Help changing Bearded Dragons diet

[cjwcn]

Hey everyone. I'm new here and recently got a 3 yr old bearded dragon from someone. She seems to be pretty fat and healthy, but the previous owner had only fed her crickets. They said the tried veggies and meal worms and she wouldn't eat them. I was just trying to find out some ways to get her to open up her selections. They were feeding here 10 crickets per day. Since I've had her I've given her some veggies, which she didn't seem to touch and some meal worms which she gobbled down fast and seemed to love. I also have some Rep-Cal Bearded Dragon Pellets in her cage too and she's ate a few, but doesn't seem very interested. I just wanted to see if anyone had any tips on how to get her to change her diet some because I know just eating crickets all the time can't be the best for her. I attached a few pics of her. Thanks for any help. Btw I'm Chris.

 

[clh321]

wow. 10 crickets a day? How is she that fat??? It would be a help if you got a food bowl and put greens and veggies in it into her vivarium. she might take a while to notice them, but she will eat them eventually. and i do not reccomend feeding mealies to a dragon. it is bad for them. and dragons need to eat 75-110 crickets every day. so i hope that i helped! welcome to the forum!

 

[beardie_love]

dragons need to eat 75-110 crickets every day.

I believe you are thinking of babies.


10 crickets a day isn't bad. Adult beardies should get 30-50 proteins a week. To change her diet, you can try superworms, roaches, silkworms.... just no mealworms. Mealworms have a hard chitin shell that makes it hard to digest. As for greens/veggies, try making the salad colorful, or you can try to sweeten it up with some kiwi.

Hope this helps!

 

[staylor]

Another way to get her interested in her veggies is do not feed crix for a few days. She is old enough and fat enough to do some tough love. To make the salad more interesting you can do a Melissa said and make it sweet and colorful. Another trick that works great is if you hide some worms in the salad. It will make the salad move and be more interesting to your dragon. I found that mine like red foods, such as red bell peppers and strawberries.

 

[renich]

As everyone pointed out, mealies are a no-no for dragons. No nutritional value and the outer shell makes it tough for them to digest.

Experiment with the veggies. A lot of dragons love butternut squash. Put some in a small mound with greens on top. Here's a link to our caresheet. It lists some proteins to try and salad mixes:
Bearded Dragon Care

Hope this helps!

 

[clh321]

dragons need to eat 75-110 crickets every day.

I believe you are thinking of babies.


10 crickets a day isn't bad. Adult beardies should get 30-50 proteins a week. To change her diet, you can try superworms, roaches, silkworms.... just no mealworms. Mealworms have a hard chitin shell that makes it hard to digest. As for greens/veggies, try making the salad colorful, or you can try to sweeten it up with some kiwi.

Hope this helps!

oh sorry lol i was. i probably was half asleep when i posted this, lol

 

[Pogie]

Well everyone said it already..... I just wanted to confirm the kiwi trick..... THEY LOVE IT.

oh sorry lol i was. i probably was half asleep when i posted this, lol

LOL, sounds like me most of the time....

 

[cjwcn]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. Just bought like 200 superworms for now and going to order a few hundred crickets to last awhile. going to get some other kinds of food soon as well as going to try the salad mix very soon. thanks again for the help. ;D

 

[staylor]

try to limit her protein. She is an adult and the fat from the live feeders is not good for her liver. Try forcing the salad on her, she should get the idea pretty quick, but they can be stubborn.

 

[crypticdragons]

You could also use a worm such as supers mixed in with some leafy greens. This will make the greens move around and grab her interest. If this doesn't work you have to wait her out on hunger. If you with-hold live feeders for a week or so and keep offereing greens everyday she will eventually eat them.