What Do Bearded Dragons Eat?

What do bearded dragons eat? Bearded dragons eat a variety of insects, vegetable matter and (very) occasionally some fruits. Baby bearded dragons should eat mostly insects, whilst adults should eat mostly vegetables. Juveniles should eat a mixture of both.

What Insects Do Bearded Dragons Eat?

Full details of which insects bearded dragons eat can be found here. But as a very quick overview, we’ve listed the most common ones below;

• Dubia Roaches
• Crickets
• Locusts
• Black Soldier Fly Larvae / Calciworms / Phoenix Worms
• Silkworms
• Superworms / Morio worms
• Mealworms
• Waxworms
• Earthworms
• Hornworms

What Vegetables Do Bearded Dragons Eat?

Bearded dragons eat a wide variety of vegetables. Check the linked post for common leafy greens you can give your bearded dragon regularly, such as every day. But, below is a list of the more common vegetables that bearded dragons can eat;

• Collard greens
• Spring greens
• Turnip greens
• Mustard greens
• Kale (yes, they can)
• Dandelion leaves / flowers
• Snap Peas
• Green Beans
• Butternut Squash
• Acorn Squash
• Watercress
• Endive / Chicory
• Cucumber (occasionally)
• Carrots

What Fruits Can Bearded Dragons Eat?

We outline various different fruits that bearded dragons can eat in our post here. But it should be remembered that bearded dragons should only eat any fruit as a very occasional treat. They can have the odd one or two pieces of fruit to liven up their salad, but shouldn’t eat much fruit as the sugars cause problems with digestion.

Some fruits that bearded dragons can eat though are;

• Apple
• Banana
• Blackberry
• Blueberries
• Grapes
• Mango
• Peach
• Pears
• Strawberry
• Kiwi

What Insects Can Bearded Dragons NOT eat?

Any insect that isn’t in the list of explicit ‘allowed’ insect should be treated with caution. Many will actually be OK, but some definitely are not. The insects that bearded dragons should definitely NOT eat are;

• Fireflies
• Lightning bugs
• Glowworms
• Ladybirds / Ladybugs
• Centipedes and Millipedes
• Bees, wasps, hornets
• Many ants
• Some caterpillars.

What Vegetables Can Bearded Dragons NOT Eat?

The following vegetables are either poisonous to bearded dragons, or present some significant issues with high oxalates, goitrogens or other compounds that don’t do bearded dragons any good when eaten;

• Avocado
• Rhubarb
• Tomatoes
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Eggplant / Aubergine
• Buttercups

What Fruits Can Bearded Dragons NOT Eat?

Any and all fruits should only ever be fed to bearded dragons as a rare treat. Occasionally it can be helpful to put one raspberry (broken up) into a salad to introduce a bit of colour and taste to encourage your bearded dragon to eat the greens.

But some fruits should never ever be given to bearded dragons – these are;

• Rhubarb
• Citrus Fruits (such as Orange, Lemon etc.)

What Do Bearded Dragons Eat Summary

Bearded dragons eat a variety of insects (live food), vegetables and occasionally fruit.

Baby bearded dragons should eat mostly insects with up to 20% of the diet being in vegetables. If you can get them to eat the vegetables. Adult bearded dragons should eat mostly vegetables, with up to 20% of their diet being insects. Juvenile bearded dragons should eat a mixture of both. Bearded dragons are babies up to about the age of 6-9 months, juvenile bearded dragons are considered to be from 6-9 months old to up to about 18 months with adults being over 18 months old.

We hope this post has been helpful. If it has, or not even, or if you have any questions please do drop us a comment below.