My babies eating habits

[peachiest]

So, my boys are about 4 months old now. Because Renegade had the pinworms when I got him, he's about half the size of Griffin. They both eat crickets really well. I've also started supplementing with Phoenix worms, butter worms, and a few wax worms. Renegade hasn't really taken to the worms as much but Griffin loves them. Neither will touch their veggies. I've tricked Griffin into eating a little bit of his salad by throwing his worms in but that only worked the first couple of times. Now he just eats the worms out of the salad and leaves the rest. I've tried a variety of veggies and even tried a bit of watermelon and apples. Even when I ran out of crix for a while day and they only got a few worms, they wouldn't touch their salad. I read somewhere that beardies don't usually "get a taste" for veggies until around a year old, although I've seen plenty of babies munching on their salads. I guess my question is, what ways have y'all tried to get your young beardies to eat their veggies? Also, as long as I keep offering the veggies, do y'all think they'll eventually just start eating them?

Thanks in advance for the always awesome advice and words of encouragement!!

 

[richard]

try switchin up with different things. mine like blackberries. also try putting their salad in first, say about an hour before any crickets.

 

[Dragonsx6]

Mine love Banana, peppers, strawberries, butternut squash, sweet potato, raspberries, they love any brightly coloured food rather than just the 'green' of the leaves they get. They also love pansies & nasturtiums, but they are all dieing off now that it getting colder.

It's just a case of keep trying them with the fresh vegies & fruits, they will eventually come round to them. I know my girls like them better than the boys too, dont know if everyones are the same tho, thats just my own observations with m y own dragons

 

[peachiest]

So far none of that has worked. I guess it'll just take time. They do eat a variety of bugs so that's a good thing. They're both becoming little piggies so they are starting to get expensive in bugs. Hoping for veggies before too long because a varied veggie diet is way cheaper. Lol.

 

[Missy]

My regimen is crickets in morning. Afternoon is salad mix. Then ONLY if he's eaten his veggies earlier in the day, does Gobi get 3 super worms in the evening.

 

[peachiest]

At what age did your little darlings start to purposely eat their salads? Griffin will sometimes accidentally eat some when I trick him by putting the worms in, but aside from that, he just looks at it. He has licked at it a couple times, and since there were tomatoes and watermelon in it, I thought he'd give it a try... but he just looked around for something that was moving. Renegade, the smaller one, won't even go near a salad. I've tried placing him near it with some crawly critters in it to get his attention, but he has zero interest. Since they are only about 4 months old, I'm guessing that maybe they don't have any desire to try the non-moving foods yet.

I think tomorrow I'm going to buy a different type of salad green to mix in. I have been buying collards but I think they stink. I'm a good southern girl and I love my collards, but raw collards just smell gross to me. I know they need the greens with all the other goodies that I want to mix in. Which kind of greens do y'all use? I know what NOT to use, but I'm not sure what else is good. Is Kale something they like? My 3 year old beardie will eat anything. He isn't picky so it's hard for me to base my babies' diet off his. His favorites are collards, tomatoes, and okra. He was so much easier than these guys in a lot of ways. I don't remember having any trouble getting him to eat... ANYTHING. And I was able to train him to drink from a water dish. My babies are being stubborn. As a matter of fact, Griffin has become a bit antisocial. He doesn't want anything to do with me. "Just feed me and leave me alone," seems to be his attitide. Renegade likes to get out and play but he goes running across the room and he's still small so I'm worried about losing him under furniture. Oh the joys of being a ReptiMom. lol.

 

[Dragonsx6]

You just have to keep trying, my babies were all different ages before they started eating greens, some younger some older. They will eventually take to them, as you say just now they only really interested in food that moves. As for drinking, I have 6 dragons and none of them drink from a bowl, they will only drink when in their bath so rather than bathe them every other day I bath mine daily to allow them to drink. Hope it helps