feeding, egg laying for new bearded dragon pet

Question
QUESTION: I have a 6 month female bearded dragon.  This is my first reptile pet and I am 11
years old.  My mom is helping me care for her.
Will she lay eggs without a mate?  Will she need to breed in order to avoid health
problems?  If so, at what age should we start worrying about this?  

Also, about feeding, she eats 25 small crickets in the morning in a 5-10 minute
period and another 10 in the evening.  The larges seem to big and the store doesn't
sell mediums.  Are 25 crickets too many if that is what she seems to want to eat?  We
are also feeding her a chopped/shredded collard greens, carrot, potatos & squash
daily.  We are avoiding mealworms because we've seen that they can cause
impaction.  She poops once or twice each day.  We don't want to overfeed her, but
she never seems to tire of crickets.   




ANSWER:   A female bearded dragon can lay eggs without a mate, but many won't unless they smell males around.  She does not need to breed to be healthy, in fact, egging is a stressfull thing and if she can go through life without doing so, she could live far longer than those who lay every year.
 As long as the crickets are no longer than the space between her eyes, she'll manage fine.  If she is longer than twelve inches long, she can also try superworms.
 Collards is good but have at least three good greens in the salad, other good greens are turnip tops, mustard greens, dandelion greens, mache and arugula.  For veggies, winter squashes are best, butternut, acorn and kabocha, summer squashes like zucchini and yellow squash are not so nutritious.  Stay away from carrots, they bind calcium which she needs to stay healthy.  Potatoes?  Only if they are sweet potatoes.  Chopped up green beans are good too.
 Six months old is still a growing baby and you'll not overfeed her.  It is when she's an adult that insects are cut back and she should get mostly good salad. That will be in another year.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: When we measure our beardie, do we count the tail.  We figured no, and she
measures 5.5 inches from nose to base of tail.  Also, do you know of any
place online to order medium size crickets.  The pet stores seem to only to
carry very small ones or very large ones.   Also, is it true that if the wire
screen on top of her cage is has holes too small it might not let the UVB rays
in?  Our screen has very tiny holes but it is a special locking one that came
with our glass tank.

Answer
 Since the normal tail is the beardie's length plus an inch, then she's of good size.  There are many good sites for crickets.  If I knew your state I would try and give you the best company near you.  But companies with websites include Armstrong Crickets, TopHat Crickets, Chann's Cricket Farms, New York Worms, Mulberry Farms to mention a few.
  Wire screen tops differ.  What you describe sounds like a Critter Cage and yes, it will limit the amount of UVB, so go for the stronger UVB tube, like a Reptisun 10.0 or invest in a Megaray mercury vapor bulb.