Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So now we've comfirmed he needs more veggies...but how on earth do I get him to eat any? I tried giving him some yesterday but he just turned away and flicked it all over with his tail. I gave him collard greens and I put a super worm in it...he got the super worm..one peiece of leaves.. and nothing else.... he just looked at it. I tried dusting it with the calcium powder and nothing. I'm trying mixed veggies tonight. I hope he eats them..

I put a buch of small mealworms in the salad mix and the movement of the worms usually attracts the beardie and he/she gets greens in the process. Then I gradually decrease the worms once they are used to eating the greens. Others may have better ideas, but this worked for me in the past.
-----
Stacey

That's what I did with mine before too, except not with meal worms (I don't use them). That or when you feed them crix, have a salad in there and pour the crickets slowly right onto the salad while your dragon eats them. Whatever you do, just keep trying and he/she'll catch onto the goodness of salads eventually .

give it time.

as long as the BD is healthy and eating crickets and worms don't stress on the veggie intake.

yes you want him/her to eat them and you will .... but some BD's start veggies later than others, some are just as picky as we are...

as was said, mix the crix and worms with the veggies.

also try this:

early am before the BD's is even awake make a nice salad and spay it with a bit of water and put it in the cage.

when the lights come on and the BD first warms up the water will also get the attention. may drink the water off the leaves and munch a few.

on some days hold back on the crix and worms till later, try and get the BD to eat a few greens / veggies first then add the crix / worms.

set a pattern of fresh salad first every day.

as time goes by the BD will adapt and eat the veggies first.

also see if you can find a color or flavor the BD likes.
examples:

fresh strawberrys or blackberrys
mint leaves
edible flowers such as home grown roses that have not had any bug spray *EVER*
rose petels and several other flowers are edible for us and BD's

the smell and color may trigger the BD to dig in.

try different items in small amounts with the base veggies.

just like us they get "bored" with the same stuff!

one day my BD loves COllards another day he craves Kale
Go figure!
-----
This space reserved for future use...

Let me give you this little helpful hint. Try making some "Dragon Slaw: and mixing it in with your greens.

Recipe: Need a small old fashioned type of grater that you do manually by hand can buy them at the dollar stor. I call them the knuckle rakers LOL

Anyway, grate some yellow squash, some zuccinni (sp?) and some baby carrots. Mix together. My dragons go nuts for there's first thing in the morning. The squash and the zuccinni are very moisture rich and will provide your dragon with the needed water. This is the first thing my dragons pick off their salads. (We place ours on top of the greens like a salad topping but I would suggest you mix yours in with your greens so hopefully your dragon will eat it all together. If not try using it just as a topping and see if they begin to eat it)

My dragons then snack on their greens all day long and in the evening we give them their crix and/or superworms. We do not overfed them the superworms or crix. You don't want them to have an unlimited supply of crix to eat on because they will gorge themselves and get so full they may just not eat their greens and veggies the next morning. You want them to get enough crix/superworms but if still feeling hungry mine will go back and snack on their greens through the evening hours until it gets to be bedtime.
-----
www.georgiabeardeddragons.com