I will be attending the St. Louis Reptile Show tomorrow in Bridgeton, MO, and plan on getting a Bearded Dragon. Some of you may remember me getting one back in March at this show, but the breeder took horrible care of them, and it died 2 days later. Now I've been doing research on it, and it seems the other breeders there that specialize in Bearded Dragons also feed them the pellets, weaning them off crickets. I prefer to listen to those of you on these boards, and the general concensus is to stick with veggies and insects. But here is my question...

Should I buy some pellets, too...since these Dragons may not be used to crickets and may not want to eat them and veggies right away? Like maybe put some pellets in the food bowls WITH the veggies for a while, until they come back to the good side and eat veggies? Then I could take the pellets away. Any thoughts...maybe I could ween them off the pellets, and back to the omnivore-diet they should be getting? Let me know? It would destroy me to lose another dragon...Lena was so precious and sweet.

Her tank is all ready set up, and the veggies are crickets are prepared...just waiting for him (want to get a male this time around...I like the name Constantine). Let me know quickly, please...Thank you so much.

I would suggest you stick to a staple diet of crickets and veg, with occasional mealies, wax worms and so on. The pellets shouldn't do any harm, and if the Bearded Dragon will eat them then they can be used as part of the diet, which can be particularly handy if you run out of crickets and are without live food for a day or two!

A staple diet of these pellets is not normal but some can't hurt (i think we've never personally used pellets, and I don't know about the products over there, but the ones over here are ok for use), and as you suggested, may be helpful in the little one settling in if it is used to the pellets.

I would make one suggestion though - i would try and avoid buying from a breeder that feeds purely pellets, this is no good for the Bearded Dragon and the best breeders out there will be supplying their baby dragons with the best and correct diet possible, not the cheapest or most convenient. Also, a Bearded Dragon fed solely on pellets may not come to you in the best health, and after your previous experience you want the healthiest little boy you can get. Trust others' recommendations and advice on breeders. Good luck with this little one - it's great that you have everything prepared and are obviously getting ready to take great care of a Bearded Dragon, i'm sure whichever comes home with you will be very lucky.

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Ditto Rachel, If you are going to use pellets, soak them first in water as they can actually dehydrate a deardie. A good staple diet is chollard greens, yam and butternut squash. Lots of clean fresh water, crix, meal or waxworms, but go easy on the last two.

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Adam your best bet is to simply talk to the breeder. If the dragon is taking pellets it would be a good idea to have them on hand. You don't want to over stress the baby by immediately expecting them to eat something they have never seen before. However I personally would be very reluctant to buy from a breeder that fed the babies pellets only. It may turn out to be fine but IMO the pelleted diets haven't been around long enough to be sure what effect a total pellet diet might have. I include repcal pellets from time to time but they are mixed in with the same greens and fruit that I use for my iguana.

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