How Many Crickets to Feed a Bearded Dragon — Nice to Know! (2024)

Depending on your bearded dragon’s age, the number of crickets you’ll feed it varies as well. The number you provide them with also varies on the rate of growth you want it to have.

Bearded dragons have high growth and metabolic rates when they are young. Therefore, feeding them fewer crickets more frequently can help them grow faster.

That doesn’t mean you’ll feed twice or thrice daily. However, they will be healthier if you do so.

Whether you buy your crickets or raise them yourself, feeding a bearded dragon requires food, and young animals will need more than your full-grown pets.

To learn how many crickets to feed a bearded dragon at certain ages of development, follow along for more information.

How Many Crickets to Feed a Bearded Dragon

1-3 months old bearded dragons need 25-60 crickets. Teenage bearded dragons, 3-9 months old, need 40-65 crickets per day. After that, the frequency of feeding can be reduced to 2-3 times per day. Adult bearded dragons, those over 9 months of age, require 50-70 crickets per week once a day or every other day.

Feeding Crickets to a Baby Bearded Dragon

You need to feed baby bearded dragons than their adult counterparts. You need to spend five to ten minutes feeding them, and you need to feed them three to five times per day.

Let them eat all the crickets they can in the five or ten minutes you spend with them. Babies have vociferous appetites and metabolisms that require a lot of protein.

Feeding your baby-bearded dragon in the above manner will ensure it gets enough protein to grow into a healthy adult.

Feeding Crickets to a Teenage Bearded Dragon

Your bearded dragon becomes a teenager at about three months of age. Once they reach this age, you can reduce the number of feedings down to two or three times a day, for five to ten minutes at a time.

However, continue to feed your beardy 40 to 65 crickets per day. Although it will not grow as fast now, it still needs plenty of protein to grow to adulthood.

Using five to ten-minute feeding windows gives your pets time to consume their meals. Mealtimes are also great opportunities for some bonding time with your bearded dragon.

Feeding Crickets to an Adult Bearded Dragon

Once your bearded dragon reaches adulthood, you can reduce the number of crickets per feeding to nine months. After that, an adult will eat 50 to 75 crickets per week once it reaches adulthood.

You can gradually reduce the number of feedings per day at this time. For example, an adult bearded dragon will need ten or so appropriately sized crickets, daily, or 20, every other day.

Adult dragons are usually not as active as their younger counterparts and have reached full size by this time. So, they will not need as much food when they are young.

What Kind of Crickets to Feed My Bearded Dragon

Not all crickets are the same, but your bearded dragon is not that fussy. You can offer house crickets, aka brown crickets, Jamaican crickets, or tropical house crickets, aka Indian house crickets, or banded crickets.

Alternatively, if you can find them, two-spotted crickets, aka Mediterranean field crickets, are also suitable to feed to your bearded dragon.

If you cannot find crickets for your bearded dragons, then mealworms, vegetables, and fruit will keep them fed until you can.

How Big the Crickets Should be

Crickets should be as long as the eye space of your bearded dragon. On a baby, that distance is about an eighth of an inch.

You want to size the cricket to the beardy because they can be choked on cricket if too large.

You don’t like that to happen, so be sure that the crickets you give your pet are suitable.

What Else to Include in My Bearded Dragon’s Diet

Your bearded dragon is not limited to a diet of strict crickets. It can also eat king worms and mealworms.

Aside from protein-rich items, though, your bearded dragon will eat vegetables. Pepper, leafy green vegetables, like parsley and kale, and even sweet potatoes can all be offered to your beardy.

You can also offer them small amounts of fruit, and it, along with vegetables, should make up 20 to 25 percent of its diet.

Frequently Asked Questions about How Many Crickets to Feed a Bearded Dragon

Are crickets the only food my bearded dragon will eat?

Crickets aren’t the only food your bearded dragon will eat. Vegetables and fruit can also be included in your bearded dragon’s diet.

Can I drop crickets in my bearded dragon’s cage and leave them?

How Many Crickets to Feed a Bearded Dragon Depends on Its Age

A bearded dragon’s diet changes as it ages, and the older it gets, the less it needs to eat every day.

Its first year is its fastest-growing phase, and you need to be sure that your pet has all the protein it needs.

Offer your bearded dragon more than just crickets because the same diet gets monotonous and will not require all your pet’s nutrients.

By mixing fruits and vegetables with crickets and mealworms, you should have a happy bearded dragon.