How Much Should I Feed My Bearded Dragon And When?

In this post we learn about the bearded dragon feeding schedule, how often a bearded dragon eats, how much you should feed your bearded dragon and what is the bearded dragon diet is by age. If you prefer looking at tables rather than large walls of text, check out our bearded dragon feeding chart by age below – it tells you all you need to know in a handy table.

Further into the post you can learn more about the differences between adult bearded dragon diet and baby bearded dragon diet, including differences in their feeding schedules and why the difference between baby bearded dragon’s diet and adults is important for your bearded dragon’s health.

Bearded Dragon Feeding Chart By Age

This is probably what many of you came here for. This bearded dragon feeding chart by age shows you how much of each different food stuff you should feed your bearded dragon, and the feeding schedule for them at the various different ages.

Age	Feeder Insects	Vegetables	Meal Frequency
Babies (0 – 4 mths)	80 – 90%	10 – 20%	4 or 5 times per day
Juveniles (4 – 12 mths)	60 – 70%	30 – 40%	3 times per day
Adolescent (12 – 18 mths)	30%	70%	Twice Per Day
Adults (18mths +)	10 – 20%	80 – 90%	Once Per Day

How Often Bearded Dragons Eat

As we can see from the feeding chart above, how often you should feed your bearded dragon depends on their age.

Baby bearded dragons should be fed insects up to 5 times a day, with some fresh vegetables available at all times – though the likelihood of them eating them is small.

Juveniles should be fed insects three times a day, with an effort made to get them to eat their vegetables about 30 – 40% of the time.

Adult bearded dragons should be fed every day, but this should be vegetables only for most of the week. The insect component of their diet should be fed once or twice a week.

Salads and feeder insects should be dusted once a day with a good Calcium and Vitamin D3 supplement, but don’t overdust.

Uneaten food should ideally be removed after 30 minutes. Salad/vegetables can stay a bit longer if they remain fresh, but once it becomes limp it needs to be removed.

Suitable insects for bearded dragons are here.
Suitable vegetables for bearded dragons are here.
Fruits that bearded dragons can have as a treat are here.

Diet Differences Between Baby Bearded Dragons and Adults

Baby bearded dragons have a very different set of nutritional demands compared to adults. In the wild, baby dragons try to gain weight and grow quickly. This is so they’re not so easily picked off by predators. The strongest, fastest and biggest will be more likely to reach maturity. The survival of the fittest.

Once they reach maturity though, their biggest goal in life is now achieved. They don’t need to gain more weight to survive. In fact, too much weight in adulthood becomes a problem for their survival as it slows them down. Slower dragons find it more difficult to fend off predators.

So, over the millennia they have evolved these changes in diet to enable them to be the fittest survivors.

What this means is that baby and juvenile bearded dragons require food with a lot more protein content than adults. The baby uses the protein to grow its muscles and organs quickly. The adult needs just enough protein to maintain those organs

Why Is The Right Diet Balance Important?

In captivity, too much protein leads to obesity, fatty liver and kidney problems. Well worth avoiding. Most dragons in the wild never live long enough for this to become a problem.

Too many soft treats such as soft fruits, soft worms or soft bodied insects can lead to tooth decay problems. Too much sugar from fruits can also lead to digestion problems. Bearded dragon digestive systems rely on a fermentation process which sugar interferes with.

Equally however, too many hard shelled insects can cause problems with impaction, particularly in babies and juveniles.

Too little calcium will result in Metabolic Bone Disorder, and too much calcium can lead to hypercalcaemia and other complications.

It’s important to get the balance right if you want your bearded dragon to live a long and happy life.

The Right Ratio Of Live Food To Vegetables

There’s a lot of information on the internet that suggests that for babies the ratio should be 80-90% live food. Adults should be the reverse of that. Adults therefore should be 80-90% vegetables.

This is in general a good rule of thumb, but what does it actually mean? How can you quantify this, it all sounds so confusing.

It simply means that baby bearded dragons should be fed mostly live food. Adult dragons should be fed a mostly vegetable based diet.

Don’t become fixated on the numbers. They’re a guide and if you follow the feeding formula here you’ll be pretty much right.

Juveniles will gradually switch over from mostly live food to mostly vegetables over the course of about 6 months. This will start from about the age of 4 to 6 months. When they reach 4 to 6 months old, start gradually reducing the amount of live food they are offered. Begin increasing the amount of vegetable food. Expect the switchover period to be awkward. Your baby won’t initially want to eat much in the way of vegetables!

How Often Should a Baby Bearded Dragon Be Fed Live Food?

Baby bearded dragons will require feeding live food 3 to 5 times a day, every day. Generally this should be as many live insects as they’ll eat in around 10 minutes.

As we said above, baby dragons require a diet of mostly live food. They should be fed live food every day up to the age of about 4 to 6 months.

Baby bearded dragons can be voracious eaters. This can be expensive at first since the live food needs to be bought from a reputable reptile food shop. You can however, breed your own which should work out cheaper.

Fresh leafy green vegetables should be available in the tank all day for them. They can then pick at them whenever they feel like. Don’t be surprised though if most of this goes to waste. Fortunately they won’t need much in there at a time and leafy green vegetables go a long way. If the leaves start to go limp, remove them and replace them with fresh vegetables and leaves.

How Big Should The Insects Be For Baby Bearded Dragons?

Baby dragons should not be fed any insects that are longer than the gap between the baby’s eyes. This reduces the risk of complications from impaction, and in severe cases paralysis.

We’ve seen posts online recently that state this is a myth – however, we strongly disagree. We have seen baby bearded dragons require significant veterinary care after being fed insects that were too big. This can lead to spinal cord compression internally and therefore paralysis. Baby dragons aren’t overly clever and will try to eat anything that moves, even if it is too big.

In the wild, a baby bearded dragon that eats something that’s too big becomes paralysed and a meal for something. In captivity you have to watch them struggle and potentially die. It’s just best to stick to smaller food and avoid that.

What About Water? Do Baby Bearded Dragons Need Water?

Central bearded dragons have evolved in the dry areas of Australia. They will generally get most of their water content from their food. However, they do still require some water so a small water bowl in the vivarium is a good idea.

Don’t make this too big though. A baby dragon can easily drown if the water is too deep and big water bowls will increase humidity. A bowl of about the circumference of a mug and a centimetre deep should be plenty. Change the water at least every day though as it will go stale quickly. Any water in the enclosure is likely to get pooped in too.

You may need to wiggle your finger in the water after feeding to show your beardie where it is. Baby beardies especially don’t see stationary things as food (which is why their vegetables aren’t likely to get eaten voluntarily). Wiggling the water in the bowl may entice them to have a taste. Once they get used to it they’ll drink on their own if they want to.

Feeding Your Bearded Dragon in the Vivarium or Outside

This is largely a matter of personal choice, although for babies we’d generally recommend a separate feeding environment. You can take baby out of the vivarium and into a separate smaller enclosure to feed.

There’s 2 reasons we recommend this, although 1 of them depends on your substrate.

If your baby is on a loose substrate (which we don’t recommend anyway for babies, but some people insist) then feeding outside the vivarium in a separate enclosure without any loose substrate in it reduces the risk of impaction. Babies are clumsy eaters and will often miss their prey. If they’re on a loose substrate in the vivarium their tongue will likely pick up the loose substrate. They’ll swallow this and be unable to digest it.

The second reason for feeding outside the vivarium is that it can be easier to put the live food in a feeding enclosure. Introduce your dragon and let them hunt it and eat it in a controlled way. You’ll be able to time their excursion to around the ten minutes. When their time is up you can put them back in their vivarium knowing there’s no escapees to round up. We don’t recommend leaving any live foods in the vivarium. This applies particularly to crickets, as they can bite or nip at your dragon while they sleep.

This may also help your baby dragon to accept you handling them. They’ll get used to the idea that you picking them up often results in a tasty dinner excursion for them. They’re not as daft as many people believe and will soon learn that your hand means food.

Can I Hand Feed a Bearded Dragon Live Food?

Absolutely. You can hand feed in a separate enclosure or in the vivarium. Sometimes it can be best to mix hand feeding in the vivarium with non-hand feeding outside. Either way it’s up to you.

Hand feeding can be a great way to build a bond with your baby. They’ll soon grow to recognise that your hand isn’t a threat but instead means a tasty treat.

But do be aware, some dragons can become lazy and will only accept food if it’s hand fed to them. It’s probably best to mix it up a bit. Do some hand feeding and some feeding that they have to hunt for themselves. Lazy dragons become fat dragons.

Why Won’t My Baby Bearded Dragon Eat?

This is a huge topic. There are a whole range of reasons why your baby dragon might not be eating. We’ve covered this in a separate article so we won’t go over it again here. For more information see our post entitled My Bearded Dragon Won’t Eat.

How Often Should An Adult Bearded Dragon Be Fed Live Food?

Feed adult bearded dragons live food once to twice a week, with an emphasis on keeping your dragon at a good healthy weight. They only need one sitting on their designated live food days too. Be guided by their weight rather than how many times you should feed. We’ll talk about their weight a little further in this section.

The metabolic demands of adults differs from that of babies. Adult bearded dragons do not require as much protein as babies do, because babies are using that protein to grow.

Adults do still require some protein of course, and as such live food still forms an important part of their diet.

Many online sources state that your bearded dragon should be fed live insects twice to three times a week. They then state they should be eating as many as they want in a 10 to 15 minute setting.

Our opinion is that this is too much. Wild dragons will not have access to that much food, leading to many dragons in captivity becoming obese. Wild dragons will also get significantly more exercise on a daily basis than many captive dragons. Obesity can lead to many health complications, such as fatty liver, kidney issues and respiratory issues.

In general an adult bearded dragon will weigh between 300 to 500 grams, depending on its length. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the fat pads on their head and around the base of the tail are visible. They shouldn’t have too much fat around their belly.

Bear in mind if you’re feeding a lot of live insects but your dragon is still looking underweight, they may be sick. Check out our post about My Bearded Dragon Looks Sick – What Could It Be? for more information.

What Size Should The Insects Be For An Adult Bearded Dragon?

This isn’t as much of an issue with adult dragons as it is for babies. They’re generally a bit better at regulating their food intake. Adult dragons have a much bigger digestive tract so they’ll fare better with bigger insects. You probably won’t find many insects that are in their staple list that’ll be too big for them.

The rule of feeding nothing longer than the space between the eyes doesn’t really apply to adults. They’re better adapted to eating larger insects. It won’t hurt if you do decide to stick to this though.

What Are The Complications With Over-feeding an Adult Dragon?

The biggest complication with overfeeding an adult bearded dragon is obesity. Obesity in dragons is similar to obesity in humans, in that it deposits fat around essential organs.

It is a vicious cycle and hard to break. Being overweight generally results from too much food and not enough exercise and is very common among captive bearded dragons.

Fatty liver is one of the main complications of obesity. This means that fat deposits end up being formed in the dragon’s liver. This increases the size of the liver. Fatty Liver reduces its effectiveness at producing the necessary hormones and enzymes required for optimal health.

Obesity can also result in respiratory conditions and leave your dragon more vulnerable to respiratory infections. The excess body fat reduces the ability to breathe properly. This is exacerbated in Dragons compared to humans because dragons have no diaphragm.

Can Obesity Be Reversed?

Yes, it can, but it’s going to require a bit of effort on both your part and your dragons. The basic formula is energy in – exercise out = dragon weight. So, to reduce obesity you’re going to need to reduce the amount of food they eat. You can instead increase the amount of exercise they get, or do both.

If your dragon is obese, gradually reduce the amount of food and increase the amount of exercise. But don’t be cruel about it. Starvation won’t do them any good and sudden intense exercise in an obese dragon won’t either. Make it gradual. You can also reduce the amount of live food they’re getting while increase the amount of leafy green vegetables. In this way they get less fat and protein in their diet.

Other complications of over-feeding

This one only really applies to female bearded dragons. There has been some recent evidence that suggests that female bearded dragons will ovulate and become gravid if they’re overfed. This is a natural response in the wild as an abundance of food is a good time to produce offspring.

These eggs will be infertile unless they’ve been with a mate of course. However, the female still has to ‘give birth’ to them when they are ready. As with any animal giving birth this can be a traumatic time and injury and death can occur.

If you have a female dragon who’s producing lots of eggs without a male nearby then over-feeding may be the culprit.

When Should I Feed My Bearded Dragon?

There’s only one thing to bear in mind when it comes to timing of feeds for your bearded dragon. This is that they require heat to digest their food properly. Bearded Dragons are reptiles and as such they’re cold blooded animals. They rely on external heat sources to provide them with their body heat and energy. Therefore you should ensure your bearded dragon is properly warm and has enough warm time left to digest their food. A good rule of thumb is no food until the heat lamp has been on 2 hours, and no food if the heat lamp has less than 2 hours left before it switches off.

Digestion relies on the right temperatures to operate the chemical reactions between the food and the hormones and enzymes involved with digestion. If the environment is too cold then the chemical reactions slow down or don’t work properly at all.

With this in mind, you’ll need to firstly make sure that the temperatures in your vivarium are correct. See our article on Bearded Dragon Lighting for more information on this.

With correct temperatures in place, it’s advisable to give your dragon enough time in the morning to warm up before feeding. Allow enough time after feeding for them to stay warm to digest properly.

Allowing around 2 hours to bask in the morning before feeding is advisable. Ensuring the basking lights stay on for at least 2 hours after feeding is also advised. This gives you an 8 to 10 hour window in which to feed them.

E.g. if your lights are on a 12 hour schedule and come on at 8am and go off at 8pm. We’d advise not feeding your dragon until at least 10am. We also advise not feeding them after 6pm if this is the lighting schedule.

I’m Going Away For A Few Days, What’s The Best Way To Feed Them While I’m Away?

There’s a few things to bear in mind if you’re going away for a few days and leaving your dragon behind.

We wouldn’t recommend it at all with a baby dragon. This is because their feeding regime requires feeding 3 times a day every day of the week. If you have someone you can trust to feed them while you’re away then it’s not a problem at all.

If you’re going away for a few days and you have an adult dragon this isn’t an issue with live food. You can schedule their feed around your time away. Feed their live food before you go. If you’re returning within 3 days they shouldn’t require feeding live food again until you return.

However, you should always ensure your dragon has adequate fresh water available. More importantly, fresh leafy greens and vegetables available every day. Salad will wilt and go off if left in the hot environment of the vivarium for too long.

It’s best if you can have someone you trust come in to replace the water and vegetables. If it’s only for a few days that person doesn’t need to worry about the live food (for an adult). It should help your ability to find someone to help.

If you’re going away for longer, or can’t find anyone to replace the salad we’d recommend a reputable Reptile Hotel. They do exist and a google search or a question in the Facebook Group should be able to help.

Can I Leave Bearded Dragon Live Food In The Tank?

You can leave live food in the tank although in general we’d recommend removing it where possible.

Crickets in particular can nip bearded dragons overnight while they sleep, causing damage to scales and skin and other injuries. If you must leave food in the tank overnight, don’t leave crickets. They’re nasty. We’ve seen photos of crickets absolutely destroying Geckos and it’s just hideous. Worms will turn into their adult insect ( either beetle or moth ) after a time if they’re left too long.

But, it can be fun for the dragon to hunt their food during the day. Introducing some live food into the tank during the day it can provide some stimulation for your dragon. This can help them from becoming bored. It can also provide some exercise for them having to hunt down and snatch their prey. So a couple of insects left in the tank isn’t going to do any harm.

It’s not recommended to throw the whole amount of food in, close the door and think you’ve done your bit. Too much live food will remain uneaten. Uneaten food will either bite your dragon or will poop and potentially die in the corner causing infection risk. Bacteria and fungii thrive on decaying organic matter.

The same therefore goes for vegetable foods. Vegetable food definitely can and should be left in a bowl during the day. It’s wise to remove it 2 hours before lights out. This is so that beardie doesn’t eat it when they can’t digest properly. Removing it will also help to prevent it going soggy or rotten.

Summary For Bearded Dragon Feeding Schedule

In this post we’ve learned about how to often feed bearded dragons and noticed that a bearded dragon’s diet depends on their age. As a result we’ve shared a bearded dragon feeding chart by age which gives you some good approximations of which types of food and how often bearded dragons should be fed – depending on their age.

The bearded dragon feeding schedule isn’t particularly difficult, once you know it. But it’s important to ensure you get it right to keep your bearded dragon healthy, active and live long.

We’ve highlighted the differences between adult and baby bearded dragon’s diet and the reasons why. We’ve not gone into detail about the different insects or vegetables to feed. To get a list of suitable live foods please see our other articles in the Bearded Dragon Diet and the Bearded Dragon Insects and Bearded Dragon Vegetables sections.

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