Bearded dragons and greens

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Star_Cameron

Not so new Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2013
Messages
50
Reaction score
0
Location
Ipswich
Hey all,

Just looking for a little advice regarding fruit and vegetable matter :)

My beardie is (I think) 11 months old, could be a couple of months older. He's grown a lot since I first got him, eats his crickets well (somewhere between 15-30 per day at the moment) and drinks water really well also. I dust his crickets weekly with a vitamin powder, and second daily with calcium powder. I'm currently putting him in a decent sized fish tank to feed him his crickets, he has no issue hunting them down. All of that seems fine to me, and is going well - but let me know if you think I should change anything :).

As far as greens go, all he is eating is 2 or 3 mouth fulls of bok choy a day - which I supply plenty of, fresh, daily, in his tank all day, and here is where all the questions come. Is my beardie still at the stage where crickets make up most of his diet, and a small amount of greens is fine, or should he be eating more at this point? If so, how could I get him to eat more?

Also, bok choy is the only vegetable/fruit I've had any success with. I've tried kale, carrot, apple, blackberries, raspberries, mushroom and capsicum, and I don't think he tried any of that stuff. At one point I had a dish of bok choy and kale in his enclosure and he literally picked out every piece of bok choy, and none of the kale. Ideally I would like him to have a more varied diet than just bok choy, so what are some other things that might be good to try (should I revisit some of the other things I've tried previously?), and any suggestions for how to get him to try new things?

Thanks for all of your help :)

edit:
Oh and also, I know you can buy that reptile worming stuff from pet shops, is that something I need to do? If so when/how? The guy at the pet shop said he injects it into a defrosted pinky mouse and gives it that way, but there is no way my beardie is anywhere close to eating that,
 
Put a couple of cirickets minus back legs in with his veg, or a couple of earthworms. Or get one of those vibrating food dishes, they really work.
 
mine all love rocket, and chinese brocolli, aalong with the bok aknd pak choys,...endive is healthy, but unpopular at my house. Green beans, and butternut pumpkin are popular, red capsicum works, the other colours get ignored, strawberries for all but one of mine, and an occasional piece of banana as a treat works for all but a different one of mine...one always has to be difficult, lol.

the time at which you cut back on insects depends on how quickly your dragon has grown, by 1 year most have reached their full length (or close to it) and thats the point by which the dragon should be mostly on veg/greens....
 
I'm not sure how well he was looked after initially - he might have been a bit small for his age, so I think he is definitely still growing, shedding quite regularly still. Will try those suggestions, thanks :)
 
check out this site..Nutrition Content
I use green beans,carrots,butternut pumpkin a bit of zucchini.......dandelion flowers and leaves are good even grass and clover from your lawn as long as there are no chemicals involved.Endive is another favourite,several types of lettuce,nasturtium etc.
 
Doesn't sound like he needs it, the way he's been growing..I wouldn't unless I had to.
 
I couldnt get my beardie to eat veggies untill a a few month ago as well. He was eating maybe one or two mouthfuls of bok choy a day. But he then just suddenly smashed down all the veggies i gave him for some reason. Try feeding him some parsley mine always goes for that first. Also grapes cut in half, green beans, snow peas and pumpkin is good for some variety as well. If he doesnt want any give him a couple of crickets first to get him thinking about food. Good luck!
 
my bearded dragon use to eat more woodies and a bit of bok choy and in the last week he has been eating 3x as more bokchoy and carrot and other stuff. hes 10 months old
 
What do you guys do with things like butternut pumpkin and other dense vegetables? Do you cook it a bit to soften it up, or just grate it?
 
Earthworms are not a good thing to feed dragons

They are alright as an occasional snack, and mixed in vegies a good way to get dragons to eat the veg.
I keep worms for all my fruit and vegie scraps and considering the vast and varied diet they ea,t they would have to pass on some of the nutrients they feed off.
 
What do you guys do with things like butternut pumpkin and other dense vegetables? Do you cook it a bit to soften it up, or just grate it?

i chop dense stuff in roughly 2mm thick matchsticks, having something to chew helps keep their teeth and gums healthy.
 
I'm by no means a beardie expert but I would say that maybe cut down the crickets a bit. Mine will have a nibble of the veggies if there are crickets on offer but if there are no crickets then he mungs down everything. I've got a boof head adult male so his diet would obviously vary from yours. but I'd say he really should be eating more veggies so if you just skip a night of crickets he may just discover how delious greens are (ie. If you usually feed him at night, offer him veggies that night then crickets the next morning then go back to the normal routine.) do you midt the greens and keep them in there all day or just offer them for an hour then take them out again? Mine hates kale and bok choy but loves broccoli, beans, sugar snap peas, snow peas, zucchini. Things like peas and beans etc are good cause you can buy a couple for like 5 cents and just try a massive variety of things without breaking the bank. Good luck :)
 
I put the greens in in the morning and leave them in all day, and then I give him the crickets in the middle of the day.

Do you think it would be a good idea to, instead of putting him in my feeding tank with crickets, put him in with a bunch of greens? That way it would be the usual routine with veggies instead of crickets.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top