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Food suggestions

Jess.MarksWife

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
23
I'd love to get some more ideas on what everyone's beardie eats. I've read mixed opinions about mealworms. However, my beardie loves them. He eats crickets, meal worms and kale. It's hard for him to adjust to other foods. I tried zucchini, squash, strawberries..etc. he refuses to eat what he isn't used to.

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BeardedHippy

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
672
Location
Scarborough UK
Hi, this should be in the diet section but I will answer. Juvenile beardies are like kids, they want to eat stuff thats bad for them and wont eat the stuff thats good. There are no mixed opinions on mealworms here, the advice here is not to feed them as they are too chitinous and difficult to digest, its just not worth taking the risk even though many do feed them, usually on the bad advice from pet stores. Kale is another no no except as a rare treat, it binds calcium and stops it being absorbed into the body, which can cause serious health problems, halting bone development. Most young dragons can be fussy, especially with veggies. By feeding them to your crickets first (known as gut loading) you can at least make sure your dragon gets the vitamins from the veggies.
Sometimes you need to apply a bit of tough love, they will eat whatever you give them if they are hungry enough, they will never starve themselves. However it is important that you give them a good staple veg such as collared greens, mustard or dandelion greens ,these can be fed on a daily basis. The full list is here, it tells you feeding frequency as well.:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html
Mine are given collared greens and butternut squash daily, with other stuff thrown in as a treat. They rarely eat them though, so I gut load dubia roaches with it.
 

Aziara

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
59
I understand that superworms are better than mealworms, as they have slightly less chitin, and better nutrition. If you pick out the ones who have just shed (they'll be paler), they'll have even less chitin. They look and move similar to mealworms, (although, in my opinion, they do smell different) maybe your little guy will give them a try.
Have you tried collard greens? That seems to be the number 1 recommended veggie everywhere I look.
 

BeardedHippy

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
672
Location
Scarborough UK
indeed, supers are better, softer bodied, however ,both have very high fat contents, mealies more so than supers. They are both supplimental foods, not a daily thing. Crickets are fine, dubias are the best all round though. collard greens are the most commonly used staple
 

Aziara

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
59
^Yeah, forgot to mention about the fat content, was just thinking about the better digestibility. Thanks for that.
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Hi, this should be in the diet section but I will answer. Juvenile beardies are like kids, they want to eat stuff thats bad for them and wont eat the stuff thats good. There are no mixed opinions on mealworms here, the advice here is not to feed them as they are too chitinous and difficult to digest, its just not worth taking the risk even though many do feed them, usually on the bad advice from pet stores. Kale is another no no except as a rare treat, it binds calcium and stops it being absorbed into the body, which can cause serious health problems, halting bone development. Most young dragons can be fussy, especially with veggies. By feeding them to your crickets first (known as gut loading) you can at least make sure your dragon gets the vitamins from the veggies.
Sometimes you need to apply a bit of tough love, they will eat whatever you give them if they are hungry enough, they will never starve themselves. However it is important that you give them a good staple veg such as collared greens, mustard or dandelion greens ,these can be fed on a daily basis. The full list is here, it tells you feeding frequency as well.:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html
Mine are given collared greens and butternut squash daily, with other stuff thrown in as a treat. They rarely eat them though, so I gut load dubia roaches with it.

******I will move this thread to diet section after commenting for more attention****
Good advice here. You can feed Kale as long as you mix it in with plenty of other good staple greens..I occasionally feed kale with collards/turnip/dandelion as my female really loves that kale...just don't solely feed it..
keep offering good greens even if they go uneaten when hungry enough they will.. As a juvie they are still growing so protein is more of a focus so gut loading is key and dubia are excellent in that as they retain nutrition 72 hours in their gi system.. My 2 go in stages of eating greens and not but they always eat them yummy roaches...
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
indeed, supers are better, softer bodied, however ,both have very high fat contents, mealies more so than supers. They are both supplimental foods, not a daily thing. Crickets are fine, dubias are the best all round though. collard greens are the most commonly used staple
Superworms are higher % fat at 17.9% and mealworms 12.7%
 
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