I’m new from Reddit so I’m still looking around the Lemmyverse. I hope more folks from the reptile forums there take a chance and migrate over here.
I have a bearded dragon that’s about a year old. She’s a champ. I’ve read that at some point, they shift to being mostly vegetarian with some bugs once in a while. I don’t think she got the memo. She still vastly prefers bugs to salads. I guess I get her to eat a salad 1-2 times per week. But she chomps down on superworms and crickets. I’m raising dubias that I hope to shift to instead of crickets though. I figure I’ve got a few more months before the colony is ready for me to start getting feeders from it.
Anyway, when to beardies start to need less protein? How often does a mature bearded dragon need bugs? Thx!
Welcome!
My first interaction with online forums, many years ago, was with online reptile and amphibian forums where people would share tips about how to keep and about their reptile-finding trips. So reptile forums have a special place in my heart.
I have not kept bearded dragons myself, so hopefully someone more knowledgeable can chip in. I would think that a bearded dragon would fare very well with a balanced diet throughout its life. My thought is that a young bearded dragon that is growing quickly will benefit from having a higher protein diet (insects), as growing a body requires a lot of protein. Once the bearded dragon is an adult and does not grow as quickly, it should in principle be possible to reduce the amount of protein.
Think about how body builders will often be taking 2 grams per kilo of body weight or even more each day to be able to sustain muscle growth, but people can remain healthy with about 1 gram per kilo. If the young bearded dragon wants to grow like a body builder, then the extra protein will help.
As to specific timings, you may want to wait for someone who actually raises bearded dragons to answer. According to google:
Adult dragons stop growing when they are 12 to 18 months old, although some dragons continue growing until they are 24 months old.
So, according to my logic, after 24 months it would be safe to reduce the amount of protein. By how much? I don’t know, sorry!
Thx! I’m just glad that she does eat salad at all. She turns up her nose at blueberries/fruit, but I do get her to eat some squash, zucchini and turnip greens 1-2 times a week.
I came here from reddit too. Have you tried dandelion greens and flowers? My beardie goes crazy for those. He loves his bugs too though. I’m glad he mostly eats his greens. They are such goofballs. I have a water dragon and some geckos too. And two snakes. Was happy to find this group.