PLEASE HELP! (all I have is mealworms)

[BeardieLover<3]

All i have i mealworms to feed my 2 month old bearded dragon ,all i have been told i they are bad and will cause impaction. This is what the petstore gave me for free though. My baby ate all of her crickets and my parents refuse to take me to the pet store because we have dubia roaches on the way though we don't know when they will be here, i am to oyung to drive so i cant go to the store all i have is mealworms. I'm freaking out i dont want my baby girl to get hurt If anyone can please answer these questions

Is there a way to safely feed her mealworms?
Can i possibly take off the outer shell of the meal worms or cut it?
1-10 chance what is the likely hood of imapction if mealworms is all i feed her until the roaches get here

Any other advice would be great! I feel like such a bad owner right now

 

[Beardomania]

Mealworms are a poor long term staple but they'll hold your beardie over for a few days no problem. You don't have to avoid them like they're poisonous; some people feed them regularly without problems and continue to do so as a treat, just not as a staple. Since your beardie is small, you can try chopping the mealworms into smaller segments so the meat is exposed and easier to digest around the shell. The chance of impaction is very small for such short time with careful feeding. Beardies are known to be a hardy tough lizard; I've seen people feed whole adult cockroaches they caught in New York to smaller bearded dragons that took several minutes to swallow the large prey and not have impaction issues (obviously not recommended). They're not fragile.

How big are your dubia? If you ordered very large ones and feed as much as she'll eat every day, you could get unlucky one day and find her impacted actually.

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Ok, i will try chopping into smaller pieces for hopefully 2 days at most, i hope this goes ok , dont want her to get impacted

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Chopped 3 mealworms up and she ate them

 

[BeardieLover<3]

By dubia are 1/4 inch smalls, do you think that is ok?

 

[HoomanSlave]

As long as the dubias fit the space between her eyes they will be fine. If they end up being too big you can decapitate them. The roaches will still move around and attract her since they can live without heads.

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Oh really i didnt know that about roaches! Thats helpful, also if the roaches show up dead can i still feed them to her? or no

 

[Beardomania]

Oh really i didnt know that about roaches! Thats helpful, also if the roaches show up dead can i still feed them to her? or no

Not really, that's not what he meant (although defrosted frozen dead bodies should be ok as long as she'll eat them since they likely died hours ago in the freezing cold). He meant that feshly decapitated ones will still have their bodies move around for a bit to trigger feeding response but won't scurry away or burrow into the substrate never to be seen again.

1/4 inch is really really small and unnecessarily harsh on your expenses. I'm thinking there's just over half an inch between your dragon's eyes so quarter inch is super small and not a problem for her but kinda expensive for you.

 

[Sadie]

She will eat more roaches if they are too small post a pic of her and we can look to see and place a roach beside her too

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Ok i will when i get them i will send a picture

 

[Emilia Thuet]

Another great thing to do to help avoid impaction is to give her baths. When she’s that small make sure that the water doesn’t go above her stomach and keep an eye on her, it is very rare but baby beardies can be prone to drowning more than adults. This will help with digestion and promote bowel movements as well as keep her hydrated. When she’s that young she should get at least 3-5 baths a week. If you want you can do daily but than there is a likelihood of you potty training her to go in water which is what happened with one of my beardies lol. Hope this was helpful

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Ok

 

[Bailey]

Another great thing to do to help avoid impaction is to give her baths. When she’s that small make sure that the water doesn’t go above her stomach and keep an eye on her, it is very rare but baby beardies can be prone to drowning more than adults. This will help with digestion and promote bowel movements as well as keep her hydrated. When she’s that young she should get at least 3-5 baths a week. If you want you can do daily but than there is a likelihood of you potty training her to go in water which is what happened with one of my beardies lol. Hope this was helpful

3-5 baths a week? Isn't that too much and it can be bad for their scales?

 

[Michele Schulte]

All i have i mealworms to feed my 2 month old bearded dragon ,all i have been told i they are bad and will cause impaction. This is what the petstore gave me for free though. My baby ate all of her crickets and my parents refuse to take me to the pet store because we have dubia roaches on the way though we don't know when they will be here, i am to oyung to drive so i cant go to the store all i have is mealworms. I'm freaking out i dont want my baby girl to get hurt If anyone can please answer these questions

Is there a way to safely feed her mealworms?
Can i possibly take off the outer shell of the meal worms or cut it?
1-10 chance what is the likely hood of imapction if mealworms is all i feed her until the roaches get here

Any other advice would be great! I feel like such a bad owner right now

Do you have any berries like black berries or blueberries. Our girl Jeff loves those and now poops regular. We don't feed them to her everyday but every few days.

 

[Sadie]

You can cut the meal worms up small --- have your dubias come yet? Make sure they are small ones do not feed if they are bigger than the size between her eyes length wise ---- please feed salads every morning --- and do not feed blueberries very often too much sugar ----- please order some BSFL from here www.symtonbsf.com order mediums feed as many as you want they are a great staple feeder -- do not dust them --- they make great salad toppers -- and a great compliment to the roaches --- here is a website for roaches and silk worms and super worms -- you can feed small super worms on the salads like 1-3 www.reptilianarts.com
here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
please post a pic of her and the roache beside her please

 

[BeardieLover<3]

Yeah i got the dubia's she loves them I'll get the pic in a bit!

 

[Emilia Thuet]

3-5 baths a week? Isn't that too much and it can be bad for their scales?

Not when they are that young considering they do so much growing they need a lot of energy. I heard somewhere that a baby bearded dragon can die of starvation after 2 days of not being supplemented. When my beardie was a baby I gave him baths everyday to make sure he was well hydrated, promote digestion (he’s actually potty trained to just go in water ‍) and it helped with shedding considering he’d be shedding on a biweekly bases . Once he gets older like 6-8 months you decrease it slowly.