Bearded dragons are omnivores which means they eat both meat and vegetables. Their meat is in the form of insects and an occasional mouse. Their favorite insects are crickets, roaches, and mealworms. For vegetables they enjoy collard greens, mustard greens, and kale. As they grow older, adult dragons tend to eat more vegetables than insects. All dragons are fond of fruits such as a few bananas, apples and figs.

If you find that providing fresh insects, fruits, and vegetables becomes too much of a burden, you can use the canned variety of these items including canned insects which can be purchased at the pet store or even through the mail. The canned vegetables and fruits come in handy especially when the fresh varieties are not in season. No matter what combination of foods your dragon prefers, it will eat a lot of food. That means that a lot of waste will be produced that you will have to dispose of.

An aquarium fish net is a good tool for scooping out the waste and leaving your sandy substrate behind on the cage floor. You can feed your dragon as much as he can comfortably eat in one hour as long as they do not become obese. Younger adolescent or juvenile dragons will eat much more than a mature adult. As a rule of thumb, dragons of all ages need a salad of dark veggies everyday such as kale, mustard greens, small amounts of Romaine lettuce, and kale. As you can see, feeding bearded dragons requires some forethought and planning. Again on the insects, the quantity offered should be no more than your pet can devour at a sitting leaving little or no leftovers. Baby beardies can easily handle 10 small crickets several times throughout the day. Adults on the other hand will be quite satisfied with a generous bowl of mealworms and a few crickets just four days a week. Feeding a pinkie mouse to your dragon once a week will add some welcome variety to his diet. If you can't handle the loud chirping of your live crickets throughout the night, your adult dragons will be just as happy with a serving of hissing cockroaches, or evev plain cockroaches. It is very important that you sprinkle a calcium/Vitamin D3 mixture on all of the juveniles feedings and at least every other feeding for adults. To maintian optimum health for your dragon, supply him with one of the several multi vitamins for dragons that are on the market today. In summary, feeding bearded dragons is not all that complicated but it will take a little time for you to settle into a routine of feeding your pets.

Each dragon has its own eating habits and styles and you will want to become very familiar with your pets preferences when it comes to feeding them.