Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He's only gone maybe 3 times in the past month. The last two times I had to bath him to get him to go. Why isn't he going regularly? When he does go, it doesn't look great either, though I think that may be because last couple times it was in the tub. I had him at the vets a few times before brumation and they ran blood work and everything and he is fine physically. I have raised his basking temps in an attempt to get his metabolism going, but it hasn't really helped yet.

Could this be because he very rarely eats his greens? How can I get him to eat his greens? I've tried mixing waxworms in with it, but that didn't really get his attention (I was shocked). Maybe wait until he puts on some more weight and I'm sure he's past brumation, and then take away crickets until he starts eating his veggies?

Not eating enough veges is definitely a source of constipation. My beardie only likes romaine, so you may want to try that. If you are feeding him special high fat meals such as waxworms, butter worms, etc., they will ignore all other foods.

So you need to quit with the high fat foods, and use crickets as the main staple for the meat department.

Feed only crickets, which are higher in fiber, and fresh romaine or other favored greens. Since your beardie is an adult, no more than three crickets a day; but all the greens she wants.

If your beardie won't eat them, don't worry it will eventually.
But always have fresh greens available.

A high fat diet can contribute to problems.

Be on the safe side and get fecal exams. Take only fresh specimens to the vet.

JadeFox

My adult eats 10 every other day - is that too much?

I would say for an ADULT dragon, 10 crickets is an excessive amount of protein.

Juvenile and baby beardies need a mostly insect diet.

Adult beardies need a dominantly vegetable/fruit diet and *some* insects.

For a beardie 2 years old, 3 crickets a day is perfect at least for my beardie. The rest is veges.

Also depends on your beardie's activity level.

JadeFox

You need to get your beardie off that stuff and get him on some collard, dandelion, escerole, endive, turnip greens. Romaine only has a little more nutrition than regular lettuce which is mainly water.

I suggest you look at this site below to help you with your feeding regimine. I sincerely hope you study this info especially if you are going to be giving others advice on what to feed their dragons.

Go to nutrition link
Here's another good one

Good luck and please consider some good research before you advise others on what to do.
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Rob Talkington

Another good one

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Rob Talkington

If you read the original post, his bearded dragon suffers constipation. Romaine, though high in water content, is an excellent choice to promote bowel motility. I use strictly very green leafy parts.

The enquirer's beardie has been refusing greens. Mine will too...to the exception of romaine.

My beardie is offered many different greens, but she picks out only the romaine pieces, so romaine it is. And romaine greens is better than eating no greens.

For a picky dragon, romaine is probably the food of choice-other than it eating no greens.

My beardie *hates* mustard, collard, and the like.

So rather than slamming my suggestion, please consider the circumstances for each individual beardie.

Also my beardie, despite eating only romaine for 2 years, only because that's all she will eat--is in excellent health--vet checked and fecal examed routinely, a clean bill of health.

So if romaine is so terrible as you claim, why has she remained in tip top condition?

And like I said very green leafy romaine is better than no greens, and she WILL refuse all other greens.

JadeFox

I read your website, and I have seen no references whatsoever to your nutrition guidelines. The USDA establishes guidelines for nutrition for *human beings*, and all very green leafy veges are going to contain high oxalates and vit A.

I quote about romaine: "high vit. A (26 IU/g), high oxalates" is very true with romaine lettuce, BUT IT IS ALSO TRUE with all other green leafy vegetables. All green leafy veges contain a high amount of Vit. A and oxalates.

My vet says romaine is fine as long as the very green leafy parts only are used. He also understands my beardie will not eat other greens. So is your authority/degrees in vet medicine greater than my vets?

JadeFox

Maybe the reason your beardie will only eat romaine is because you continue to provide it to him. If you give a kid a can of spinach and a can of gummy worms which one do you think he's going to eat? It's called discipline my friend, for the health of the one that is dependent upon your care.

I can tell you I have absolutely no authority or degrees what so ever in vet medicine I can only go by what I read on these forums and other materials. Most everything I have read indicates Romaine is not as nutritious and should NOT be used as a staple green, period.

In addition do you have any clue as to how many times there are posts on this forum that indicate their vets don't have a clue how to care for a beardie?

My intentions were not to slam your advice but to pass along information that I have obtained by reading advice from many, many successful dragon keepers/breeders. If I see the same advice again from you or someone else I'll pass that information along again without hesitation. Maybe I'll try wording it differently next time, though.

Wether you choose to agree with my suggestion is up to you. With giving advice I suggest you get more than one persons opinion (your vet) and pass it along as the way to go. My suggestions here are always based on numerous opinions about a particular method and if I haven't heard many opinions about something in particular I keep my mouth shut. That's because I do not want to pass along information that may potentially be detremental to an animals health.
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Rob Talkington

What have done with diesel my new beardie , is take a piece of grrens or carrot or whatever and stick iot on the end of my finger. then I wiggle it a little bit about 1/2 to 1" from his face where he can see it . It works very well for us. It seems from wheatI have seen so far that they hunt crickets and such by movement and this seems to trick them into hunt mode. A little tip though once he starts eating them work your way over to the bowl slowly and eventually he will eat on his own from there.

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Be as good to me as I am to my animals
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"Maybe wait until he puts on some more weight and I'm sure he's past brumation, and then take away crickets until he starts eating his veggies?"

I don't know how thin he is but if he's real thin that may be the way to go. I'd make sure to dust the crix once a week with some vitamin supps as well as calcium to make sure you make up for the loss of nutrition with the veggies.

Other than that I don't know. If you haven't taken him to the vet since he's been out of brumation you may want to take a fecal in to rule out parasites.

I guess if he's eating the crix regularly let him eat as many as he wants until he fattens up and you feel comfortable cutting down on them. If he's healthy he'll start eating the greens on his own.

Good luck!!
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Rob Talkington

I would not withhold anything--at least he's eating something, but a thin dragon is highly ABNORMAL and is 100% red flag to immediate vet care. Beardies are voracious eaters...

DO NOT TRY TO SELF TREAT THIS MEDICAL EMERGENCY. A thin dragon is a sick dragon and needs vet care!

JadeFox

>"Maybe wait until he puts on some more weight and I'm sure >he's past brumation, and then take away crickets until he >starts eating his veggies?"

>I don't know how thin he is but if he's real thin that may be >the way to go. I'd make sure to dust the crix once a week with >some vitamin supps as well as calcium to make sure you make up >for the loss of nutrition with the veggies.