Vegetarian

I bought some fresh Kale for my baby bearded dragon and that's all he seems to eat. It has just been recently so it hasn't been going on for a while. I think he ate one horn worm this morning and the rest of the day has been kale. He even picks around the shredded carrot. Is this normal?

Hi. That's good he likes greens, but don't feed kale as a staple. Mustard greens, collard,dandelion and turnip greens are way better for him. Kale as a treat is fine.

Why is Kale only good for a treat?

Kale has "High vit. A (89 IU/g), mod. oxalates, goitrogens" marked as use occasionally.

Similarly Buk Choi has "High vit. C, high vit. A (30 IU/g), goitrogens" and is marked use occasionally.

Mustard greens has "High vit. C (7%), high vit. A (53 IU/g), moderate oxalates (1287 ppm), goitrogens" marked as good for staple.

Turnip greens has "High vit. C (6%), high vit. A (76 IU/g), mod. oxalates" marked as good for stable.

I've been using buk choi as a staple for years , and have used kale too.

I think people who say don't use these are basing their opinion on the fact that the "beautifulbeardies" list marks them as use occasionally for reasons known only to the publishers as wrt vitA , and vitC and goitrogens they seem similar to the recommended greens staples.

What about Collard greens?

Most of the staple greens are closely related and different growing conditions will influence all the nutrient contents. I think beautifuldragons is a bit too conservative/misleading about recommendation. Thing is : balance is the key. One week of eating a preferred food is not big deal - but months or years of it can lead to nutritional issues.

Specifically of concern are "anti nutrients" which can, when fed in excess, cause issues. Again crowing conditions effect things like the quantity of goitrogens (some of which are harmful to iodine metabolism in excess) and oxalaites (limit available calcium).

It is not possible to OD on vegitable sources of Vitamin A and with the exception spinach and chard leafy greens tend to have high bioavaility of calcium.

Try to include other veggies and greens in the mix and hopefully down the road he will be more interested in them.

I purchased organic collard greens today. I chopped them up and put them in his cage. Hopefully he will take interest.