How Many Dubia Roaches Should I Feed My Bearded Dragon?
Creating a meal plan for your reptile pet can be confusing and daunting. It’s hard to find solid information online, and the recommended amount of feeders might seem like not enough to keep your beardy happy. But in reality, the answers are simple enough that we’ve laid them all out here.
Bearded dragons are omnivores, and they need a varied diet with a mix of feeder insects and a few different things. In this article, we’ll cover not just what you should feed your beardy, but how much to feed it, so you can be sure it stays healthy for as long as possible.
Let’s dive in.
Bearded Dragon Dietary Needs
The bearded dragon (genus Pogona), is a terrestrial (and sometimes arboreal, or tree-dwelling) lizard native to Australia. The kind we keep as a pet is (usually) Pogona vitticeps, the inland bearded dragon. These little guys live in arid climates and eat a healthy mix of things. They enjoy insect protein, but also rely heavily on leafy greens, and will sometimes indulge in fruit.
One of the most important things you need to know about bearded dragons is that their diets change as they age. Juvenile beardies are much more carnivorous, and need a steady flow of protein and fat to support growth. As a bearded dragon owner, your main challenge at this stage is controlling the ratio of insects they eat to veggies. But more on that later.
As beardies age, they become more vegetarian, like teenagers growing into adults that can finally appreciate the “finer things”. They still hunt, but their prey drive slows down progressively. Once they get old, they might even lose interest in chasing prey, and you might have to switch them to a larger, slower feeder.
Beardies get fat and protein from insects, but also calcium, which is an essential part of any reptile’s diet. They also need hearty, leafy vegetables like kale, collard greens, and mustard greens.
They also love tropical fruit like mango, banana, and papaya, and these foods are a good source of vitamins. But you should always use fruits as a special treat and not as a staple, as the high sugar content can make your beardy obese.
Best Insects for Bearded Dragons
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already discovered one of our favorite feeder insects, the dubia roach. Dubias have a high protein content and low fiber, which is great, and bearded dragons love to hunt them. We recommend them for pet owners looking to start a colony of feeder insects, because they’re famously bad climbers and even worse at flying, which prevents them from escaping. They’re also easy to keep and like room temperature conditions.
Here are the full nutrition facts on dubia roaches:
Dubia Roach Nutrition Facts
Protein: 22%
Fat: 7.7%
Moisture: 60%
Ash: 1.7%
Fiber: 2.9%
Calcium to Phosphorus ratio: 2:3
Like most feeder insects, dubias don’t quite hit the necessary levels of calcium to keep a bearded dragon healthy. So you will need to dust them with a calcium supplement to keep your pet’s nutrient intake up.
Dubia roaches are what we call a “lean protein”. They’re high in protein, but low in fat. This is good, but it helps to have another feeder to make sure your beardy gets enough fat too. The ideal combination is something high in protein and fun to hunt like a dubia, along with something more fatty like a superworm. Providing a few options for your beardy is a great way to ensure they get all of what they need.
You can also try something else, like black soldier fly larvae, which have very high nutrient levels and are also easy to keep at home.
We typically recommend pet owners avoid high-fiber insects like crickets and mealworms for bearded dragons, as they can cause compaction and other dietary issues.
How to Feed a Bearded Dragon
So we’ve covered what bearded dragons need to stay healthy. But how many feeders, veggies, and fruits should you give your pet? What’s the right kind of ratio?
First, let’s define some terms. When giving your bearded dragon insects, you should pick feeders that are as long as the space between their eyes. When we talk about “standard feeders,” this is what we mean. That means as your beardy gets older, you will need to pick out larger and larger feeders.
Dubia roaches grow up to 1-1.5” long, which is large enough to carry your bearded dragon into adulthood. Depending on how big your beardy gets as an adult, you may need to switch to a larger feeder. Again, we like to recommend superworms for a larger, more sedentary insect.
Feeding Schedule for Juvenile Bearded Dragons
Juvenile bearded dragons run on protein and fat. They’re growing a ton at this stage, and they need to support that growth with a high-energy diet.
Plan on doing two feedings per day, one of veggies and one of insects. We recommend giving your beardy its veggies in the morning to increase the odds that it eats them throughout the day. In the evening, give your bearded dragon five or six insects. Common practice used to be to give your beardy as many insects as it would eat in 10-15 minutes, but more recent research has shown that this can lead to obesity.
On top of this, add in a fruity snack every so often (a slice of mango will do nicely).
Feeding Schedule for Subadult Bearded Dragons
At six months, your bearded dragon is a subadult. Keep up the daily feedings of vegetables, but start to taper down how many insects you give them. Do a feeding of five to six feeders once every other day. Remember to supplement them with calcium. And don’t forget the occasional fruity treat!
Feeding Schedule for Adult Bearded Dragons
At one year, your beardy is officially an adult. You will once again want to cut back on feeder insects, but keep up the flow of veggies and fruits. A nice salad mix, once a day, will be your bearded dragon’s staple food from now on. Give them five or six standard feeders twice per week from now on, increasing the size as need be.