Feeding and caring for a baby bearded dragon is much different compared to adults. Proper diet allocations are critical during your beardie’s high-growth stage.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- What do baby bearded dragons eat?
- What are the diet requirements of baby bearded dragons?
- Example feeding chart and schedule!
Bearded dragons are wonderful pets, and we often buy them as babies while usually not knowing what is needed for that life stage! They are relatively easy to care for, but feeding them can be tricky, especially if you have a baby bearded dragon.
In this article, we will look at what you need to know to feed baby bearded dragons effectively & why this might be different compared to a big adult dragon!
What's In This Guide?
Baby Bearded Dragon Diet Recommendations
Baby bearded dragons have different dietary needs than adults. They are growing very rapidly and require a higher proportion of protein and calcium to support their growth.
A baby bearded dragon’s diet should consist of around 70-80% live insects and 20-30% leafy greens and vegetables. Some common insects you can feed them include crickets, mealworms, and wax worms. Make sure the insects you feed them are small enough for them to swallow easily, and avoid feeding them any insects that are too big, as this can be a choking hazard.
Leafy Greens & Veggies
When it comes to leafy greens and vegetables, you can feed them collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, carrot greens, endive & many more. Be sure to chop these up into small pieces, as baby bearded dragons are still learning how to eat. You can also offer them very small pieces of fruits such as papaya, apricot, and mango but this should be a rare treat in small amounts!
Diet & Nutritional Suggestions
Bearded dragons are known for their omnivorous diet, which consists of a mix of insects and vegetation. In their natural habitat, food is not always readily available, and they have evolved to eat whatever they can find.
In the wild, lush green vegetation only grows during the springtime after rain, and by mid-summer, it reduces to dry stems & leaves. Similarly, insects are not abundant throughout the year.
However, in captivity, they have access to a constant supply of food, which can lead to us overfeeding them which can quickly snowball into an inappropriate diet!
What not to feed baby bearded dragons
- Foods low in calcium, but high in phosphorus & oxalates!
- Insects too large, that are likely to bite back, without changing their ability to!
- Plants in the Nightshade family like tomato, potato & peppers.
- Avocado, due to the fungicidal toxin persin.
- Plants in the onion family due to the toxin N-Propyl disulfide.
Fun Fact
There is a rumor that feeding certain insects like superworms/morioworms can lead to them biting & burrowing out of the stomach of a pet lizard. This is false!
Lizard digestive systems are very efficient & will quickly digest the offending insect, one risk does remain – them biting the mouth of your lizard on the way down! I would recommend when feeding certain species to crush their heads prior to feeding to remove this risk.
However keep in mind, the insects that might do this are usually too big for a hatchling beardie!
Feeding Frequency Recommendations
How often you offer different foods to bearded dragons is extremely important, and this changes massively depending on your pet dragon’s life stage (age) too.
A hatchling or juvenile dragon will be growing very fast, and thus need a larger amount of live food providing the protein needed for that growth. But as they age this needs to be gradually dropped so as to avoid health problems that come from an imbalanced diet, such as too much live food protein in an adult’s diet causing gout.
So if you are caring for a baby beardie, I believe it is so important to keep this in mind and change their diet up often, rather than keep it the same forever! Also keep in mind that providing daily greens is to ensure they always have the chance to eat some, do not expect them to eat all of the food you offer to them – just a bit is a victory!
Baby Bearded Dragon Feeding Chart
| Food Items | Frequency | How to Present | Supplements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leafy Greens | Daily | Finely chopped, mixed with other veggies | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
| Vegetables | Every other day | Finely chopped, mixed with other veggies | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
| Fruits | Once a week or less (treats) | Finely chopped or mashed, in small amounts (remember, there’s way more sugar in our fruit than wild fruits!) | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
| Live Crickets or Locusts | Daily | Tong fed or live into enclosure | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
| Live Mealworms, Cockroaches, Calciworms | Every other day (less quantity) | Tong fed or live into enclosure | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
| Live Super/Morioworms or Waxworms | Twice a week or less (treats) | Tong fed or live into enclosure | Calcium supplement every other feed Multivitamin supplement every other feed |
Pro-Tip ⚡
When planning a diet for your baby beardie, you need to consider the supplements they should be dusted onto their foods, but oftentimes shops & food retailers don’t tell you why we do this in captivity, below is why!
In the wild, reptiles get their calcium and other essential nutrients from their diet of live prey and plants, which provide a diverse range of nutrients taken from all sorts of areas like calcium-rich ground.
Captive reptiles, on the other hand, are often fed a limited diet of commercially available, pre-packaged food items, which may not contain all the nutrients they need to thrive, often due to overused farmland where nutrition is added through fertilizers. Therefore, providing calcium and multivitamin supplements to captive reptiles can help ensure that they receive the nutrients they need for optimal health.
Calcium is particularly important for reptiles because it is essential for proper bone growth, muscle function, and nerve function. In the wild, reptiles can obtain calcium from the bones and exoskeletons of the prey they consume or calcium-rich plants.
However, in captivity, the calcium content of commercially available food items may be insufficient, leading to calcium deficiency, which can result in metabolic bone disease. If you provide a reptile with appropriate UV access, then you do not need to supplement D3, so in this case, calcium only if appropriate.
Multivitamin supplements can also be beneficial for captive reptiles. These supplements contain a range of vitamins and minerals that are essential for reptile health, including vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E.
While some of these vitamins can be obtained from the diet, others may be lacking in commercially available food items. By providing a multivitamin supplement, reptile keepers can help ensure that their pets receive all the essential vitamins and minerals they need to maintain good health.
So, with all of this in mind, here is an example of what a feeding schedule could look like for one baby bearded dragon! Keep in mind that some of this, such as the live food, should reduce as they grow!
Baby Bearded Dragon Feeding Schedule
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with calcium. 6 crickets dusted with multivitamins. | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with calcium. 6 mealworms dusted with multivitamins. | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with multivitamins. 4 crickets & 2 waxworms dusted with calcium | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with multivitamins. 6 crickets dusted with calcium. | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with calcium. 6 mealworms dusted with multivitamins. | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with multivitamins. 8 small cockroaches dusted with calcium. | 20g mixed greens & veg dusted with calcium. 4 small cockroaches & 4 calciworms dusted with multivitamins. |
Tips For Feeding Your Baby Bearded Dragon
Don’t stick to one insect!
Feeding just one type of insect like mealworm or crickets alone can cause a whole bunch of problems for a few reasons.
Firstly, different species carry different nutrition, so sticking to just one can lead to nutritional deficiencies that might not show until they are older. One such problem called gout comes from lizards being fed too much protein over long periods of time (I’ve seen this quite a lot in dragons fed only mealworms or only cockroaches), this is caused by a build-up of uric acid in the body tissues.
Finally, this can also cause disinterest in food – you’re just not offering an interesting enough range!
Keep on top of hydration!
Hydration is crucial for a bearded dragon’s overall health and well-being. They need access to fresh water every day, including humid spaces.
A lack of hydration can lead to dehydration, impaction (remember, this is husbandry related, not due to use of substrates like sand!), and other health problems.
Check the rest of your husbandry!
Husbandry plays a crucial role in the health and well-being of pet bearded dragons. Several factors must be considered to provide a suitable environment, including temperature, UV access, and hydration. These factors are just as important as diet; even a well-balanced diet cannot compensate for poor husbandry conditions.
Temperature
Bearded dragons are cold-blooded reptiles, their bodies rely on external heat sources to regulate their internal temperature. They require a warm basking area and a cooler retreat to regulate their body temperature, allowing them to thermoregulate and digest food properly.
A temperature range of 80-95°F for the basking area and 70-75°F for the cooler side is recommended! Keep in mind that when providing lighting for reptiles, we are trying to replicate as close as possible what the sun provides them, including the types of heat it produces at ground level. I always recommend providing dragons of any age a halogen basking bulb to bask under.
UV Access
Bearded dragons need access to UV light to produce vitamin D3, which is essential for the absorption of calcium. A lack of UV light can result in metabolic bone disease, which can lead to decreased mobility, lethargy, and even death. A UVB light should be provided for at least 10-12 hours a day to ensure adequate exposure. There is no certain way to provide this, it may require a discussion on enclosure size & shape to work out what equipment is appropriate!
Caution
Husbandry aspects like temperature, humidity, hydration & appropriate UV access should all be considered basic requirements. You could have a perfected diet but still end up with health conditions if these are not seen! Check out our other care guides to see if anything can be improved!
Baby Bearded Dragon Not Eating? Here’s What To Do.
If a baby bearded dragon is refusing to eat vegetables, there are a few things you can try to encourage them to start eating again:
- Variety: Offer a variety of live food & vegetables to see if your baby bearded dragon will eat something different. Reptiles can show boredom when certain foods are offered too often; consider shaking this up & offering a range, keeping in mind what we have discussed above!
- Presentation: Experiment with how the greens are presented to the bearded dragon. Some bearded dragons prefer chopped greens, while others prefer them whole. Have you tried moving the food around as though it is a small insect? Give it a go, even with vegetables!
- Supplementation: If your baby bearded dragon is not getting enough nutrients from their diet, you can try supplementing their food with a multivitamin powder or a calcium supplement to see if that is what they are looking for.
- Recheck your husbandry conditions: Ensure that temperatures and lighting are appropriate; baby dragons can easily dehydrate in too-hot conditions but similarly can quickly become lethargic if too cool. Similarly, if not provided appropriate ultraviolet light access can, in a young animal, cause metabolic bone disease which can reduce or stop feeding.
There are, however, things NOT to do; here are a couple of things to avoid:
- Force-feeding: This can be very stressful for the animal, which can cause them to associate food with negative experiences and make them less likely to eat on their own in the future. Force-feeding can also be dangerous if not done correctly. Bearded dragons have a sensitive digestive system, and force-feeding can potentially cause injury or even death if done improperly.
- Starving out: This means offering less food, and hoping that they then do eat the feeds provided. Baby bearded dragons are particularly vulnerable to dehydration and starvation and can rapidly become weak and ill if they are not eating enough. This can lead to a variety of health problems and can even be life-threatening in severe cases. Bearded dragons are sensitive to changes in their environment, and prolonged starvation can cause them to become stressed and anxious, which can lead to other health problems.
FAQs
Do baby bearded dragons eat every day?
Yes! At this life stage they are growing very fast. They need enough nutrients to support the body in all of the growth & repair they are going through, make sure that you are achieving this through a wide range of appropriate food types & gradually changing this as they grow, which I have discussed above!
How to get a baby bearded dragon to eat?
Offer a variety of food, ensure proper lighting and heating, try hand feeding, and consider getting help from a veterinarian if the problem persists.
- Offer food variety: Change up the food that is offered, remember that being omnivores means that bearded dragons can eat a huge range of foods.
- Ensure correct lighting & heating: your husbandry needs to be appropriate to ensure your baby dragon has an appetite and can actually digest the food it is being offered.
- Hand feeding: Offering the food in different ways can encourage your baby dragon to eat, including moving the food around.
- Consider vet help: There may be underlying causes for your baby dragon refusing to eat, if options are not working, I would always recommend speaking to & visiting a reptile specialist vet.
