How to Make a Bearded Dragon Gain Weight

Age-appropriate food and food portions should always be fed to your bearded dragon. Bearded dragons are food generalists; they will eat vegetables, animal matter, insects or fruits, making them easier to care for then many reptiles. The age of bearded dragons can be categorized as either babies, newborn to 4 months of age; or adults, 4 months and older.

Things You'll Need

  • Vegetables
  • Crickets
  • Orange slices
  • High-calcium cricket supplement
  • Mealworms
  • Water dish
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Instructions

  1. Determine Feeding Schedule and Variety

    • 1

      Determine how often you will feed your dragon. Ideally, you will feed twice a day, however, a dragon could be fed as often as three times per day or as little as once per day.

    • 2

      Offer you bearded dragons a variety of foods. Determine what food you will be feeding your dragon and set a schedule to allow for variety in feedings.

    • 3

      Wash the vegetables, carefully, to remove any residual chemicals prior to feeding your dragon.

    Maintain Proper Water Supply

    • 4

      Water your dragons using a shallow water dish. Keep dish very clean and ensure the dragon is using it for drinking and not as a toilet.

    • 5

      Spray vegetables with water prior to feeding, especially if your dragon doesn't use the water dish for drinking,

    • 6

      Spray your dragon with a plant mister several times per day.

    Proper Feeding for Baby Bearded Dragons

    • 7

      Prepare the vegetables for feeding by chopping finely with a knife or food chopper. Vegetables should be offered every other day in small quantities.

    • 8

      Small, weeks-old crickets should be coated with vitamin supplements prior to feeding, and should be fed to the dragon often.

    • 9

      Feed mealworm larvae to baby dragons, but be sure to select small, just molted mealworms. They are distinguished by their creamy white color.

    Proper Feeding for Adult Bearded Dragons

    • 10

      Prepare vegetables for feeding by cutting into bite-size pieces. Adults can swallow human-sized portions. Spray vegetables with water prior to feeding to provide additional water to your dragon.

    • 11

      Gut-load crickets prior to feeding to the dragon. Gut-loading is a process where crickets are fed a high calcium/vitamin D cricket diet.

    • 12

      Offer waxworms to your adult dragons to provide variety in their diet. Avoid any beetles or bugs with hard shells, as this can cause intestinal problems even for an adult dragon.