Feed a hatchling bearded dragon mostly insects, in two or three 10-minute sessions a day, with a chopped salad offered daily. Once growth slows, flip that. Adults eat about 75–80% greens and get insects only two or three times a week. Dust the insects with a calcium powder, build the salad from calcium-rich greens such as collards and turnip greens, and treat fruit as an occasional extra.
Every feeding guide agrees on that much. The guides disagree on supplements. One dusts every insect with calcium, another tapers adults to weekly dusting, and a third treats calcium with D3 as essential. Most of that disagreement comes from lighting: each schedule quietly assumes a different UVB setup. The right powder and the right dusting frequency depend on the bulb over your dragon and on the dragon’s age. This guide is built around that decision. The supplement matrix below lets you look up your exact setup.
How much and how often should I feed my bearded dragon at each age?
Go by growth stage, not birthday. A dragon counts as an adult when its length and weight stop climbing week to week. That usually happens somewhere between 12 and 18 months.
| Stage | Insects | Greens | Rough insect : plant split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatchling (0–4 months) | 2–3 sessions a day, as many as eaten in 10 minutes | Finely chopped salad every day, even if ignored | ~70 : 30 |
| Juvenile (4–12 months) | 1–2 sessions a day, tapering toward once | Daily, larger portion | ~50 : 50 |
| Late juvenile (12–18 months, still growing) | Once a day, then every other day | Daily, main food by the end of this stage | ~30 : 70 |
| Adult (growth has plateaued) | 2–3 meals a week | Daily; this is the diet | ~20 : 80 |
The 10-minute session sets portions better than any count. Take out whatever is left when time is up. Hatchlings that keep eating hard at the 10-minute mark get another session that day. Adults that leave insects behind are telling you to feed less.
How many crickets should a baby, juvenile or adult bearded dragon eat a day?
Use these figures as starting points, not targets:
- Hatchlings: often 25–80 small crickets a day, split across sessions. The range is wide because appetite varies with growth spurts, temperature and shedding.
- Juveniles: usually 20–50 a day, falling as they near 12 months.
- Adults: about 10 appropriately sized insects per meal, two or three meals a week. Fewer is fine if body condition is good (see the body-condition checks below).
If you feed dubia roaches, superworms or black soldier fly larvae instead, the counts change because the size and fat content change. Keep the 10-minute rule and the weekly weigh-in. Drop the cricket number.
Should I use calcium with D3 or without, and how often should I dust?
Why your lighting decides it
A bearded dragon needs vitamin D3 to absorb calcium from its gut. There are two ways to supply it: the dragon makes its own in its skin under UVB exposure, or it gets D3 from a powder. They don’t work equally well. In a controlled study of juvenile bearded dragons, UVB exposure maintained healthy blood vitamin D levels, while oral D3 supplementation alone did not. A second study found that compact UVB lamps varied in whether they let growing dragons make enough vitamin D.
The practical result is that a strong, correctly placed UVB tube makes D3 powder mostly unnecessary. The Lafeber Vet bearded dragon care sheet recommends plain calcium, without D3, when proper UVB is in place. With a weak bulb, D3 powder becomes a backup. With no UVB at all, no powder schedule fully makes up the difference.
The supplement matrix: by lighting setup and age
“Dust” means a light coat, like powdered sugar on a doughnut. Shake the insects in a bag or cup with the powder, then feed. Use a reptile multivitamin. Unless your vet says otherwise, pick one that supplies vitamin A as beta-carotene rather than preformed vitamin A. That lowers the risk of overdoing vitamin A.
| Lighting setup | Hatchling (0–4 mo) | Juvenile (4–18 mo, still growing) | Adult (growth plateaued) |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) T5 HO linear UVB (10–12%), under 12 months old, at the right distance: about 9–11” from the basking surface through mesh, or 14–17” with no mesh | Plain calcium on one insect session daily. Multivitamin 1×/week, on a different session. | Plain calcium 3–4×/week. Multivitamin 1×/week. | Plain calcium 1–2×/week. Multivitamin every 1–2 weeks. |
| (b) Compact or coil UVB, or any UVB bulb older than about 12 months | Calcium + D3 2×/week, plain calcium on the other days. Multivitamin 1×/week. Upgrade the lamp now. | Calcium + D3 2×/week, plain calcium 1–2×/week. Multivitamin 1×/week. | Calcium + D3 1×/week, plain calcium 1×/week. Multivitamin every 2 weeks. |
| (c) No UVB | Not fixable with powder. Use the row (b) schedule only as a stopgap while you install UVB, which should take days, not months. Book an exotic vet check. | Same: row (b) schedule as a stopgap, install UVB, and get a vet check if the dragon has spent months without it. | Row (b) schedule as a stopgap and install UVB. Ask your vet whether a check is needed. |
A note on where these numbers come from. The grid combines vet care-sheet guidance with the research cited above. No study has tested this exact schedule. Controlled feeding trials in this species are scarce, and a 2023 veterinary review of pet bearded dragon nutrition is the best single summary of what is and isn’t known. If your exotic vet gives you a different schedule, especially after bloodwork, follow the vet.
Why the published schedules disagree
- “Dust every insect with calcium” is safe only with plain calcium and a strong T5 UVB. If you apply that frequency to a calcium + D3 powder, you can overdose D3.
- “Taper adults to weekly dusting” assumes an adult on a mostly greens diet under good UVB, which is row (a), adult column.
- “Calcium with D3 is essential” covers readers who may have a compact bulb or an old tube, which is row (b). It’s a reasonable default when a guide can’t see your lighting, and it’s too much once your lighting is right.
- “Multivitamin once a week” fits growing dragons in any row. Adults on a varied salad need it less often.
Why insects always need dusting
The calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of the overall diet should land above 1:1. Feeder insects all fall well below 1:1, meaning they carry more phosphorus than calcium. That includes dubia roaches. An earlier version of this article said dubia roaches were above 1:1. That was wrong, and we’ve corrected it. Dubias are still a good feeder. They’re easy to gut-load, quiet and long-lived, and they don’t nibble on a sleeping dragon. But dusting is what corrects the ratio for every feeder insect, and for adults the calcium-rich salad does most of that work.
Where the top feeding guides disagree, and which figure to follow
If you’ve read a few guides already, you’ve seen these conflicts:
| Question | Figures you’ll find | Follow this | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult insect frequency | 2×/week; 2–3×/week; “2 meals a day” | 2–3 meals a week | “Two meals a day” seems to count salad and insects together, or describes a younger animal. For adults, daily insects are the most common route to obesity and greens refusal. |
| When a dragon is an adult | 12 months; 18 months; over 12”/25 cm | When growth plateaus, usually 12–18 months | Dragons grow at different rates depending on heat, UVB and diet. Weigh and measure monthly, and switch schedules when the gains stop. |
| Fruit | Monthly; 1–2×/week | No more than once a week, a small amount | Fruit adds sugar and little calcium. Monthly is fine. Twice weekly crowds out greens in a small adult. |
| Gut-load time | 12–24 h; at least 24 h; 24–72 h | 24–48 h | Under 24 hours, the insects may not have eaten much. At 48 hours you’ve covered every recommendation without the feeders dying off in the bin. |
Worked example: a 16-month-old dragon that won’t touch salad
Take a 16-month-old dragon weighing 420 g and measuring about 19”. It hasn’t gained weight in two months, so it’s effectively an adult. The setup is a 4×2×2 ft enclosure with a coil UVB bulb that’s 14 months old. The dragon gets about 15 crickets every day, dusted with calcium + D3 five times a week, and it ignores its greens.
- Measure the basking spot. The dial gauge on the wall reads 110°F, but an infrared temperature gun pointed at the basking surface reads 101°F. The target is 108–113°F on the surface, so raise the basking lamp’s wattage or lower the basking platform until the surface hits that range.
- Check the UVB. The bulb is a coil, which puts it in row (b), and it’s 14 months old. Replace it with a 12% T5 HO tube mounted about 10” above the basking surface through the mesh. The setup moves to row (a).
- Switch powders. In row (a), adult column, the schedule is plain calcium 1–2×/week and a multivitamin every 1–2 weeks. Stop the calcium + D3. At five dustings a week it was giving D3 on top of what the new lamp lets the dragon make.
- Cut the insects. The dragon was getting 15 × 7 = 105 crickets a week. The new schedule is 3 meals × 10 crickets = 30 a week, a cut of about 70%. Put fresh salad out every morning.
- Track weight. Weigh the dragon weekly on a kitchen scale in grams. Small swings of 5–10 g after meals or a poop are normal. A steady downward trend is not. If the dragon drops below about 400 g (roughly 5% of 420 g) within a month, or keeps losing for three weigh-ins in a row, book an exotic vet.
Many dragons in this situation start grazing on greens within two to four weeks, once the basking heat is right and insects stop arriving daily. If yours doesn’t, work through the greens checklist below.
Is my bearded dragon overfed? Body-condition checks
Weight alone won’t tell you, because a 500 g dragon can be lean or obese depending on its frame. Check these three things monthly:
- Fat pads behind the head. These are the two soft bumps at the back of the skull. They should be flat or slightly rounded. Pads that bulge well above the line of the skull point to excess fat. Pads that look hollow or sunken point to a dragon that’s too thin.
- Tail base. It should be thick and rounded where it meets the body, with no visible hip bones. If the base looks swollen or wider than the hips, the dragon is carrying too much fat. If you can see the bones or a ridge, it’s underweight.
- Weight trend. For an adult, the goal is a flat line. Steady gain after growth has stopped means too many insects, too many fatty feeders such as superworms, waxworms or mealworms, or too much fruit.
Reptile veterinary literature links chronic overfeeding and over-supplementing in bearded dragons to obesity, gout, and egg-related problems in females, including yolk coelomitis. Only a vet can sort out which, if any, applies. The prevention is the same either way: an age-appropriate insect schedule, plus supplements matched to your lighting.
Why won’t my bearded dragon eat its greens, and how do I fix it?
Greens refusal usually comes from the setup, not from a stubborn dragon. Work through this list in order, because the early items cause the most refusals and are the quickest to fix:
- Basking surface at 108–113°F, measured with a probe or temperature gun. Stick-on dial gauges often read high. A dragon that can’t get warm enough digests slowly and eats less of everything, and greens tend to go first. Keep the cool side in the mid-70s to mid-80s °F.
- UVB distance and bulb age. Check the distance against row (a) of the matrix, and replace any bulb older than about 12 months, even if it still glows.
- Insect frequency on the age schedule. An adult that gets insects every day has no reason to eat salad. For a healthy adult with stable weight, you can pause insects for 48 hours with greens available, give one small insect meal, then go back to greens only. Keep stretching the gap between insect meals until you reach 2–3 a week. Don’t use insect pauses on hatchlings or underweight dragons.
- Rotate greens. A dragon may get bored with the same green every day. Rotate at least three or four staples through the week.
- Put a few insects on top of the salad. Moving prey pulls the dragon into the bowl, and it eats some leaves along the way. Shredding greens finely and adding a little colour (squash, bell pepper) helps too.
- Stop and call an exotic vet if, at any point, the dragon is losing weight, is lethargic, or has a soft, rubbery or swollen lower jaw. Those aren’t preference problems, and changing the diet won’t fix them.
Which vegetables and fruits are safe every day, and which only sometimes?
| How often | Foods | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Every day (staples) | Collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens (pesticide-free), endive, escarole, prickly pear cactus pad (spines removed) | Calcium-rich leafy greens should make up most of the bowl |
| A few times a week (rotation) | Kale, bok choy, butternut squash, acorn squash, bell pepper, green beans, shredded carrot | Add variety and colour; most are lower in calcium than the staples |
| Occasionally | Spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens | High in oxalates, which bind calcium. Not toxic, but don’t use them as staples |
| Treats (once a week at most, small amounts) | Berries, mango, papaya, fig, apple (no seeds) | Sugary; a teaspoon-sized portion for an adult |
| Never | Avocado, onion, garlic, rhubarb, citrus, fireflies, wild-caught insects | Fireflies can be fatal. Wild insects can carry pesticides and parasites |
| Skip | Iceberg lettuce | Not toxic, just mostly water with little nutrition |
Insect basics: size, gut-loading and leftovers
- Size: no insect wider than the gap between your dragon’s eyes. Larger prey risks choking and impaction.
- Gut-load feeders for 24–48 hours before feeding them to your dragon. Use collard greens, squash or a commercial gut-load diet.
- Remove leftovers after about 10 minutes. Crickets left in the enclosure overnight will nibble on a sleeping dragon.
- Fatty feeders (mealworms, superworms, waxworms) are treats only, not staples.
Water
Keep a shallow dish of fresh water in the enclosure at all times, and change it daily. Many dragons rarely drink from a bowl. Lightly misting the salad and offering droplets from a dropper a few times a week both help. Lethargy, sunken eyes and wrinkled skin that stays tented mean an exotic vet visit, not just more misting. Dehydration often comes from something else being wrong.
Common mistakes
- Using calcium + D3 at “every feeding” under a good T5 UVB. That’s row (a), where plain calcium is the right powder.
- Trusting a coil bulb or an old tube because it still gives off light. UVB output fades before the visible light does.
- Feeding adults insects every day, then wondering why they refuse salad and gain weight.
- Leaning on spinach or iceberg as the main green.
- Assuming fall appetite loss is brumation. Adults do often slow down in autumn and winter. Get a vet check before you assume that’s what’s happening.
- Weighing by eye. A $15 kitchen scale catches a downward trend weeks before you’d notice it by looking.
When to stop and see an exotic vet
Choose a reptile-experienced exotic vet, not a general-practice clinic. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s exotic nutrition section is a useful primer on how much reptile nutrition differs from dog and cat nutrition. Book an appointment if you see any of these:
- No eating for more than 3 days with temperatures and UVB confirmed correct. For a hatchling, the threshold is any missed day combined with lethargy.
- Weight loss across three weekly weigh-ins, or about 5% of body weight in a month.
- A soft, rubbery or swollen lower jaw, trouble closing the mouth, or head-shaking while eating.
- Bowed or swollen legs, twitching or tremors, or a hatchling or juvenile that has stopped growing despite steady feeding.
- Dragging the back legs, no droppings for over a week, or a bloated belly after eating.
- A female that is swollen, restless, digging constantly or not eating during breeding season, even if she has never been with a male.
These signs need an exam. They can’t be fixed with food changes or a different powder.
Getting the feeding schedule right is mostly a matter of matching the dragon’s age. The supplements are where owners go wrong, and the fix starts with the light above the basking spot, not the powder in the cabinet. Measure the basking surface, check the bulb’s type and age, find your row in the matrix, and weigh the dragon every week. If the weight line stays flat and the salad bowl is empty by evening, the diet is working.