# Bearded dragons and greens



## Star_Cameron (Jan 14, 2014)

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,


----------



## PythonLegs (Jan 14, 2014)

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.


----------



## Chris1 (Jan 14, 2014)

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....


----------



## Star_Cameron (Jan 14, 2014)

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


----------



## dragonlover1 (Jan 14, 2014)

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.


----------



## Star_Cameron (Jan 14, 2014)

That link looks really helpful, thanks 

Any comments re: worming?


----------



## PythonLegs (Jan 14, 2014)

Doesn't sound like he needs it, the way he's been growing..I wouldn't unless I had to.


----------



## ssnakeboyy (Jan 15, 2014)

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!


----------



## Chris1 (Jan 15, 2014)

wouldnt worm him unless he has worms.


----------



## animal805 (Jan 15, 2014)

PythonLegs said:


> 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.



Earthworms are not a good thing to feed dragons


----------



## PythonLegs (Jan 15, 2014)

animal805 said:


> Earthworms are not a good thing to feed dragons


Not as a staple- but a couple of small ones in a veg bowl are a good way of attracting small dragons.


----------



## animal805 (Jan 15, 2014)

mmm, never heard of that, I am sure there are far better options


----------



## Crazycow232 (Jan 15, 2014)

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


----------



## Star_Cameron (Jan 15, 2014)

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?


----------



## mad_at_arms (Jan 15, 2014)

animal805 said:


> 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.


----------



## PythonLegs (Jan 15, 2014)

animal805 said:


> mmm, never heard of that, I am sure there are far better options



We could try your suggestion..oh, wait..


----------



## Chris1 (Jan 15, 2014)

Star_Cameron said:


> 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.


----------



## Sonic (Jan 15, 2014)

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


----------



## Star_Cameron (Jan 15, 2014)

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.


----------



## animal805 (Jan 16, 2014)

PythonLegs said:


> We could try your suggestion..oh, wait..



Got to love the attitude on this forum. So I did not post a suggestion, dont mean there is not any. Meal worms, super worms, silk worms. Better?


----------



## dragonlover1 (Jan 16, 2014)

Star_Cameron said:


> 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?



no I don't cook anything,it's all raw,for my centrals I chop everything into pea sized chunks and for my pygmies it's about 1/2 that size.
When I had juvies I put the food through 1 of those old fashioned hand-crank mincers.
I put fresh veg every morning & leave all day/night and I feed bugs in the arvo


----------



## Star_Cameron (Jan 16, 2014)

Bit of an update - I didn't give him any crickets today (poor lil' guy looks hungry!), he just ate his normal amount of greens, which isn't much. Hopefully tomorrow he will have a go at a few more greens than normal, if not I might go back to normal cricket feeding for a while - don't want to starve him.


----------



## dragonlover1 (Jan 16, 2014)

he wont starve in a couple of days but he will eat more veg


----------



## MrVic (Oct 27, 2014)

Mine love squash, beans and chives with a coating of calcium and reptile vitamins. I find it easier than dusting the crickets. 
They will eat carrot but it's not their favourite. They eat everything else in the bowl but leave the carrot for a rainy day. 
I've not tried bok choy and butternut pumpkin. Will do that on the next trip to the supermarket.


----------

