Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my beardie for about a month and a half now. He will be a year old in september. I have NEVER seen him munch on the greens I give him. I've been feeding mustard, turnip, and collard greens and he always just lets them dry on up untill I remove them uneaten. Whats wrong, also he's not real fond of crickets, and will now only eat superworms. Is a diet of mainly superworms healthy?? I've also tried pureed carrots which he snubbed. He loves the worms, I will continue to put fresh greens in his home, but if he will only eat the worms, is this ok too?? Thanks for any input

Beardies easily get spoiled on worms and refuse crickets. For now, you could try putting the worms in with or on top of the greens to see if he might get greens by mistake.
Does your beardie drink when water is dripped on it's nose? If so, another option is to blend the greens in a blender, mixed with water and give it via eyedropper just like you would to give him a drink. This method worked for one of mine and helped him aquire a taste for them.
To get him back on crickets, you may have to stop giving him worms for several days. Hunger will eventually get the best of him and he may decide the greens look pretty good too.

I really don't want him to eat crickets. If the worms are just as good for him and he likes it I would prefer it if he stay on the worms. I have a tank I keep replenishing with 1000 crickets, and I'm sick of keeping those around, they stink, I'm not real good at keeping them all alive, and I'd just plain do without them hopping around my house if it's ok with him. He doesn't seem to really care for them anyway, I pull several dead ones out of his house everyday as they are not being eaten. Do you have any input on this? (just feeding him worms that is) The idea of blending the greens is brilliant! He loves to drink water out of a syringe. I could probably blend them with my miner-all I to give him everything he needs! I love the idea, I'm going to try it first thing in the morning. Thank you!

Feeding worms is fine as long as they are nutritionally sound. Varying the types of worms would give him a variety in proteins and fats.

silkworms are a little more expensive than crickets but are not that hard to breed (at least they dont' sound too hard to breed) so if money isn't a problem I would add silkworms into his diet. They are more nutricious than crickets but have none of hte hassels of crickets. They don't make noise nor smell, and if you put them on egg flats or coffee holders, they are easy to clean..just pour out the poop from the cartens and then clean out the rubbermaid container. They really don't travel very far even if sitting on a counter. They don't make any noise either and beardies seem to love them

The supers are fine for as a staple in the live portion of his diet, but you really need to get him eating the greens regularly. You can try getting some rep-cal pellets and adding them to the greens. Traceys suggestion of not feeding for a few days and them offering greens works also.
Good luck
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Bill DiFabio
Azteclizard.com
Email Me

lol.....Christy and I do think alot alike but I can't take credit for that one....though I do agree that a few days with out his worms might stimulate him to eat his greens....

I would also add a few silkworms to his diet if you can.....they are easy to raise and very nutritional sound.....

My 3 year old male absolutely HATES his greens. I didn't give him any food at all for 5-7 days then put in a nice big dish of greens and veggies mixed in. Nadda. Didn't even look at it. Did this quite a few time in 3 years! I have tried ever tricky move I could to get him to eat greens but he won't. It's not like I spoiled him early on either, he always has been offered greens. I have always tried to make "the switch" but he just will not give! I think he would starve to DEATH before he ate them. He does not see them as food. I have even tried putting nice fat wax worms in with the greens. Waxies are his absolutle favorite thing in all the world. He will eat them until he explodes. That is why he only gets them once a month. Anyway he went over to the bowl looked at the worms in the greens and walked away. I tried this many many times. I have no idea what to do with my big fat brat! He is so damn cute!! The ONLY green thing he will eat is french cut green beans. You know the big giant honker ones??? What a goof. Sooooooooo, what I do is hollow out the stinkin' green beans and load them up with rolled up turnip and dandelion greens. He will eat one like that but he notices right away that there is something in there besides the green beans goodness. If I give him straight green bean with no rolled up greens inside he will eat like 5 of them. OOOOOOooooooooooooo, so stuborn!!! I will be folowing this thread to find out what to do with the brat. Maybe a reptile shrink??? LOL!

I suppose you've tried adding color to the greens? Carrots, red bell peppers, strawberries, melon...
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TheClassyLizard

I've got a young pair, just over 2 months old, who seem to eat more and more greens each week. They started slow (actually wouldn't touch them) then after I ran out of crickets after store closing time, they started nibbling on the greens. They now eat it all: mustard, collard, turnip and really love finely grated yellow squash and zuccini. I was giving them carrots too, but recently read that carrots may not be healthy (too much vit A ???). Any thoughts on the carrots? They probably like them best. I do sprinkle calcium on the greens, they don't seem to care. On the same website I read about the carrots, they also recommended wax worms at a much more frequent rate than my local reptile store (they recommend them only for occasional treats). I'm pretty new with the beardies and read everything I can get my hands on. I'm amazed at the inconsistancies among successful owners/breeders who all have very healthy happy critters. I really enjoy and appreciate this forum.

Chip