What Kinds of Food Does a Bearded Dragon Eat?

Bearded dragons are omnivores, meaning they need a balanced diet consisting of both meat and vegetables to remain healthy and live a long and happy life. Young hatchlings will eat mainly insects before moving onto an adult's diet that includes more vegetables and fruit. An insufficient diet will result in health problems. Feeding them food that is bigger than the space between their eyes could also cause impaction or paralysis of the hind legs.

  1. Meat

    • Bearded dragons will need to eat meat for their diet to be healthy. Adult dragons can be fed baby mice for vital sources of protein, supplemented by a variety of insects that include crickets, mealworms, wax worms, king worms, earthworms and cockroaches. Many people choose to buy and then feed the insects themselves in a separate cage and gut-load them -- meaning the insects are fed a highly nutritious diet themselves to increase their benefits when fed to the dragon.

    Plants

    • Plants should make up 20 percent of your dragon's diet. Green, leafy vegetables are best and should be shredded or torn into small pieces to encourage your dragon to eat them. Popular and easy to find greens include dandelion greens, collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, kale, turnip greens, escarole and chicory.

    Fruit

    • Fruit can be fed to your bearded dragon but only in small quantities. Avoid feeding them citrus based fruits such as oranges and grapefruit as they will cause dragons problems. Figs, kiwi, papaya, melon, apples, grapes and dates are good fruits to use. Like plants, shred the fruit up into small pieces and mix them all together in a bowl to make sure everything is eaten.

    Prepared Diets

    • While a varied fresh diet of meat, vegetables and fruit will provide a dragon with most of its nutrients and vitamins, it is possible to feed them a prepared diet that has been artificially fortified with additional vitamins and nutrients. All-natural, vitamin and mineral-fortified pellets are available from pet stores and can be fed to your dragon in place of or alongside a fresh diet. These prepared diets are easier to obtain and less expensive than constantly having to buy and source relevant insects and plants.