What Can Bearded Dragons Eat?

Bearded dragons are omnivores they consume both animal matter and plant matter, and in the wild these reptiles can spend hours hunting and foraging to get enough nutrients to last it for the day. In captivity, it is easy to imagine that they will have little or no trouble getting enough food, because reptile keepers can just purchase what the his pet needs.

Sometimes this is true, but a general lack of knowledge about the bearded dragon’s diet makes it impossible for many owners to provide the right balance of nutrients. First, you need to purchase the prey items that you are going to feed your bearded dragon.

Why? Two reasons: first, buying the insects will ensure that you will have a enough live prey items for him every day and second, buying bred insects will also mean that there is a low risk of parasitic infections after your bearded dragon has eaten the live prey items.

You see, deadly parasites can actually hide in insects, and these parasites can be passed on to these reptiles. Parasites are common in insects caught in the wild, so they are not always the best choice.

Before feeding insects to your pet, always remember to “gut load” the prey items. Gut loading is a very common practice, and it helps in increasing the nutrients in the prey items. It is easy to gut load insects, just put them in a large thermos bottle and place slices of lettuce and potatoes inside. The insects will eat and absorb the nutrients in the food you have provided. These nutrients in turn will be passed on to your bearded dragon when the insects are fed to your pet.

Are you having a hard time giving your bearded dragon its supplements? Never fear dusting is here! Dusting is really just sprinkling the mineral or multivitamin supplement on the prey items that he is about to eat. You can also add the supplement to the stuff that you are going to feed worms and insects. As long as the powder supplement sticks to the prey items, your dragon will get the nutrients.

Now let us talk about plant matter. There are a lot of nutrients in vegetable matter that are not present in animal matter. The key to the best nutrition in bearded dragons isn’t very different from the secret of balancing a human diet: Variety. You can’t give your bearded dragon iceberg lettuce every day and expect it to fully thrive.

But if you work hard, and do your research, you will find that there are a ton of vegetables available in your local supermarkets that are inexpensive and will provide the proper mix of plant protein, vitamins, and minerals your reptile needs. Some vegetables even have vitamin D, a very essential nutrient that wards off the deadly reptile disease known as metabolic bone disease.

So remember, reptiles will eat anything that you give to them, but that doesn’t automatically mean that they are getting all the nutrients they need to be healthy.