????

[kman]

i got a beardie three weeks ago and he just doesnt seem to be growing he hasnt shed at all. what do you all feed yours also what are gut loaded crickets... are they alive or dead and stuffed with nutrients...also any general info that isnt in the books on beardies that could only be gotten by owning them would be appreciated

[Reptile713]

Hi kman;

You didn't mention how old he might be or how big your dragon is. My babies first shed exactly one month after they hatched. For the most part(this is not always exact science), they shed about once a month until they are about a year, then more or less once a month. Some beardeds will eat some of their sheddings. Not all do - but 2 of mine seem to do it often.

Gut loading crickets is simply keepng the cricket on a highly nutritious diet for about two days before feeding them to your lizard. And since variety is the key to nutrition, you may want to feed the crickets some greens before feeding them off, and maybe dry baby food for the next set of crickets. They also sell gut loading cricket food at a lot of pet shops.

I use a lot of mealworms(easy to raise - cheap to maintain). I keep them on a bedding of seed hulls(leftovers from my birds)and oatmeal. I pour some dry baby food on top of that, and supply moisture with a variety of sliced vegetables(thin - so it doesn't get moldy)or leafy vegetables - so this way, the bugs are always more or less gut loaded. I hope this helps some.

If you have only your one beardie to worry about, I'd go with buying the cricket food for the cricket.

Ray