If you’ve just gotten a young bearded dragon, you’re most likely figuring out what to feed it. Baby beardies depend on separate quantities of protein and greens to grow and maintain good health making the diet preparation tricky. As long as you’ve got the right portions for your pet, it will grow strong and healthy under your care.
Baby bearded dragons eat the same meal as the rest of the age groups. However, the ratio of the constituents and the frequency of feeding differ. A hatchling’s diet consists of more proteins than vegetables and other necessary supplements.
Baby beardies are constantly developing, so they require a carefully arranged diet for the necessary nourishment. This guide will help you prioritize your hatchling dragon’s safety as you provide it with the proper nutrition for its growth. Let’s dive in!
Healthy Foods To Feed Your Baby Beardie And What To Avoid
To prepare a baby beardie diet, you must fully understand what bearded dragons eat. You’re a step ahead if you already have experience owning and feeding pet beardies. If so, you can then focus on what your hatchling pet shouldn’t eat and why.
Grubs (Protein)
Protein is highly important for the growth of baby bearded dragons. In fact, it is easily the most important aspect of their entire diet. They need grubs to build their muscle mass as they grow into adults more than they need anything else. This is also because baby beardies are more active as they metabolize food faster than older dragons like the sub-adults, and adults.
When feeding your baby dragon protein, certain aspects have to be considered: its digestive tract is developing and is still delicate, so some bugs can cause digestive complications if fed too frequently. For example, grubs with tough outer layers like superworms, adult mealworms, and adult beetles may cause impaction thus, shouldn’t be a staple meal.
Here’s a list of preferable protein sources for baby bearded dragons (the first five are ideal and safe protein sources):
- Crickets
- Dubia Roaches
- Baby Mealworms
- Earthworms
- Phoenix worms
- Hornworms
- Silkworms
- Butterworms
- Wax worms
Completely avoid insects that glow in the dark as they’re toxic and fatal to bearded dragons. Also, free-roaming bugs could have been exposed to chemicals like pesticides that are harmful to your pet.
Vegetables (Minerals)
Veggies are as important as grubs in a beardie’s early life. They provide the minerals needed to break down and metabolize food properly and nourish your pet with the moisture needed to aid digestion. They also help to prevent tooth plaque formation, especially in hatchling dragons.
There are several veggie options to choose from for your baby beardie’s diet. The ideal vegetable is mineral-loaded with a minimal water content to provide your pet with more value. However, just like most kids, baby beardies are not big fans of vegetables. This is why you must make every bite count by feeding them high-value greens!
Healthy vegetable selections to feed your baby bearded dragon:
- Butternut squash
- Eggplant
- Bok Choy
- Collard Greens
- Mustard Greens
- Pumpkin Leaf
- Bell Peppers
- Turnip Greens
- Kale
- Okra
Fruits And Flowers (Delicacies)
While fruits provide substantial benefits to us humans, they do not hold the same value for bearded dragons. Instead, they are delicacies to be fed minimally because dragons do not have the proper mechanism to digest them as we do. In addition, some fruits like avocados and limes are highly toxic and even fatal to their health.
The most probable reason why fruits are part of their diet in the first place is to maintain a good level of vitamin C. In the wild, they may get it through the free-roaming bugs they eat in their natural habitat, unlike the ones we buy from local stores. It’s highly recommended to gut-load the bugs before feeding them to bearded dragons. By feeding your feeder insects fresh fruit, they will transfer a safe amount of vitamin C to your baby dragon.
Flowers are also mere delicacies to beardies. In the wild, they don’t bloom as much and are certainly not top necessities or choices for bearded dragons. They are poor in minerals and general value, but they are good sources of vitamin C. Instead of giving your baby bearded dragon citrus fruits, consider flowers as a milder option. The bright colors can be used as toppings to stimulate your pet’s appetite when you feed it.
Here are some fruits and flowers you can feed your pet baby beardie:
| Fruits | Flowers |
|---|---|
| Figs | Dandelions |
| Blackberries | Hibiscus |
| Strawberries | Geraniums |
| Bananas | Nasturtium |
| Guavas | Daylilies |
Vitamins And Supplements (Extra Boost)
There are arguments about whether supplements are necessary considering how sustainable a baby beardie’s diet is. After all, beardies in the wild are sustained by what they eat without man-made supplements. However, there is a reason beardies in captivity live longer than those in the wild; the absence of supplements will not negatively affect their health, but it may limit them from reaching their full potential and expose them to bone diseases.
Sprinkle multivitamins, phosphorus, and calcium supplements on your baby beardie’s daily diet to ensure their bones grow healthy and strong.
Water (Hydration)
Bearded dragons need only minimal amounts of water to function. They can go days without needing to drink as they source their moisture from veggies and proteins. Still, your baby beardie needs to be properly hydrated; an effective way is by misting its head with water from a spray bottle daily.
It is much more adequate compared to dropping water bowls in the terrarium since bearded dragons hardly notice still water. I also find that water bowls exponentially raise the humidity in the tank, which is an easy ticket for respiratory problems and a heavy vet bill.
Food Rations For Baby Bearded Dragons
The major difference between the diet of baby beardies and that of the adult is the ratio of proteins and vegetables. Hatchlings require more protein than veggies, unlike the adults, and generally need to be fed more frequently.
The protein-to-veggie ratio for baby dragons is 75/25 percent, meaning 75% protein and 25% veggies daily. They can be fed a total of 25 to 50 bugs, 3 to 5 times daily.
Make sure that the bite sizes for your baby beardie do not exceed the space between its eyes to prevent choking. Veggies and bugs should be cut into tiny pieces if necessary to make digestion easier.
How To Tell Your Baby Beardie Isn’t Eating Well
If your baby beardie isn’t feeding properly, it could be due to anything from an illness to the way it’s being fed. Here are signs that show your pet is underfed:
Weight Loss
Baby beardies have bellies that are proportional to the size of their heads. If your pet appears ‘all head,’ it’s losing weight and should be monitored. This could be due to environmental factors, stress, or a poor diet. Remember, baby bearded dragons require a balanced diet of both protein and vegetables.
Expand your dragon’s feeding options to improve its appetite; subjecting your pet to just one type of meal will diminish its attitude toward feeding and impact its craving negatively. If the weight loss persists, visit the vet for professional screening and diagnosis, as baby beardies are delicate and should be cared for urgently.
Skin Discoloration
If your pet’s skin vibrancy diminishes and you notice dullness, flakiness, or any form of discoloration on the body, eyes, or teeth, it may indicate malnourishment and should be addressed promptly. Especially if it’s accompanied by lethargy, which can imply an underlying illness.
Lethargy
Baby beardies are highly active making a decline in energy or unresponsiveness to their environment unusual. If your pet sits in one spot for extended periods, it is likely lethargic, which could be a result of improper feeding habits.
Common Baby Bearded Dragon Feeding Mistakes & How To Prevent Them
Caring for a bearded dragon is a journey of trials and errors, making every experience unique. To set you steps ahead, here are common beardie mistakes you can avoid:
Night Snacking
Considering how frequently baby dragons eat, you may be tempted to include late-night dinners to support a 3-meal-a-day plan. However, without sunlight or UVB rays at night, beardies struggle to digest meals, leading to impaction.
An impacted gut can be fatal for baby beardies, as they are still fragile and developing. To prevent this, avoid feeding your pet after 6:30 pm. This will give it enough time to move around, bask a bit, and begin digestion before the UVB light is turned off at 9 pm, reducing the chances of impaction.
Unsuitable Feeding Plates
Your baby beardie needs a plate that allows it to feed comfortably. For instance, the rim of the dish could be too sharp for its neck while feeding, especially if it resembles a petri dish. Ensure you’re using a semi-flat plate with blunt edges that will not topple at the slightest pressure or bruise your pet’s neck when it eats.
Irregular Feeding Routines
While bearded dragons may not heavily rely on feeding patterns in the wild, they can get used to them in captivity. Ultimately, spacing the meals evenly helps to monitor their gut health and promote stable digestion.
Begin feeding at least an hour after your pet wakes up, giving it time to move around and defecate if needed. For instance, if you’re feeding three times a day, 9 am, 1 pm, and 5 pm are suitable times. Usually, I place the vegetables in a bowl and drop them inside the enclosure, then introduce live bugs at intervals throughout the day, ensuring to remove any leftovers after 5 pm.
If you have a busy schedule, such as working 9 to 5 or later, you may consider pre-measuring the meals. Shred a few nutrient-rich vegetables such as dandelion greens, kale, bok choy, or grated carrots, and leave them for your pet on its feeding plate.
Whether you mix the veggies with the bugs or put them in separate dishes, baby beardies are voracious feeders and will eat as they please. However, this is only safe if you can return in time to remove the leftovers from the enclosure. Allowing your pet to feed late into the night is not safe for its gut health, particularly if it’s a baby dragon.
Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Cooked Food?
It’s not uncommon for bearded dragons in general to eat cooked food. Cooked potatoes, eggs, and veggies can be fed once in a while. However, I do not recommend feeding your baby beardie these foods. It’s important to stick to the required and natural diet to ensure they grow healthy and safe.
It’s comparable to us eating raw potatoes; of course, you wouldn’t immediately get rushed to the ER, but it could be dangerous to eat raw potatoes frequently even if they’re technically edible.
Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Raw Meat?
Beardies in the wild gobble up tiny rodents and smaller reptiles without a hassle and exercise more than those in captivity. They also eat much less which technically improves their digestion allowing them to consume their diet of raw meat easily. A bearded dragon in captivity feeding on such can land complications such as kidney problems and impaction. I do not recommend feeding your pet raw meat.
The Conclusion
Baby bearded dragons can eat a variety of proteins and vegetables, but there are staple items your pet should have in their diet – all of which are discussed above. For baby dragons, it’s important to meet their daily nutritional needs. This is the most critical aspect of their growth and development as they are highly susceptible to catching a metabolic bone disease. With the proper diet, your pet hatchling will grow big, strong, and free of diseases. Good luck!
