Health repercussions of adult dragon who will not eat veggies?

[Beardomania]

Hi, I recently adopted a healthy (18.5-19 inches, 560 grams) active male 3 year old adult bearded dragon. His previous owner says he eats his veggies but I don't know if that's true because he absolutely will not and he's been with me for 2 months or more now and happily pigs out on bugs. Point is, he's acclimated. I've tried cabbage (green and purple), mustard greens, collard greens, cilantro, kale, all the veggies in Aldi's Spring Mix but he ignores everything. If I drop a piece in his mouth as he's gaping, he spits it out and becomes a little less trusting of my hand going into his enclosure for a little while. The only vegetation he will eat is blueberries, which he occasionally has with his dusted superworms, wax worms, and black soldier fly larvae.

My question is, what are the long term health repercussions, if any, for an adult dragon who refuses to eat all green matter (perhaps other than horn worms...)? Is the minor amount that he gets from gut-loading his superworms with veggies good for anything?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[HoomanSlave]

If he's getting too many insects to replace the veggies he doesn't eat, he may be at risk for obesity-especially if he eats superworms frequently. There might also be some issues with vitamin deficiencies.

Since supers can be addictive, try cutting them out of the diet until he gives up and eats veggies. If you have a food processor, you can try blending the blueberries and everything else together. The vegetables will taste like blueberries and he won't be able to pick out the stuff he likes. You can also try offering the veggies to the BSFL, they love to eat and will become even more nutritious for him. Dubias and other roaches are also good with eating veggies if you want to add another feeder type to his diet.

 

[Beardomania]

Thanks, I've heard of making slurries but haven't tried that. He doesn't drink from a water bowl so I don't know if he'll take any of the goop in his feeding dish. He eats blueberries as I roll them over to him. I don't want to syringe it into his mouth because when I try to coax open his mouth for anything, it pisses him off so he will probably absolutely hate it if I pry open his jaw with a syringe. Also, it might get into his air passage and kill him from pneumonia if forced feeding goes wrong.

I do think he will be obese at the rate that he eats insects, especially supers. To combat that, I give him a warm bath and about 45 min to swim in it every day. It's deep enough so he can swim comfortably but also shallow enough so that he can stand on his toes for a rest. I observe him the entire time since I practice singing in the bathroom and make sure he's mostly swimming instead of just chilling the whole time.

But my question is actually whether there are known health issues for adult beardies who refuse to eat green vegetables. Vitamin-wise, he gets Herptivite; are there any crucial vitamins in veggies that aren't in Herptivite?

Thanks again!

 

[cliffhangerreptiles]

@HoomanSlave is correct. Not eating greens is a result of too many live feeders. At his age, he should be eating greens more regularly. Especially if he is not breeding. Due note, however, bearded dragons typically eat significantly less when it is getting colder this time of year.

In regards to your direct question, science has shown that there are some issues with not feeding greens. A doctoral study I proofed in 2018 was reviewing this with other species of agamids. It noted some complications. HOWEVER, in my years as a breeder, I have had a number of males who would not eat greens. I have never seen any complications as a result. Ensure that you are supplementing with both calcium and herptivite. The simple answer is that science irrefutable assumes an issue, but I haven't seen any effects in person.

Tips to get him to eat greens:
- Dice in some red pepper (dragons are attracted to red)
- Offer greens significantly before live feeders (you may even only offer greens for a day or two. If a bearded dragon is hungry, they WILL eat. It goes against their instinct to starve themselves).

Hope this helps!

 

[Beardomania]

@HoomanSlave is correct. Not eating greens is a result of too many live feeders. At his age, he should be eating greens more regularly. Especially if he is not breeding. Due note, however, bearded dragons typically eat significantly less when it is getting colder this time of year.

In regards to your direct question, science has shown that there are some issues with not feeding greens. A doctoral study I proofed in 2018 was reviewing this with other species of agamids. It noted some complications. HOWEVER, in my years as a breeder, I have had a number of males who would not eat greens. I have never seen any complications as a result. Ensure that you are supplementing with both calcium and herptivite. The simple answer is that science irrefutable assumes an issue, but I haven't seen any effects in person.

Tips to get him to eat greens:
- Dice in some red pepper (dragons are attracted to red)
- Offer greens significantly before live feeders (you may even only offer greens for a day or two. If a bearded dragon is hungry, they WILL eat. It goes against their instinct to starve themselves).

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much, Blake.

I got this guy as a rescue on a whim on Craigslist so I had no live feeders for him for several days when he just got here. Had him under a freshly purchased 125W mercury vapor bulb from day 1 with his basking temps at 105-110 degrees (which is a little hot so he'll hang out a little off from the center of it). But he fasted for all those days. I offered chopped greens of all varieties every day but he fasted everyday. Then, a week on, the supers arrived from Rainbow mealworms and once he saw them, he broke out into a glut of joy!

He's getting both calcium and Herptivite for sure.

Awesome you did your doctorate on herpetology!! I did my doctorate on human genetics! There is so much we don't know and so much that we think we know but get proven wrong by nature. One very interesting story is that my friend acquired a baby stinkpot turtle and dropped him into a shallow bowl of water with no basking spot, feeding him mealworms and sometimes feeder minnows. I told him he'd kill his turtle like that because it needs a UVB basking spot that rises out of a large filtered and heated body of water in which he will swim. I also told him he needs calcium and Herptivite. He blew me off, even after I offered to buy him the supplies. I got a little angry and said he'd going to kill an innocent reptile with his ignorance. And he said to me, "You saying I don't know how to raise turtles? How many turtles have you raised? Let me tell you, buddy, when I was a kid, I raised a turtle from the size of your thumb to the size of a football just like this and I've never even heard of a UVB light or Herptivite! I just fed him table scraps in an inch of water and he grew up just fine!" I was baffled by this and told my girlfriend. She told me that her uncle once bought a baby tortoise and it escaped its enclosure shortly after. They couldn't find it an assumed it died somewhere. 10 years later, when moving to a new house, they found that tortoise several times his baby size (but likely still stunted compared to regular growth) living under the sofa!! No UVB, no light, no basking, no vitamins, don't even know what he ate or drank. I could not understand at all...

Anyway, I will try the peppers! Thanks!

@HoomanSlave , actually, his black soldier fly larvae are freeze dried. I ordered chicken feeders (15,000 dried for $7 from Amazon) and cover a feeding bowl with them. He won't eat any. I drop a few supers into the bowl and he'll eat both as he can't tell what's moving. He crunches them up like chips and I gotta say, they smell aromatic! I wouldn't mind trying some of those protein chips if the pandemic locks us all at home with no food!