Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I have 5 beareded dragons and if you read a prev message of mine i rescued a dying beardy from PETCO. All my others ate veggies and crickets just fine, but this one will not at all eat veggies of any kind, it does not matter if i put crickets on the veggies, nothing works. The only way i get him to eat little peices of lettuce is tuck them under his lip and the he chomps them up and swallows them. Its not real fun doing that and it is very time consuming. Hes fattened up now and eats about 4 crickets a day, which is not as much as my others did but he poops every day and his tummy gets full. I use the repcal blue and pink powder that you mix together on crickets, so multiviaamins and calc intake are ok.

How much will it affect the beards well-being if he just does not like greens at the moment?

I am sure when he gets bigger I can find a unique to feed him greens but hes so small at the momemnt (about 7 inches).

What have you tried thus far? Also, what else besides lettuce (really no nutritional value) do you feed your others? I have found that some of mine are more picky than others.

Here's a good nutrition list

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I'd just keep offering a salad, lots of babies ignore it since protein is needed for growth and is usually very available in captivity.

i feed my others collard greens mostly, i tried many others on the list, lettuce was just a off the wall try as well.

Hes just not interested in them at all, I figure he will grow out of it as my other ones did not eat a ton of greens till they got older but at least they ate some.

Offer a balanced salad every day and feed him as much crickets as he will eat in a 10 min period 2-3 times a day. Being so young, he won't show much interest in greens initially, but as he gets older he will need to eat more greens.

For now, don't worry about it. He's probably far younger than your other dragons anyway. Once you figure he's about 8 months old, then he should be eating half greens, half insects. (basically down to one or two feedings of insects a day, salad available all day).
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PHLdyPayne

Thats what I figured but I know there is a vast amount of knowledge on these forums.

On my adult beards, I do a 1 day insect/ 1 day greens rotation. I see you said both each day but my big one eats about 50 crickets with vit and cal powder that i bring home at lunch and then hes pretty much done for the rest of the day, then the next day at lunch I give him a bowl of mixed greens without powder and he eats while i eat.

Is that ok too? or should i be offering both each day. I been doing it this way for about 2 years now and he is a beast.

I would only give a few crickets a day, but it is alright to have one or two complete feedings of insects a week, with salads all other days. Though without knowing the size and weight of your dragon, hard to say if he's getting too much food or just enough. As a full adult, he shouldn't gain any weight, if he keeps gaining then he is getting too much food.

One thing you pointed out is you buy crickets on the way home form work then feed them off that same day? Most petstores don't feed their crickets and thus crickets are half starved...and don't provide much nutrition for your dragon. Its always recommended to feed the crickets the day before you feed them off to your dragons, this way they are more than just empty husks. You can buy a store brand gut load or make your own. I feed my crickets the same mixed greens I feed my dragons, plus either crushed rodent lab blocks, dog food or fish flakes, or a combination of all three...depending on how many crickets I have (since I avoid using crickets as much as possible, I rarely have more than a dozen or two in house, to feed my tarantula. My reptiles get superworms, butterworms, hornworms or silkworms for insects.)
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PHLdyPayne

Well, the petstore i go to feeds the crickets the cricket feed. I was gutloading for about the first 5 months and then i got lazy. The crickets i get seem plump with food so i usually don't bother gutloading. My beardy is around a year old and he has fat legs and abulky body so I presume hes healthy, he gets plenty of greens, I only give him 50 crickets, in a 15min period he could eat over 100 im sure. Never seen superworms and such here, i may have to look into it

Most petstores sell superworms. They're just not in the refrigerator with other feeders. You should ask. They are long lived with a minimum of care.

About 6 months ago I switched to salads every other day with bugs in between for my adults. On salad day I make 21 Beardie salads and there was just too much waste. Most Beardies always prefer live food to salad so not much was ever consumed on bug days. I still give daily salads to the enclosures with egg laying females and pairs.