Ultra stubborn. Won't eat veggies no matter what

So I posted about this a couple weeks ago about how my 2 year old beardie Drake won't eat greens at all but is an addict to superworms. I've had people suggest "starving" him for 2 weeks..that did not work. He will literally starve himself to death until I give him worms it seems. I've tried mixing up new veggies. Collards, Dandelion greens, bok Choy, bell peppers, squash..he'll only pick a few squash/bell peppers but then completely ignores greens altogether. I've tried putting superworms in his salad dish. He will literally watch the worms in the dish but not do anything about it. And if he gets a good opportunity..he'll pick a worm out of the dish with such surgical precision..It's insane!! I've tried tricking him other ways...Like baiting him with a worm and replacing it with a leaf right as he's about to strike. He will literally SPIT OUT the leaf and try again. He even tries ducking and moving around the leaf to get to the worm that I'm covering with the leaf. It's insane how smart he is about this..It's driving me crazy. I've tried getting a very skinny wire and shaking n moving his salad from afar..but he just looks at it. He ain't dumb. I don't know what to do anymore guys. Please somebody give me a solution.

Sorry just adding my comment so I’ll be notified of the replies? I am in the exact same position as you with my 2 year old girl! It’s driving me nuts! Hope someone can help us out as every time I post something they all say stuff I have tried a million times over :/

Cut out the treats in his diet and limit his insect feedings.
While you may be scared he'll starve himself to death if you cut out the unhealthy superworms you really wont. He'll eat healthy foods eventually you just have to be strict with him. This may take several months, for me it took about 5 months to get my beardies off superworms, and then about 5 more months to even get one to look at the salad.

At two years of age they only need about two feedings of bugs a week.
I wouldn't even give him worms until he starts eating healthy, which with superworms you can give one to two times a week, 4-5 max for the feeding day but for now until he eats healthy he should not be getting any treats.

So that also means no waxworms, no mealworms, no butterworms, no hornworms, and of course no superworms.
These are all treat feeders.

Go with a healthy staple feeder like crickets, dubia roaches, turkish/red runner roaches, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, or black soldier fly larvae.


In simple steps,
1. Limit bug feedings to twice a week.
2. Cut out treats.
3. Feed only healthy bugs.
4. Offer a variety of salad daily.

Once or twice a week you can add fruit into it, things like banana, red raspberry, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries may get him more interested.

If he refuses food so be it, just keep offering it again until he gets hungry enough to eat.

I'm having a similar problem

Mosey is not a vegetable fan. For a while, I was able to get her to eat some mashed butternut squash, but now she doesn't go for it anymore. The only non-insect food she'll eat by itself are blueberries.

For a while, I had success with what I call the burrito method. I'd hand feed her crickets wrapped in greens. She's getting smarter though, and is being much more stubborn here as well. Now she won't eat the crickets when they're wrapped in greens. What I'm doing at this point is sneaking a leaf into her mouth while she's chewing. Even now though, she tries to shake it out, but will eat it if she can't.

Try this method and see if it works. I'm done with superworms until we can correct this. We're having a little battle, but I'm being persistent. I know that it's frustrating as all hell.

Look folks .... some adult beardies are just not fans of the green stuff.

All you can do is handfeed it to them piecemeal inbetween the bugs , or just make sure the insects get plenty of the good quality green stuff and hence so does the carnivoristic beardie when it gobbles down it bugs.

Another option is to try Repashi Veggie Burger , the dragon might be more inclined to it that as a paste than the fresh stuff.

Try this!! I found it worked really well:

https://youtu.be/puda4rZgqho

Preezy":2y0fihng said:

So I posted about this a couple weeks ago about how my 2 year old beardie Drake won't eat greens at all but is an addict to superworms. I've had people suggest "starving" him for 2 weeks..that did not work. He will literally starve himself to death until I give him worms it seems. I've tried mixing up new veggies. Collards, Dandelion greens, bok Choy, bell peppers, squash..he'll only pick a few squash/bell peppers but then completely ignores greens altogether. I've tried putting superworms in his salad dish. He will literally watch the worms in the dish but not do anything about it. And if he gets a good opportunity..he'll pick a worm out of the dish with such surgical precision..It's insane!! I've tried tricking him other ways...Like baiting him with a worm and replacing it with a leaf right as he's about to strike. He will literally SPIT OUT the leaf and try again. He even tries ducking and moving around the leaf to get to the worm that I'm covering with the leaf. It's insane how smart he is about this..It's driving me crazy. I've tried getting a very skinny wire and shaking n moving his salad from afar..but he just looks at it. He ain't dumb. I don't know what to do anymore guys. Please somebody give me a solution.

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