Beardy will ONLY eat green beans!

[katiejay]

Hi everyone!

My bearded dragon is just over 4 months old. I give him about 30 1/2" dubias a day (which he LOVES), but as far as salads go, he will ONLY eat green beans. I have tried sneaking spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, squash, carrots, grapes, and kale in with the green beans. He will literally pick around and only eat green beans. I have tried giving him just the other items without green beans and he will not eat them. I know green beans aren't really the ideal salad. Does anyone have any other food suggestions I could try? And is green beans a sufficient diet?
(Of course I sprinkle dubias and beans with calcium and vitamin D)

Thanks!!

 

[Emilia Thuet]

Don't worry about the salads too much when he is so young. Baby beardies are like toddlers and will usually refuse greens. My beardie would spit and veggie or fruit out and didn't start eating them until he was around 7 months old. There are 2 things you can do always provide a salad and but green beans in there on some days. Or you can ditch the salad completely to avoid food waste and try salads again in a couple of months and see if he likes them more. Beardies have a lot of growing to do in their first year, I read somewhere where they grow to be 200x their size from birth. That of course takes a lot of energy and protein to do, so just stick with the dubais for now. Also another good thing to do is get calcium powder with no vitamin D, beardies don't always need vitamin D in their system, so just give that to him 3 times a week and the normal calcium powder on the other days. Because he's not eating veggies a multivitamin can give him a boost in nutrition and just give that to him once a week for now. Hope I was able to help

 

[katiejay]

Don't worry about the salads too much when he is so young. Baby beardies are like toddlers and will usually refuse greens. My beardie would spit and veggie or fruit out and didn't start eating them until he was around 7 months old. There are 2 things you can do always provide a salad and but green beans in there on some days. Or you can ditch the salad completely to avoid food waste and try salads again in a couple of months and see if he likes them more. Beardies have a lot of growing to do in their first year, I read somewhere where they grow to be 200x their size from birth. That of course takes a lot of energy and protein to do, so just stick with the dubais for now. Also another good thing to do is get calcium powder with no vitamin D, beardies don't always need vitamin D in their system, so just give that to him 3 times a week and the normal calcium powder on the other days. Because he's not eating veggies a multivitamin can give him a boost in nutrition and just give that to him once a week for now. Hope I was able to help

That is what I am thinking! I will just ditch attempting to feed him other greens until older. Yes, I give him vitamin D 3 days a week and calcium 5. Thank you for your thoughts!!

 

[Sadie]

Hi everyone!

My bearded dragon is just over 4 months old. I give him about 30 1/2" dubias a day (which he LOVES), but as far as salads go, he will ONLY eat green beans. I have tried sneaking spinach, collard greens, mustard greens, squash, carrots, grapes, and kale in with the green beans. He will literally pick around and only eat green beans. I have tried giving him just the other items without green beans and he will not eat them. I know green beans aren't really the ideal salad. Does anyone have any other food suggestions I could try? And is green beans a sufficient diet?
(Of course I sprinkle dubias and beans with calcium and vitamin D)

Thanks!!

Here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
You need to up the calcium D3 to 5 x per week once per feeding and Vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week once per feeding- when he gets to be a year or older then cut the D3 back to 2 times per week w/ the other 3 days regular calcium w/ NO phosphorus -- keep trying other veggies like squash feed raw dont cook it and sweet potato - butternut squash and sweet potato shred and serve on top of some greens --- most dragons like squash - you can also get some prickly pear cactus pads you can order them from Amazon - that is a good staple feeder - keep the pads in the fridge in a ziploc bag - I would get another insect staple feeder like BSFL do not dust them they are a great lure to the salad bowl - you will need a ceramic or glass bowl one that insects cant get out of like this
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
Add those to his salads in front of him so it gets his attention - feed those first in the morning before the main insect- let him eat from that bowl for like a hour or so then add your dubia roaches in the bowl -- so he will get salad too --
Worms like silk or medium super worms are good to add to the salad bowl as well - silk would be more of another staple feeder and the super worms more of a treat or lure to the salad bowl as well -- only use like 1-3 w/ the super worms -- all these things are good for the diet --- its variety and will balance it out -- small horn worms as well -- those worms grow really fast so if you ever get any make sure you get small amounts they are a great hydrating worm -- No meal worms -- not til hes older the exoskeleton is too harsh on babies stomachs -- wax worms are real fatty and can cause liver damage if fed too many and for too long those should be fed sparingly -- butter worms are good for lures as well as treat most dragons love butter worms - there is only one place that has them now that I know of and that is www.mulberryfarms.com --- try some of these things I have mentioned and see how it goes
you can get BSFL from here www.symptonbsf.com or from here they are known as nutri grubs they are small so I would order large www.dubiaroaches.com

 

[Bailey]

My Beardie is 5 and I still have to poke his salad to make it exciting. They are definitely picky lol.

 

[Sadie]

My Beardie is 5 and I still have to poke his salad to make it exciting. They are definitely picky lol.

Add those worms I suggested and you should not have a problem

 

[Bailey]

Add those worms I suggested and you should not have a problem

I don't recall you giving me advice about worms in a salad? I do put superworms and red things on top of his salad to make it more interesting but it only works some of the time.

 

[Sadie]

I don't recall you giving me advice about worms in a salad? I do put superworms and red things on top of his salad to make it more interesting but it only works some of the time.

Sorry I had responded to katiejay--- you can try what I had recommended to her w/ your 5 year old -- have you tried silk worms?

 

[katiejay]

Here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
You need to up the calcium D3 to 5 x per week once per feeding and Vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week once per feeding- when he gets to be a year or older then cut the D3 back to 2 times per week w/ the other 3 days regular calcium w/ NO phosphorus -- keep trying other veggies like squash feed raw dont cook it and sweet potato - butternut squash and sweet potato shred and serve on top of some greens --- most dragons like squash - you can also get some prickly pear cactus pads you can order them from Amazon - that is a good staple feeder - keep the pads in the fridge in a ziploc bag - I would get another insect staple feeder like BSFL do not dust them they are a great lure to the salad bowl - you will need a ceramic or glass bowl one that insects cant get out of like this
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
Add those to his salads in front of him so it gets his attention - feed those first in the morning before the main insect- let him eat from that bowl for like a hour or so then add your dubia roaches in the bowl -- so he will get salad too --
Worms like silk or medium super worms are good to add to the salad bowl as well - silk would be more of another staple feeder and the super worms more of a treat or lure to the salad bowl as well -- only use like 1-3 w/ the super worms -- all these things are good for the diet --- its variety and will balance it out -- small horn worms as well -- those worms grow really fast so if you ever get any make sure you get small amounts they are a great hydrating worm -- No meal worms -- not til hes older the exoskeleton is too harsh on babies stomachs -- wax worms are real fatty and can cause liver damage if fed too many and for too long those should be fed sparingly -- butter worms are good for lures as well as treat most dragons love butter worms - there is only one place that has them now that I know of and that is www.mulberryfarms.com --- try some of these things I have mentioned and see how it goes
you can get BSFL from here www.symptonbsf.com or from here they are known as nutri grubs they are small so I would order large www.dubiaroaches.com

Great idea, Thank you so much. He does like superworms! I will try this.