Bearded Dragon Diet & Nutrition

Feeding schedules by age, safe foods database, supplements, and treats.

Bearded dragons are omnivores whose diet flips as they grow. Hatchlings eat mostly insects. Adults (12 months and up) eat mostly plants — roughly 80% greens and vegetables, 20% insects, with insects offered two or three times a week rather than daily. Feeding an adult like a hatchling is the most common diet mistake and the fastest route to an overweight dragon with fatty liver.

Two ideas explain most of what follows. First, the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio: foods with more calcium than phosphorus (collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens) can be fed every day, while foods where phosphorus wins (spinach, bananas, most fruit) belong in the treat category. Second, gut loading and dusting: feeder insects are only as nutritious as what they ate in the 24 hours before, and a light dusting of phosphorus-free calcium at each feeding covers the gap that UVB alone cannot.

Every food guide on this site scores the food on those two ideas, tells you how often to offer it, and how to prepare it. Start with the diet guide and the feeding schedule if you want the whole picture; use the lists below to look up a single food.

Start here: what and how much to feed

Insects and live food

Dubia roaches and crickets are the everyday staples. Hornworms and earthworms are hydrating treats. Mealworms are adults-only because of the hard shell. Wild-caught insects are never safe — pesticides and parasites.

Staple greens

The base of every adult salad. Collard, mustard, and turnip greens lead on calcium. Kale and cabbage are fine in rotation despite the goitrogen worry. Spinach and iceberg lettuce are the two to skip.

Vegetables

Squash is the standout — cheap, calcium-rich, and eaten readily. Most others are fine in rotation. Watch vitamin A with sweet potato and carrots, and keep tomato to a rare treat.

Herbs

Small amounts add variety and scent to a salad. Basil and cilantro are the better two.

Fruit (treats only)

Fruit is sugar and water with a poor calcium ratio. Once a week or less, in small pieces. Berries and melon are the better choices; citrus, bananas, and grapes need the most care.

Other foods

Supplements

Plain calcium at most feedings, calcium with D3 two to three times a week, and an all-in-one multivitamin no more than a few times a week. The schedule matters more than the brand.

Foods to avoid

Fireflies, avocado, onions and their relatives, and rhubarb are the dangerous ones; a longer list is risky in quantity. Keep this page somewhere you can find it fast.