Crickets


When I got Teo she was about 2 months old and very small. The crickets I gave her then was very small. Never bigger then the distance between Teo's eyes. Remember to never ever give a bearded dragon any food that it is bigger than the distance between the beardies eyes. The dragon can actually die from it. I have heard people say "oh, it is no problem my beardie ate the giant insect". Yes... maybe your dragon was lucky that time - but for goodness' sake - don't take chances when it comes to this. Rather offer crickets that are "too small" than too big to your beardie.

Read more about crickets and feeding at Tosneys Bearded Dragon care

How many crickets?
I often get the question how much a dragon shall eat per day. So I will try to tell. But remember that this is very individual for each dragon. As long as your beardie eats and look healthy you don't have to worry even if it eats more - or less - than Teo and my other dragons.

2-3 months
When Teo was about 2-3 months she ate about 10-20 crickets a day. BUT - I have heard about dragons that eat up to 90 crickets/day! When Teo was young I gave her crickets 2 times a day. A baby beardie shall have food often. Feed them as much as they want to eat for 10 minutes, that is a good rule.

4-5 months
When Teo was 4-5 months she ate 20-30 crickets/day. And it was around this age that she started to eat vegetables.

Adult
As an adult Teo and doesn't eat nearly as much. She now eats about 3-5 crickets every second day. I also feed her 2-3 Zophobas (Giant mealworms) once a week. Too much zophobas isn't good for dragons, they contain too much fat and the shell is hard to digest. Dragons shall eat more veggies than crickets when they are adults.

Dragons' appetite
Dragon's appetite seems to come and go. Teo and Disa are usually more happy to eat than Cicero and Olga are. Sometimes they don't even want their crickets every second day. Maybe every third day or so. They have been like this for a long time and they both looks healthy so I guess that is their normal appetite.

Special "food-terrarium"
In the beginning I fed my beardies in a special container. There are several reasons for a special "food cage": It's good to know how much each of them eats. There will be no "left over" crickets in the big terrarium that can hurt the beardies (it happens) or make noise during the night. It is also much easier for the beardies to catch the crickets in the small "feeding terrarium". But... my beardies are spoiled these days so I usually hand feed them one cricket at the time! They like that…

Frozen crickets
I breed my own crickets and plan for my future holidays by freezing some crickets. It is easier to get a "dragon sitter" that want to feed dead crickets than living jumping critters. When I offer the dragons the frozen crickets I firs defrost them and then roll them in calcium. None of my dragons refused to eat them. I don't recommend doing this all the time though, since a lot of nutrition disappears when you freeze food. But it is good too keep some crickets in the freezer" just in case".