Reptilecare.com - Baby Bearded Dragon Care

Baby Bearded Dragon Care

Babies need pretty much the same things as adult Beardies. They need UVB lighting (in the form of a Reptisun 5.0 bulb here), a heat source, basking branches, food and water. They also need somewhat higher doses of calcium.

Food

The one main difference between adults and babies is that the babies need far smaller food items. I feed mine crickets and mealworms no larger than the space between their eyes. Actually when they first hatched I only fed them 1/4 inch crickets and their veggies. I added mealworms to the diet when a shipment of crickets didn't arrive alive. I painstakingly picked out the very smallest mealworms for them at that point and hoped they would eat more veggies. While they shunned veggies at first they have gotten used to them and relish them now. I feed my babies veggies in the morning and then crickets after that. They get another round of crickets in the late afternoon. They tend to pick at the veggies all day. See my Bearded Diet for more information.

Water

Babies need to be misted frequently out of a mister bottle. They get their water from licking it off the sides of the glass or when it drips off their heads. I water mine at least 2 times per day. I leave a low water dish in there (not all the time) and some of them get the idea, but most don't seem to be interested in standing water.

Calcium

Babies need a higher dose of calcium per day. I dust the crickets they eat one feeding per day. So far I have not seen any evidence of calcium deficiency (twitching). I don't put any calcium on the veggies. I include the high calcium veggies such as collards, dandelion or turnip greens to balance that calcium out.

Vitamin Supplementation

I only dust the crickets with a vitamin supplement (I recommend Herptivite, made by Rep-Cal) about once a week. The crickets are gut loaded and the veggies provide a lot of vitamins so I don't worry too much about vitamins. I figure once a week won't hurt though. Be careful with vitamin supplementation. Too much of a good thing can be toxic. Go easy on them. They are by no means a substitute for a good diet.

Substrate

Keep Babies on paper towels instead of sand or anything particulate. You don't want your baby to eat any of the sand accidentally and get impacted. This can kill them. Play it safe and use the paper towels until they are at least 10 inches long.