Common problem, won't eat salad, could use some advice.

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My beardie is 13months old now and never touches his salad no matter what i do, i've tried putting bugs in with it, mixing blueberries, using a repashy (just powder mixed with water) salad dressing, reducing the frequency of his insect feedings, reducing the amount of insects per feeding (those last two not at the same time) but nothing, i even tried not giving him any bugs for a week and still he wouldnt touch his salad. The only time i can get him to sometimes eat some veggies is if i hand feed them to him, and even then i have like a 1 in 10 chance of success. Blueberries are the only thing he will happily eat (usually he gets 2 or 3 every couple days) again though only when hand fed.
 

CooperDragon

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At 13 months it's still fairly early for him to transition to all veges. It may take another several months. Keep trying though. Offer a salad every day and just give the leftovers to the bugs to eat. How is his weight and overall size? At 18 months or so you may want to take a stronger stance and just offer salads for a while but at 13 months he may still have another growth spurt and prefer bugs which is OK.
 

dragonroots

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His staple bugs are phoenix worms which don't eat anything so there's that, i never use crickets and roaches are illegal where i live (plus my mother has explicitly stated that even if they were legal roaches are a no go). Usually i pick up a few different kind of feeders when i pick up his phoenix worms, usually a few horn worms, superworms, wax worms, or butter worms. I usually feed them to him the same day i get them for maximum nutrition as the store i get them from makes sure they are gut-loaded when they leave the store. I've been debating giving him a pinky mouse but i'm hesitant to do so.

I have no way to weigh him so i'm uncertain but he certainly doesn't look under or overweight and has a healthy appetite for his bugs (freakin goes nuts whenever i get him horn worms, he will literally jump at the glass when he sees me getting them ready for him), took him to the vet a month ago for an annual checkup and they said he is in perfect health and were marveling at his colours (he's a very bright flame like orange). His length i last measured him about 3 months ago and he was about 17-18" long so i'd assume at longest he's between 18" on the low end and 19" on the high end. Next time i see him laying flat i'll get a tape measure to get an exact length.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Hand feed the greens torn into shreds between his favorite insects. This works , and just takes good timing and practice to slip the end of the green stuff into the mouth when he's chewing.

If he spits it out (and a dragon will if he doesn't like the taste) , a little smear of honey on the biting end of the green stuff will make it more appetizing til he get's used to eating the green leafy stuff. He'll likely regard the honey tasting green stuff as treat and be very happy to eat it.

Other option is to turn the greens into a puree and give it by orally by syringe , or maybe invest in silkworms and feed these to him.
Silkworms are a much better feeder insect than Hornworms. Their food is very rich in calcium.

Repashi have a product called Veggie Burger which might be a good substitute for fresh salad.
 

Bpx

New member
Suggest u to gutload the feeders the night before feeding ur drsgons. My feeder is dubia. I do not feed the dubia normally and they could keep their long life somehow. I hit load the dubia with vegetables one night before feeding my dragons. So that dubia become a carrier. That is one of the way to let them have vegetables. Second what I do is not feedering the dragons everyday. I do 1 vege 2 inserts 1 stop feeding and 1 vege after the stop. So they feel hungry to eat. U could try this as well to see if they starting to touch vege.
 
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