce (low in nutrition)
- Citrus fruits (too acidic)
- Avocado (toxic)
Pro Tip: Prepare meals in bulk and freeze veggies for easy feeding throughout the week.
2. Protein for Dragons – Insects and How to Feed Them
Power Up with Protein: Best Insects for Bearded Dragons
Protein is the building block for your bearded dragon’s growth and energy, especially when they’re young. Live insects are a staple, but not all bugs are created equal.
Less than 50% of the insects fed should be larval insects (Boyer, 2021).
Keep your bearded dragons bugs well fed with the right nutrition. Feeding hungry or poorly fed athropods will result in a poorly fed bearded dragon. Boyer (2021) recommends gutloading bugs with multivitamin and calcium (at least 8% calcium) rich diet to improve their nutritional content.
Poorly kept insects such as being kept in a moldly environment can result in diareahea (Boyer, 2021) or potentially other health issues.
Here’s what you need to know:
Top Insects
- Crickets: Affordable and widely available, noisy and jumpy!
- Dubia Roaches: High in protein and that is not always a good thing—but bearded dragons love them.
- Mealworms and Superworms: Great in small quantities.
- Earthworm: Can be high in calcium and a change in diet.
- Black soldier fly larvae: Also high in calcium and a change up for their diet.
Key Feeding Tips
- Gut-Loading Insects: Feed your crickets and roaches leafy greens 24 hours before offering them to your dragon. This makes them extra nutritious.
- Size Matters: Only feed insects that are smaller than the space between your dragon’s eyes to avoid choking.
- Dusting for Health: Sprinkle calcium powder on insects and multivitamins as per the schedules.
Avoid Feeding These
- Toxic insects like fireflies.
Pro Tip: Watch your bearded dragon during feeding time—it’s their most active (and entertaining) part of the day!
Ready to craft the perfect diet for your dragon? Check out our comprehensive feeding guides here:
- Unsafe Foods for Dragons and Anti-nutrients →
- Recipes for Meal Ideas with Bulk Preparation for Bearded Dragons →
- What Bearded Dragons Eat as Babies, Juveniles and Adults →
- When your Bearded Dragon Won’t Eat its Greens →
- Ultimate Guide to Calcium →
- How to Gut-Load Insects Like a Pro →
- Is Chitin OK and how do you Deal with It →
- The Cricket Crunch →
- Cockroach Cuisine →
- Mealworm Banquet →
Hydration and Water
Hydration isn’t just about water bowls—it’s a lifestyle for your bearded dragon! While they get much of their moisture from food, drinking water is still important.
Tips for Keeping Your Bearded Dragon Hydrated:
- Fresh Water Access:
Always provide a shallow dish of clean, fresh water. Some bearded dragons even love splashing around! - Misting:
A gentle misting can encourage drinking. - Moisture-Rich Foods:
Some foods are natural hydration boosters but misting the food prior to feeding also works.
Did You Know?
In the wild, bearded dragons often get their water from dew and rain. You can copy nature somewhat by misting occassionally.
Related Posts:
Supplements: The Secret to a Balanced Diet
Supplements are like a little extra love for your bearded dragon’s diet—they fill in nutritional gaps and prevent common health issues like calcium deficiencies.
What Your Bearded Dragon Needs:
- Calcium Powder:
Sprinkle on food 3–4 times a week to support strong bones and avoid Metabolic Bone Disease. - Multivitamins:
Use once a week to cover any missing nutrients. Think of it as a safety net for your bearded dragon’s diet.
Multivitamins need to be included in your bearded dragons diet. Never buy the multivitamins with calcium as you can’t manage how much calcium or other supplements you are giving once it is combined. Boyer (2021) warns that using multivitamins with calcium on a regular basis could result in oversupplementation such as with fat soluable vitamins like A and trace minerals like copper or zinc.
Boyer (2021) highlights the importance of selecting multivitamins with essential components for bearded dragons, categorized as follows:
Fat-Soluble Vitamins:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
Water-Soluble Vitamins:
- Vitamin B
- Vitamin C
- Thiamin (B1)
- Riboflavin (B2)
- Niacin (B3)
- Pantothenic Acid (B5)
- Vitamin B6
- Biotin (B7)
- Cyanocobalamin (B12)
- Folate (Folic Acid & B9)
Amino acids are not necessary in multivitamins.
Exactly how much multivitamin to feed bearded dragons, or any reptile, is not known. The multivitamin should have its general guidelines on the label. However, oversupplementation can lead to toxic levels of vitamins A and D3 along with trace minerals including phophorus and iodine (Donoghue & McKeown, 1999).
Pro Tip: Dusting insects with supplements before feeding is quick and easy. Just toss them in a container with the powder and give it a gentle shake! The exact amounts of calcium and supplements to use and how often can be found in
Keep It Simple:
Too much of a good thing can be harmful. Stick to recommended doses to keep your bearded dragon healthy.
What Do Bearded Dragons Eat in the Wild?
The wild bearded dragon diet includes a range of invertebrates and plants. Bearded dragons are essentially insectivores until they reach adulthood at which point they become omnivores. The plant matter eaten by male wild bearded dragons is so significant that they are almost herbivores.
Do Bearded Dragons Chew Their Food & How Does it Impact What you Feed?
Bearded dragons cannot chew food in the same way mammals do because they lack the complex jaw structure and dental configuration necessary for chewing. Instead, they rely on biting and tearing their food before swallowing it.
Wotherspoon and Burgin’s (2016) study on the diet of wild bearded dragons discovered that the plant material present in their stomachs was not chewed.
As bearded dragons cannot chew it is important to offer foods that do not pose a choking hazard. For example, bread is not recommended for bearded dragons, not only because it lacks nutritional value for them but also because it can be a choking hazard due to their inability to chew properly.
When offering leaves as part of a bearded dragon diet, remember that their physical structure doesn’t allow for tearing food like some other animals might. To aid them prepare the leaves in a way that accommodates their eating capabilities. This can be done by chopping the leaves into small, manageable pieces that the bearded dragon can easily ingest.
Alternatively, another method is to gather a bunch of leaves and tie them together, hanging them in the enclosure. This setup allows the bearded dragon to pull at the leaves, facilitating feeding in a manner that mimics their natural feeding behavior. Both methods ensure the safety and well-being of the bearded dragon by adapting to their specific dietary needs.
It’s important to provide bearded dragons with a diet that is appropriate for their digestive system, which includes a combination of animal-based proteins and a variety of plant-based foods that are finely chopped to ensure they can safely ingest and digest them.
References
- Boyer, T. H. (2015) How to Feed Reptiles Right.
- Boyer, T. H. B., DVM, DABVP (Reptile and Amphibian. (2021, November 3). Reptile and Amphibian Nutrition. LafeberVet.
- Donoghue, S., & McKeown, S. (1999). Nutrition of Captive Reptiles. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice, 2(1), 69–91.
- Mott, R., Pellett, S., & Hedley, J. (2021). Prevalence and risk factors for dental disease in captive Central bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) in the United Kingdom. Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine, 36, 1–7.
- Wotherspoon, D., and Burgin, S. 2011. Allometric variation among juvenile, adult male and female eastern bearded dragons Pogona barbata (Cuvier, 1829), with comments on the behavioural implications. Zoology (Jena, Germany) 114, 23–28.
How Well Do You Know Your Bearded Dragon?
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