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Nutrition
Evidence Based
The Definitive Guide to Proper Bearded Dragon Diet
On This Page
Whether you're a new or experienced owner, what your bearded dragon eats matters a lot. Figuring it out might seem hard, but we're here to make it easy. This guide is all you need for feeding your dragon right.
Key Principles
Care Principle: Besides other husbandry factors like enclosure temperatures and size, diet is one of the most critical aspects in maintaining your pets health and wellness.
Action Item: Read this guide so you have an understanding of how to meet your pets nutritional needs
Care Principle: Virtually all experts agree, a healthy bearded dragon diet is one that contains lots of different insect and green options.
Action Item: Regularly feed your pet as many insect types as you can manage, at least 3 (for example, Dubia Roaches, Hornworms, Superworms). Match this same strategy in the plant matter you feed.
Care Principle: Captive animals need a fraction of the energy their wild counterparts need. Reptile obesity caused by overfeeding is shockingly common, and disastrous for your pets health.
Action Item: Ditch the common myth of feeding your pet as much as they can eat in a certain timeframe. Use our estimation calculator to get an idea of what your pet needs.
Care Principle: Bearded dragons are omnivores. They require both greens and insects for a healthy diet. The proportion of insect to greens will change at different ages. Babies will eat almost entirely insects, while adults will eat much closer to 50-50.
Action Item: Start your baby bearded dragon on greens early. It’s totally ok if they don’t eat a ton at first, the key is building familiarity for later life.
Care Principle: Almost everything is ok in moderation. This said, some food options just have more nutrients than others. You should focus your pets diets on the options that are packed with nutrients.
Action Item: Feed your bearded dragon nutrient dense insects like Dubia Roaches, Hornworms, Black Solider Fly Larvae, and Superworms/mealworms. Select greens like collard greens, mustard greens, and carrots.
Why is Diet so Important?
Before we dive in to what a great pet diet looks like, let’s consider why it’s so important.
"Specific numbers are not available, but many reptiles and amphibians die prematurely; malnutrition is often a factor in this early demise." - Dr. Byron de la Navarre, DVM
Your pet gets the energy and nutrients they need to grow, move, and stay healthy from the food you feed them. Just like humans, the quality of your pet’s diet affects their risk of disease, life expectancy, and general wellbeing. Due to poor education and care resources, too many owners cause harm to their pets as a result of poor diet.
The Basics of Healthy Pet Diet
Now that you know why diet is so important, let’s get into the nutritional basics of bearded dragons.
Diet of Wild Dragons
To understand what makes a diet healthy or not, we must first understand how bearded dragons evolved to eat. Broadly speaking, proper husbandry requires matching our pets care to their needs in their wild habitat.
Wild bearded dragons eat an extremely wide variety of food items in the wild. A study that analyzed their wild diet found they ate prey items of over nine different arthropod orders. The authors of the study indicate that the bearded dragon is likely an opportunistic hunter. By definition, they will eat whatever they come across. This has broad implications in proper care we will break down in a moment.
Nutrients and Variety
There is an important link between the variety of your pets diet and the nutrients they get. Different feeder insects and plant matter have different nutritional make-ups. To cover all your pets nutritional needs, you NEED to feed a wide variety of these options.
As an example, a human couldn’t eat McDonoalds everyday and expect to be healthy. The same goes for your pet.
"If we want to provide the best nutrition for captive reptiles, we need to look no further than our own diets. How many humans have diets limited to 1 or 2 food types? Unfortunately, this is common for captive reptiles, which are commonly offered only 1 type of insect..."
"By expanding the dietary offerings provided to captive reptiles, we can ensure they are exposed to a broader range of nutrients, as well as limit the likelihood of the pets developing a nutritional disease." - Mark A. Mitchell, DVM, PhD, MS, DECZM
Feeding the Right Amount
You might be asking, how much should I feed my bearded dragon?
It’s important to get this right. Reptile obesity is a serious issue. The industry standard for feeding has historically been feeding dragon’s as much as they want. You must recognize that bearded dragon’s are wild animals. Their instinct is to eat all that is available. In captivity, this can quickly lead to obesity, health problems, and death. The trouble is, every animal is different, and it’s hard to figure out how much they should be offered to eat.
By using our calculator, you can get a better idea of what your dragon truly needs on a day to day basis. This tool provides estimates. All bearded dragons are different, and feeder insects come in different sizes/nutritional value depending on the source. Your focus should be providing sufficient quantity and quality in the form of diversity.
Calorie Estimator for Dragons
Enter Dragon Weight (g):
Greens and Insects
Bearded dragons are omnivorous. This means they naturally consume both plant matter and animal matter (typically insects). Babies tend toward a primarily insect diet (90% insects and 10% plant matter), while adults usually consume 50% insects and 50% plant matter.
It’s a good idea to offer your bearded dragon greens from an early age. While they may not consume much, building an initial familiarity early on can help ease the transition as they age.
There is a common recommendation to feed adult bearded dragons almost all greens. Scientific evidence suggests this would not be advisable. In the wild, adults eat much closer to a 50/50 split of plant matter to animal matter.
Insect Options
- Dubia Roaches: An excellent and versatile feeder due to their exceptional nutritional make up
- Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL): High in calcium, this is another excellent addition to any bearded dragons diet.
- Crickets: Frankly, we don’t love crickets. They stink, are loud, and can bite your pet (not kidding). But any list would be incomplete without them. We don’t recommend them for the above reasons, but they are a proven staple of the reptile world.
- Hornworms: High in water content, they are an excellent addition to a good diet
- Superworms: While you need to be careful with moderation, their high fat content provides ample energy to developing babies and larger adults.
- Mealworms: With a similar nutritional content to superworms, they are sometimes avoided due to their hard exoskeleton. In moderation, they are an appropriate addition.
- Waxworms: High in fat, they are ok occasionally, but we think there’s better options to choose from.
- Discord Roaches: For those of you in Florida (where dubia roaches are not allowed), the discord roach is a great choice as a replacement.
Plant Matter Options: Greens, Vegetables and Fruits
Plant matter is just as critical as the insects you feed your dragon. They obtain a large amount of the needed micro-nutrients from this part of their diet. Adults should be offered greens everyday. We consider there to be three main categories of plant matter you should feed your dragon5:
- Greens: Good greens are rich in nutrients like calcium, low in phosphorus, here are our favorites: alfalfa, dandelion, collard greens, mustard greens, kale, dark lettuces, romaine, and spinach. Switch things up as often as you can!
- Vegetables: A key addition for nutrients. We love finely chopped carrots, zucchini, and sweet potatoes.
- Fruits: Should be fed sparingly, less than 10% of the plant matter in your beardies diet. Great choices are strawberries, apples, and mango.
