Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had my plated lizard for about 4 months, and he has never once accepted any fruits or vegetables. He'll eat all manners of insects voraciously and regularly, but he just refuses all the fruits and vegetables that it recommends in the care sheets. How essential are fruits and vegetables in their diet? Should I be worried he's going to have vitamin deficiencies? Also, is there any trick to getting him to eat some?
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1 amel corn snake, 1 plated lizard, 1 Harris hawk, 2 Icelandic sheepdogs, 4 cats, 3 Icelandic horses, 1 canary, 3 finches, 1 desert tortoise

First off, it depends on what kind of plated lizard you have. Some will eat more vegetation than others. All plated lizards will benefit from GOOD vegetables and fruits being added to their diets.

Here are two suggestions:

1.Gutload your feeder insects on high quality vegetation sources. Crickets will eat just about anything, so you can feed them healthy things like squash, greens (turnip, collard, mustard), etc. What you feed to your insects, is ultimately what you are feeding to your lizard.

2.EGGS! Break some raw eggs into a pan, cut up the vegetables you want your plated to eat (in very small bites and add it to the pan), turn on the heat, scrape the pan over and over and you'll get the plated lizard version of scrambled eggs. Put it in the fridge for two or so hours to cool, serve on a plate, and most plateds love it. Mine certaintly does.

Good luck!
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~Sara~
5.5 ball pythons
1.0 Black-lined plated lizard (Lizzy Butt)
0.1 Burmese Python (Pixil)
2.1 Pet Rats
1.1 Dogs (Ozzie and Mandy)
0.1 Cat (Isis)
0.0.1 Synodontis Catfish (Big Spotty Fish)
0.2 Convict Cichlids

Thanks for the advice!

Also, my plated is a yellow-throated. Are they more or less inclined to eat vegetables/fruits than other plated lizards?
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1 amel corn snake, 1 plated lizard, 1 Harris hawk, 2 Icelandic sheepdogs, 4 cats, 3 Icelandic horses, 1 canary, 3 finches, 1 desert tortoise

I have found (through reading, not experience) that yellow throated plated lizards are more likely than most to eat vegetables and fruits. However, many people are having the same problem as you with actually starting them on them. A lot of the lizards will be reluctant to eat the plants, but once started, don't have a problem with it anymore.
This brings me to my next suggestion: try using native African ones. (since these plateds are from Africa)
Here are a few suggestions, but I'm sure you can find more information on google:

bananas
dates
figs
olives
tomatoes
bambara bean
cowpea
eggplant
long bean
okra

I would add superworms, mealworms, waxworms, butterworms, and/or pheonix worms to the (finely cut) vegetation mix. Your plated may be enticed to eat from the bowl if it sees moving insects in it, and even if he is just going after the insects, he'll be likely to consume the plant matter.
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~Sara~
5.5 ball pythons
1.0 Black-lined plated lizard (Lizzy Butt)
0.1 Burmese Python (Pixil)
2.1 Pet Rats
1.1 Dogs (Ozzie and Mandy)
0.1 Cat (Isis)
0.0.1 Synodontis Catfish (Big Spotty Fish)
0.2 Convict Cichlids