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Will not accept veggies

RichardK

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
7
Hi everyone! I made a pretty big mistake spoiling my bearded dragon with mostly insects and rare veggies as he grew up. Now he will only accept super worms and nothing else. I've tried a variety of foods, and he doesn't want anything to do with it. As for some I have tried, I've done mustard greens, collard greens, peas, green beans, carrots, turnip greens, kale, spinach, etc. All being the same result, which is they sit in the tank in his food bowl and never get eaten. I'll offer it to him multiple times a day, and he won't touch it. I'm scared to not offer bugs, because he will end up starving himself over eating any greens. I'm at the end of my rope here and i'm so worried about him. But I will also say as of recently, he has had pin worms and has been recovering from them for about a month now and an infection that the pinworms left after. That coupled with the matter of him possibly brumating? I apologize if this has come off very unorganized or frantic, but my vet did very little in terms of helping me get him to accept anything besides worms and the worry is overwhelming. ( I've also tried some fruit toppings to maybe coax him, as well as putting wax worms on top to maybe bring him over with the movement, both did not work. )
Though this may just be from him brumating and not wanting to change his diet as of right now, i'm still overly worried and want to make sure my bearded dragon is getting what he needs.
Right now his diet is pretty much 100% insects still at around 9 months.
 

Sadie

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
10,690
Hi everyone! I made a pretty big mistake spoiling my bearded dragon with mostly insects and rare veggies as he grew up. Now he will only accept super worms and nothing else. I've tried a variety of foods, and he doesn't want anything to do with it. As for some I have tried, I've done mustard greens, collard greens, peas, green beans, carrots, turnip greens, kale, spinach, etc. All being the same result, which is they sit in the tank in his food bowl and never get eaten. I'll offer it to him multiple times a day, and he won't touch it. I'm scared to not offer bugs, because he will end up starving himself over eating any greens. I'm at the end of my rope here and i'm so worried about him. But I will also say as of recently, he has had pin worms and has been recovering from them for about a month now and an infection that the pinworms left after. That coupled with the matter of him possibly brumating? I apologize if this has come off very unorganized or frantic, but my vet did very little in terms of helping me get him to accept anything besides worms and the worry is overwhelming. ( I've also tried some fruit toppings to maybe coax him, as well as putting wax worms on top to maybe bring him over with the movement, both did not work. )
Though this may just be from him brumating and not wanting to change his diet as of right now, i'm still overly worried and want to make sure my bearded dragon is getting what he needs.
Right now his diet is pretty much 100% insects still at around 9 months.
What are you using for uvb? Coil or tube? Basking temps what are they and how are you taking them ? Unless your dragon is 300+ grams he should not be brumating- he's too young- we need to get that corrected before we go to diet- they will not eat or very little w/ incorrect basking temps and uvb
 

Josh

Administrator
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,483
Location
Redlands, CA
How long have you gone between feedings when trying a new food? For instance, when you try to switch to say dubia, how many meals does he skip before you go back to supers?
p.s. welcome to the forum!
 

RichardK

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
7
How long have you gone between feedings when trying a new food? For instance, when you try to switch to say dubia, how many meals does he skip before you go back to supers?
p.s. welcome to the forum!
I've never really skipped any of his feedings for new food, usually if he doesnt accept the veggies for so long in the day, i'll give in and give him some supers so he doesn't get hungry. I had used crickets for a while to feed him, but after he got pinworms I didn't want to take the risk and switched to mainly supers and occasionally dubias.
Should I maybe give him more time to gain an appetite before I offer him veggies?
Also, thank you for the reply and the welcome! <3
 

RichardK

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
7
What are you using for uvb? Coil or tube? Basking temps what are they and how are you taking them ? Unless your dragon is 300+ grams he should not be brumating- he's too young- we need to get that corrected before we go to diet- they will not eat or very little w/ incorrect basking temps and uvb
I use a coil for the uvb, it's one of the duo basking lamp/UVB fixtures. Basking temp is normally around 95-100 and the cool side is 75-80.
Most of everything I use is zoo med. I use a digital therm/hygro on both sides so I can get an accurate reading.
I'm thinking he's been hiding earlier in the day from recovering from the pinworms/infection he had in the past month. He has been to the vet and got medicated for both of those.
(also UVB was last changed maybe 4 months ago, I know I changed it at the 6 month mark for him)
 

Sadie

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
10,690
I use a coil for the uvb, it's one of the duo basking lamp/UVB fixtures. Basking temp is normally around 95-100 and the cool side is 75-80.
Most of everything I use is zoo med. I use a digital therm/hygro on both sides so I can get an accurate reading.
I'm thinking he's been hiding earlier in the day from recovering from the pinworms/infection he had in the past month. He has been to the vet and got medicated for both of those.
(also UVB was last changed maybe 4 months ago, I know I changed it at the 6 month mark for him)
please get rid of the coil and replace w/ one of these
https://hydrobuilder.com/sunblaster...mp.html?opts=eyJhdHRyaWJ1dGU5MDEiOiI2NjA0In0= a 24" fixture
https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...o-med-reptisun-t5-hood?variant=26907425734756 24" fixture this comes w/ a 5.0 bulb keep it for a back up -- its basically a T 8 distance and placement is different from this bulb you need for a 40+ gallon tank
22" https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...d-reptisun-10-0-uvb-t5?variant=26907418591332
Replace this in approx one year I recommend a month prior to when you get the fixture let me know so I can help you place it correctly -- they have certain distance and placement requirements depending on the screen
Your dragon will not eat w/ out proper UVB
 

RichardK

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
7
please get rid of the coil and replace w/ one of these
https://hydrobuilder.com/sunblaster...mp.html?opts=eyJhdHRyaWJ1dGU5MDEiOiI2NjA0In0= a 24" fixture
https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...o-med-reptisun-t5-hood?variant=26907425734756 24" fixture this comes w/ a 5.0 bulb keep it for a back up -- its basically a T 8 distance and placement is different from this bulb you need for a 40+ gallon tank
22" https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...d-reptisun-10-0-uvb-t5?variant=26907418591332
Replace this in approx one year I recommend a month prior to when you get the fixture let me know so I can help you place it correctly -- they have certain distance and placement requirements depending on the screen
Your dragon will not eat w/ out proper UVB
I'll reply again once I have those ordered, I have a 40 gallon tank currently. It's one of the ones with a webbed top? I'm not sure how to describe it lol
Thank you though!!
 

Sadie

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
10,690
I'll reply again once I have those ordered, I have a 40 gallon tank currently. It's one of the ones with a webbed top? I'm not sure how to describe it lol
Thank you though!!
Please post back on here when you get it so I can help you get it placed in tank
 

Josh

Administrator
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,483
Location
Redlands, CA
Yeah you may have to wait him out a bit longer. Start with 24 hours.
 
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