My Bearded Dragon won't eat

[Bubbles]

Hi everyone,
I have had my Bearded Dragon for over 18 months now. He seems overweight as the only food he'll eat is live crickets. He has never eaten much of his greens or even fruits since he was little. He used to love mashed carrot and strawberries but doesn't seem interested anymore. I usually give him fresh endive everyday with something else like kale, bok choy or vegetables in it but it always goes uneaten. I feel bad if I don't give him crickets every second day because I don't want him to starve. He's also always had a temper and I'm not sure f that's related to anything. He doesn't like to be held very often.
Thanks for any advice!

 

[Skitzmixer]

So he does eat, but only crickets?
IMO - I reckon if there's no crickets around, he'll eventually take to the fresh salads. You could try putting some mealworms in the salad, so they move the salad around a bit and most of the time they'll accidently grab some salad before they get a mealworm.

 

[Chris1]

heres something to help you not feel bad for denying him crickets, fat dragons and dragons on high protien diets that have finished growing, have a huge chance of dying young from liver disease.

you are not doing him any favours in letting him eat what he prefers.

play with his salad, try different flavoured stuff, hand feed, wriggle it around, stick some in his mouth when hes gaping while basking, of if he flares up at you and opens his mouth stick some salad in then,....offering mealworms in salads never worked with mine, they grabbed the mealy and spat the salad out,....

 

[Bubbles]

Thanks! I used to give him mealworms but he got constipated I think and would just pick them out even when I tried to push them under the salad. Apart from endive and kale is there another staple lettuce I could try? Everything says collard greens but I'm not sure what they are and can't find anything by that name in the fruit and veg shop?

 

[Chris1]

chinese brocolli (leafy green stuff), bok choy, and pak choy goes down well, and rocket is an absolute fave.

 

[mark_p]

It's simple, it's spoilt lol. you've said he's overweight, but you feel bad if you don't give it crickets every second day... There's your answer. Don't feed it anything for a week, then give it the greens and fruits, I'll be very surprised if it still refuses. That's the only way to break bad habits and improve its diet. I have been keeping/breeding BD's for a while and have never had a hungry hatchling or adult not eat salad mix if there's nothing else on offer. Most pet bearded dragons are obese because they get minimal exersice and people see the vegetable portion of their diet as optional. As adults they should be fed a staple of greens, only supplemented with the occasional insect/egg/mouse. Anyway it sounds like you have a good knoweledge of what it should be eating, you just need to toughen up abit, like my dad who used to make me finish my vegetables before I got any steak lol.

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Also re greens... A mix of grated carrot and any green leafy vegetable (the darker the green, the better) is the best nutritionally. Bok choy, cos lettuce outer leaves, etc. avoid iceberg lettuce as it leads to diarrhoea.

 

[ReptiBeck]

My beardie's favourite is fresh, chopped Basil leaves-he can never resist Basil even on bad days. I guess it's because Basil has strong scent and flavour maybe..? He also LOVES his bok and pak choy! Finely chopped Celery and torn celery leaves are apparently good too, although my 'Peanut; doesn't think so.
Sweet potato is apparently great too...
Give it a try Good luck!

 

[ReptileMad_98]

just try to mix it up a little more, i feed mine celery, bok and pak choy, sometimes spinach but not very often,peas beans, carrot and a few others i cant think of at the moment. you can also feed him less often which normally makes mine eat.

 

[bigjoediver]

Spinach is not a good choice of greens for dragons as it inhibits the absorption of calcium.

 

[smileysnake]

i read some info a while ago on nutritional value of different vegies and fruit for bearded dragons and the endives were at the top of the list,for calcium content so no problem there,another trick i learnt from a breeder is she puts her boc choy in a shallow bowl of water and gets her hatchling beardies eating greens within days,you just have to keep persisting with it as vegies are 90% of an adult beardy diet....just keep trying,what about your temps i found when i cranked my temps up a bit they starting smashing their food, good luck mate....

 

[animal805]

i read some info a while ago on nutritional value of different vegies and fruit for bearded dragons and the endives were at the top of the list,for calcium content so no problem there,another trick i learnt from a breeder is she puts her boc choy in a shallow bowl of water and gets her hatchling beardies eating greens within days,you just have to keep persisting with it as vegies are 90% of an adult beardy diet....just keep trying,what about your temps i found when i cranked my temps up a bit they starting smashing their food, good luck mate....

It's all about how the breeders prepare the youngens for life with a new human. If done right the little ones should be smashing their salads within a week of hatching.

 

[ReptileMad_98]

with spinach i dont feed it very often, about once every two months its just a treat for them

 

[Bubbles]

Thanks everyone. I have not given him crickets for 2 weeks and he's started to eat his salad every 2-3 days. I'm going to continue with the salads and berries and hope as the weather continues to warm up his appetite will increase.

 

[pinefamily]

As most of the posters have already said, it's important to mix it up. One of our juveniles prefers carrot and zucchini, the other the greens. However, all three readily eat their fruit and veg. Don't forget occasional treats of grated apple, strawberries, and banana. Peas, corn, grated parsnip, grated butternut, grated sweet potato are all good as well.