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Does your bearded dragon refuse to eat his vegetable dish? Getting your bearded dragons to eat vegetables is essential for their health and helps prevent significant health problems like a metabolic bone disease. The real question is how to convince them that these greens are tasty snacks. Bearded dragons can learn to love greens if you start them when they are babies. Adult bearded dragons need a variety of dark and leafy vegetables to feed daily. In addition to some crickets and other insects, these vegetables provide the vitamins and minerals they need to stay strong and healthy.
Why is my bearded dragon not eating vegetables?
If your bearded dragon disregards greens, you’re likely feeding them too many insects. A baby should get 3/4 of its diet from bugs, while a juvenile needs 1/2. However, an adult only needs 1/4.
Getting your bearded dragon to eat his veggies is challenging, but it’s not impossible. If you’re feeling stuck and frustrated, these eight tips and tricks might help.
Start giving vegetables from an early age!
To make your Bearded Dragons Eat Vegetables, be sure to introduce your bearded baby dragon to vegetables early on. Various vegetables like dandelion leaves, Swiss chard, and collard greens are essential for their development. From a young age, show them that vegetables are good for them – it will be much easier to convince them to eat their greens as they grow older. At least one or two months old, a bearded baby dragon can start eating small pieces of chopped veggies. Just be sure these pieces are small enough to prevent choking.
Feed them vegetables by hand!
To entice your Bearded Dragons to Eat Vegetables, you may need to hand-feed them. This simulates their usual prey and gets them interested in what you’re offering. However, you need to be careful not to get bitten. You can use special tools from the pet store, like long tweezers, to help with this. Remember that if you do this too often, your beardie may get used to being hand-fed and picky about eating their greens from a bowl.
Diversify vegetables for your bearded dragon
Bearded dragons can be selective about what they like to eat and may sometimes be interested in the same things. Therefore, try mixing up their diet to give them variety and keep them interested in their food. For example, you may need to experiment with different vegetables to find out which ones your reptile prefers before you can get them to eat their veggies regularly.
Your bearded dragon needs more heat or UVB
As the bearded dragon’s owner, you must ensure their enclosure includes the right temperature and amount of UVB. Without these two things, the bearded dragon’s digestive system will slow down, decreasing appetite. If your bearded dragon isn’t eating much despite everything on this list, check that their pen has the proper temperature (46°C) (105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit) and that there is a UVB bulb about 12 to 16 inches from where they lounge. If neither of these fixes the problem, take your bearded dragon to the vet for further observation.
Mix in some live feeders
Try to get your bearded dragon to eat its live food by throwing a few of them into your dish with plants and greens. Make sure the feeders are well-mixed with the vegetables so that your reptile can’t just pick them out and has to eat some greens. If needed, you can also place feeders in a bag and shake them or put them in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes before feeding time to disorient and slow them down.
Reduce insects quantity
If your bearded dragon is not eating its leafy greens, it may be due to overeating insects. A common mistake many new beardie owners make is thinking that their pet needs lots of insects in addition to vegetables. The truth is baby dragons require the most insects (about 80% of their diet), while juveniles and adults need progressively less.
Mix more fruit
Bearded dragons use their sense of smell to determine which foods they like. Sweet fruits usually smell more attractive to them than leafy greens. Mixing a few bites of fruit with the greens could get your bearded dragon to eat its salad. Remember that they need a balanced calcium and phosphorus diet to prevent metabolic bone disease. Too much sugar can cause digestive upset and obesity, so moderate fruit consumption.
Add bee pollen
Bee pollen is a delicious way to flavor fruits and vegetables for your bearded dragon. This sweet powder is packed with essential nutrients for a healthy immune system, making it a great way to encourage your bearded dragon to eat his greens.
CONCLUSION
You can do some things to encourage your bearded dragon to make your Bearded Dragons Eat Vegetables. You may need to resort to other tricks if they are babies or have leaner bodies. For example, you can try changing their food list or creatively presenting their greens.
