Feeding your bearded dragon the right foods in the right quantities is essential to making sure that your bearded dragon stays healthy. Feeding the wrong foods or not frequently enough can lead to malnutrition and serious health problems.
Bearded dragons are omnivores meaning that they eat both animals and plants. Baby bearded dragons can eat mostly just small insects but older dragons should also have plant sources included into their diet with a ratio of around 75% animals and 25% plants.
Plants (Fruits & Vegetables)
Whilst it’s possible for a bearded dragon to live on a diet of only animals the ideal bearded dragon diet should also include select fruits and vegetables as this is what their diet would consist of in the wild.
Overall plants should make up around 25% with green leafy vegetables making up the majority of that and fruits making up no more than 10% of the overall diet.
Based on their nutritional value here are some of the very best plant foods for your bearded dragon:
Carrots: They are packed full of antioxidants, minerals and beta carotene making them a great vegetable for your bearded dragon. Be sure to mash them up rather them chopping though to make them easier to ingest.
Collared Greens: Also full of nutrients as well as immune system boosters and vitamin C. Just tear the leaves up into little pieces and feed them to your bearded dragon.
Bok Choy: Another good bearded dragon food that’s full of vitamin A. Again just tear it up into pieces and serve.
Tomatoes: They’re loaded with vitamin A and lycopene and are a good way to mix up your dragons’ diet.
Blueberries: They’re an antioxidant and vitamin K rich fruit and therefore great for your pet. Just cut them into halves and feed them to your bearded dragon.
Dandelion Greens: They’re full of vitamins A, C and K and are also a great source of calcium. Be sure to only feed the leaves and not the flower.
Endive: A great source of folate as well as vitamins A and K. Just tear up the leaves and feed to your dragon.
Strawberries: Full of vitamin C. Just cut into small pieces and then feed to your dragon.
Other greens that can be fed to your dragon include escarole, kale,parsley, clover, dandelion greens, mustard greens and turnip greens.
Other vegetables that can be fed to your dragon include: broccoli, okra, peas, green beans, zucchini, squash and sweet potato.
Other fruits that can be fed to your dragon include kiwi fruits, papaya, melon, grapes, apples, dates, apricots, peaches, bananas and plums.
Animals And Insects
The main portion of your bearded dragons’ diet should consist of animal matter and here are some of the best animal based food items to include into your bearded dragon’s diet.
Crickets: Crickets are one of the best and most popular insects to feed your dragon and bearded dragons absolutely love them.
Younger dragons should be fed “pinhead” crickets which are younger, smaller crickets whilst older dragons should be fed full sized adult crickets.
A good way to increase the nutritional value of your crickets is to feed them any leftover fruits or vegetables that you might have before feeding them to your dragon.
Mealworms: Mealworms are another extremely popular bearded dragon food that are packed with protein and other good stuff for your dragon.
Mealworms can either be kept in a small container with some oatmeal and celery if you intend to feed them to your dragon within a few weeks or they can be kept in the freezer where they will last for months and won’t require any feeding.
Cockroaches: Cockroaches are dead easy to breed and make for a great food for your dragon containing plenty of protein. They’ve also got a lot more meat then crickets.
Younger bearded dragons should be fed smaller roaches while older dragons should be fed bigger roaches.
Other animals that can be fed to your dragon include: earthworms, king worms, wax worms, butterworms and superworms.