vegies for bearded dragon

[lalala333]

i give my dragon fresh vegies everyday but he wont even touch them
is there a way of helping him eat them
also how many crickets should he have because the person i
bought it off said around 15-20 every two days
but that seems to be different to what other people are saying

 

[m_beardie]

feed them as many crickets as he/she will eat.
also, try and make the vegies look like they are moving
thats what i do with mine, but it is still very hard to get
mine to eat veggies. how old is he?
Could he still be getting use to the enclosure?

 

[Dave]

my 1-2month olds eat veggies out of my hands, they eat around 40-50crixs per day.

 

[dixilizards]

Such a common problem...
It's sad that some breeders don't introduce veg soon enough and the longer they go without the harder it becomes to get them to start to eat veg.
We currently have hatchlings that are only 2-3weeks of age and love there veg. Particularly there little bits of pumpkin. Of course they prefer woodies and crickets but they still eat veg in the mornings, the mornings are good as they have gone all night without food and are the hungriest at this time.

Hints
Try a variety of vegetables, give pumpkin a go.
Give it a few days with no live food, it may sound mean but in the wild it is likely to happen so it is not going to do any harm. Make the bearded dragon hungry enough to try the unknown.
If other options fail try coating the veg with calcium powder and waving them around a little with tongs so they seem alive.

As M beardie said how long have you had it? And how old is it? It may be just settling in, if so give it a bit of time and then if you still have no luck try not feeding live food for a few days.

 

[Sel]

My beardy lovesss bok choy, she was eating it out of my hand today.

Some days she doesnt eat as many woodies, today she had 8..tomorrow she may eat 15.
She has veges in her enclosure 24/7 so she cant go hungry.

Try Bok choy! Sometimes i rub the veg across her lips so she tastes it.. then leave her and more than likely she will take a bite .

 

[the.badger]

Someone on here (forget who, sorry) said they use a laser light type thing and move the light around really fast over the veges so they look like they're moving. I thought it was a fantastic idea!

 

[lalala333]

he is 6 mnths old
and thankss ill try pumkin and bok choy
and ive only had him for about a week so maybe
he is just getting used to the enclosure
thanks alot

 

[Pines]

My beardie was much the same wouldnt eat his greens, then one day just started to eat them. You could also try watercress. Mine love these greens . Just keep them in his enclosure every day and one day they will just start eating them. Now mine go mad every time they see the vege dish.

Pines

 

[Wild_Insights]

Hi lalala,

I've found colours to be very important for fussy beardies. In particular, try vegetables in yellows, oranges and reds. Dandelion flowers are irresistible to many dragons, as are nasturtium flowers.

Hope that helps.

 

[Bigbird]

My dragons love rocket and blueberries and my hatchies like green capsicum. Just try as much variety as possible - different colours and smells and your dragon will start eating his veggies soon. As you've only had him a week he probably is still settling in. It took my adults a good couple of weeks to really start eating veggies when I got them and now they clean out their bowls on many days.

Wild Insights - do you just pick dandelion flowers / nasturtiums if you see them? I am always concerned about picking wold flowers in case they might have pesticide or something on them that might harm the dragons.

 

[Wild_Insights]

Wild Insights - do you just pick dandelion flowers / nasturtiums if you see them? I am always concerned about picking wold flowers in case they might have pesticide or something on them that might harm the dragons.

I only ever pick them from my yard, where I know they haven't been sprayed ( I won't even pick them from the nature strip incase they have been sprayed by council). They are both very easy to grow in your own yard, and both are edible for humans too, they make tasty salad additions!

Also, though I've only mentioned flowers in the previous message for their bright colours, the leaves of both plants are edible for beardies and their human slaves too!

 

[Lovemydragons]

I feed vegies from the shop, they love bok choy. They also got nuts when I add peas. They'll clean out the peas and eat the rest whenever. The dandelions I just pick from our lawns. I know we don't use pesticides etc, so not worried very much about that. They love them. They'll come running before I even slide the glass doors open.

 

[Emzie]

Not sure as ive never had a problem with mine got them as 1 weeks old and they were already eating greens but they love carrot and snap pea’s the most so you could give them a try. I think it’s a colour thing as they try an eat the green picture on the newspaper
i can't get mine to eat the beardie pellet things

 

[davoid001]

I'm also experiencing some problems with my 11 month old Dwarf beardy.I've been alternating trying to get him to eat his veggies on one day, then veggies followed by crickets. occasionally he'll take one chomp off a bit ofveggie, but then won't touch it, and normally skips straight to the not touching it part. I try feeding him Bok Choi, Carrot and Button Squash, so there's a lot of colour. He at least gets food every 2 days, if he doesn't eat any veg. He'sstill a little young though. Should I be feeding Crix more often so he's getting a good feed everyday?

 

[Lovemydragons]

Mine never ate the beardy pallets either. But I was lucky and they both loved vegies straight away.

I would keep the same amount of crickets your feeding now but maybe delay feeding the crickets some days, like put the vegies in early in the morning, and wait till afternoon, if they've had some vegie then give crickets in the evening. Maybe skip a cricket meal (not every day) until they finally get hungry and eat some vegie stuff. Or you could try the movement thing, I suggest tweezers. That worked for me. Wiggling things on tweezers always works now, no matter if it be live food or vegie or fruits, mine associate the tweezers with food. Sometimes I'll have the tweezers in my hand with no food on it they will try and bite the end.

But one main thing I would have to say is to try different things. Something will eventually work.

 

[Wild_Insights]

I would keep the same amount of crickets your feeding now but maybe delay feeding the crickets some days, like put the vegies in early in the morning, and wait till afternoon, if they've had some vegie then give crickets in the evening. Maybe skip a cricket meal (not every day) until they finally get hungry and eat some vegie stuff.

This is a great suggestion from Lovemydragons, if they know crickets are coming, some beardies will hold out and refuse veggies.

But one main thing I would have to say is to try different things. Something will eventually work.

This is also very true. Some veggies which have worked for others include the yellows [dandelions, corn, mango, young celery leaves] and the red [capsicum, strawberries]. Variety is important too, what they take one day may not be their preference the next.

 

[Sel]

I put fresh veg into enclosure in the mornings, then around 4 -5pm i feed her woodies. Then usualy put fresh veges in afterwards, i spray them with water.. someone said somewhere on here they last longer when sprayed with water
Going to go try some dandelions now!

 

[lemonz]

i tried mine with dandelions. they ate the flowers, just by the sight! then i offered the leaves and they ate them out of my hand.

 

[Sel]

Lol i just went outside to get the dandelions.. and forgot the lawn was just mowed this morning no dandelions lol

 

[merdelhuck]

it may not be vegies..but i have lots of cheap silkworm eggs here.. if anyone want em pm me
they are a beardy favourite