Do Bearded Dragons need to eat crickets?

Question

I am looking into purchasing a bearded dragon, and am having cricket issues. It seems too expensive, and inconvenient to buy them daily from the pet store, but I am not all that thrilled about buying them in bulk either. Will the lizard be happy with a varied diet including the canned commercial dragon food with crickets offered only once or twice a week?
If No, what is the best way to deal with the cricket issue?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes! yes! You need to buy the crickets a pet carrier. The little plastic kind. They cost about $12. You kind of have to treat them like a pet. Keep cricket food in there, sprinkled on the floor of the carrier, and tear up some cardbord egg crate for them to hid in when they shead, then put in a half of a orange for them to drink. This sounds wierd but it totally works. Buy the crickets from a real Reptile store. They are much cheeper. You should beable to get a least 100 for $5. Check on line as well. This is VITAL for the life of your beardie.

Answer 2

Bearded Dragons do need insects in their diet, especially babies. However, you can offer a variety of bugs (say you feed him bugs 5 days per week; you could buy 50 crickets and keep them in a tupperware with some food ie carrots and fishfood, and feed him some on 3 of the days, and also get some small mealworms and/or silkworms for the other days) as well as veggies (dark leafy veggies like kale and bok-choy, grated squash, snow peas, green peppers, strawberries, grated carrot etc).

As the beardie gets older, he will need less bugs and more veggies, so you should be able to pick up crickets once a week, feed him half on one day and half on another day, and maybe some mealworms in there too.

Crickets aren't too expensive, you can get them for 5-8 cents each at petstores, or you can buy them in bulk for 2-3 cents each. Mealworms, too, you can get for 7-10 cents each (and you can keep 100 in a small tub - they're easy to breed, too).

However, if you're very concerned about the cost / work involved with keeping a beardie, please think hard before you buy one. They are animals, and like any pet they require time, attention, cleanliness, and there are of course expenses involved (vet fees, fecals, feeding, bedding, caging, bla bla bla.)

Good luck! :)

Answer 3

This excerpt from Wikipedia says that the bearded dragons make good pets because of their "omnivorous diet". This means a mix of vegatation and meat, just like humans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_Dragon

This article goes into more detail about vegetables, and the well-rounded diet they need...

http://lizards4all.stormpages.com/diet.html

I would think that only baby dragons would need crickets daily. Once they are adults crickets need to be only a sometime thing, and not even necessary weekly, if you use alternatives that are healthy.

Answer 4

Crickets were only introduced to their diet by the International Dragon Welfare Organisation in 1962 and there is no law that states you must use crickets in feeding dragons. Using crickets is, however, the cheapest way to feed them, especially bearded, and there's little or no evidence, or at least certified evidence, to suggest that it harms their diet.

The thing to do would be to shave it and send it back to the fairy land where dragons belong.

Answer 5

hi there
as as hatching's they need 100% insects for the first 2 weeks.. babies 80%insects 20% greens,mix veggies and juveniles70%insects30% greens,mixed veggies and fruits adults 30% insects 70% greens, mixed, veggies and fruits... as babies and juveniles they need the protein do to their growth rate is faster
Insect consists of crickets , meal worms ,super worms, wax worms, washed dew worms and so on just to name a few (no firefly's will kill them)but crickets are easier digest then meal worms... dew worms are harder to find in the winter lol and crickets are the cheapest that u can buy at any pet store... hope this helps u.. check out info website for more info on breadies

Answer 6

Do not give him meal worms. and yes you need to dust the crickets with calcium and it is great to gut load them as what they eat your dragon eats. Here's a good list of what to feed. FEED DAILY Collard Greens Dandelion Greens Endive Escarole Mustard Greens Turnip Greens Acorn Squash Butternut Squash Hubbard Squash Green Beans Peas Parsnips Turnips Scallop Squash Spaghetti Squash Summer Squash Sweet potato Figs Mango Papaya Raspberries Silkworm Cactus Pad/Leaf FEED OCCASSIONALLY Arugula Bok Choy Kale Bell Peppers, red & green Bell Peppers, yellow Celery Cucumbers Okra Potato, russet Pumpkin, raw Radish Spinach Watercress Yams, raw Zucchini, raw & peeled Apples Apricots Blackberries Blueberries Cantaloupe Cherries Cranberries Grapefruit Grapes Guava Honeydew Kiwi Nectarines Orange, naval Orange, mandarin Peaches Pear, not asian Pineapple, canned Pineapple, fresh Plums Prunes, canned Raisins, seedless Strawberries Watermelon Butterworms Silkworms Superworms Waxworms Basil Beans, garbanzo Beans, kidney Beans, lima Beans, pinto Cilantro Peppermint leaves Spearmint Wheat grass FLOWERS rose petals dandelions dahlias hibiscus nasturtiums RARELY Broccoli Brussel sprouts Carrots Cauliflower Green peas raw Rutabaga, raw Tomatoes Pomegranate Star fruit Bananas Rice, brown, long grain Soybeans NEVER cabbage Corn Lettuce Spinach Avocado Eggplant Mushrooms Rhubarb Chicken Ground beef Pork chops Spaghetti, cooked Meal Worms

Answer 7

They dont NEED to.
But its a healthy part of their diet when they are adolescent.

As an adult they eat mostly salad anyways.

Answer 8

yes you do more you feed them more they gorw i know because i have two of them and they are big trust me and yes you can feed it only once a week