NOT EATING VEGGIES!!!

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ILoveRJ

Juvie Member
I contemplated putting this under ER. Im very concerned. RJ is almost 3 and STILL will not eat veggies, or should I say greens. When he was little he did pretty good with them. But now he'll only eat a little bell pepper, summer squash, blueberries, that's typically the only stuff. HE WILL NOT EAT ANYTHING GREEN IN COLOR! He's pretty healthy overall, (which seems fortunate as he has adenovirus) except that he spends a lot of time in his "corner" basically sleeping, but mostly aware. Like he pops his eyes open if he hears me. I feel like he should be more active, he's been doing this for a little while now. He has his period after brumation (which isn't a true brumation as i've been told they shouldn't if they have any sort of illness, so I don't turn his lights out, but he does go in his corner, sleeps, and doesn't eat) that he bounces off the walls most the day and doesn't eat. He usually starts eating ferociously when his bouncing off the walls period is over. But it's much too soon for brumation. He still has a hell of alm appetite, and would eat every day if I let him, but i've only been giving him crickets ( he eats a ton of them) every other day in hopes he'll eat veggies (greens) on off days. But no luck. I've even gone two days with no crickets on occasion. Im just worried. I mean, seems to me there's a reason they are suppose to go to primarily veggies after reaching adulthood right? Well, almost 3 and not only is he not eating primarily veggies, but he eats almost none. At what point does it become detrimental to his health? Super worms seem to constipate him, so i only do those on rare occasion, I havnt done silk worms in a while (he's some times snobby about them) I get him horn worms occasionally, butter worms and wax worms occasionally, and he use to get primarily roaches, but now I do crickets. So that's not much of a varied diet. I just don't know what to do. I've tried EVERYTHING to get him to eat greens. He's just so stubborn. I desperately pray that someone has some magical words of wisdom!!! Thanks in advance for any input
 

AbooNaga

Member
Oh dear! I'll be of no help here because one of my beardies hates his veggies too. But I'll still leave them in his viv. I remove them every other day when they have shrivelled from the heat. And I notice he does eat them perhaps once or twice a week. Never when I'm looking.

But I think as long as RJ is not impacted or dehydrated then it isn't an issue. I see that he has been diagnosed with adenovirus, has the vet raised any other concerns about his health? I guess your best bet is to leave it in his viv and replace either daily or every other day.
 

SirBeardie

Member
This will be controversial, but I'm posting it anyway. Last September at my beardie's regular check-up, I told the vet that my five year old dragon had completely gone off his greens. I'd tried everything I could think of to entice him short of starving him. The vet recommended that, as a last resort, I give that a shot and hope that hunger would compel him to enjoy leafy greens again.

I'm astonished by how clever these little creatures are, or at least appear to be. Three weeks into this experiment, my big guy still hadn't had a mouthful of anything other than water. It'd been two weeks since his last bowel movement. I placed the day's bowl of greens in the viv, got the usual look of disdain, and I went off to start my day. Two hours later I checked back in with him to find that he'd shoved the food bowl halfway across the tank so it was right up next his basking rock, whereupon he climbed, aimed his vent, and probably strained to summon up one last feeble stool which landed right on top of the greens. Furthermore, he was still there on top of the basking spot, practically gloating at his prank, whereas usually an accident in the viv sends him scrambling to the opposite corner in disgust. I swear, he literally sat there and waited to make sure I understood his message! (photo proof for those in disbelief: https://imgur.com/7V7HANv)

This year, I'm telling our vet that, against her recommendations, the dragon is now going to eat whatever he prefers to eat. Thankfully it's generally healthy: he loves squash, BSF larvae, fruit treats here and there, and I can even get him to eat Repashy Beardie Buffet every so often. But if he doesn't want to touch greens, I'm not going to force him to. Clever as he is, he doesn't have a concept of his own mortality, and so he doesn't care if he lives six years or if he lives twice that. What he cares about is eating the food he enjoys, and ultimately, I'd rather our days together be happy and few than many and miserable. Some may disagree with me, but that's they way things are going to be.
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Starving isnt the term I like to use, as the dragon has constant access to food if it chooses to eat its salad, but that is the method that we usually recommend actually.

They are very smart and they know if they hold out, their slave will feed them the bugs they want lol. However, they are also smart enough not to let themselves starve.

So while yes, in a sense they are getting hungry, you are also not starving them perse as you are constantly offering them salad.

The only reason I hesitated to recommend that method in this particular case was for the fact that your dragon is adv positive. I've never used this method on an adv positive dragon so cant speak from experience.

I would suppose it would depend on how much an effect adv is having on your dragon. Some dragons have it and show no real signs or Ill effects. Others it's obvious.

So it's a judgement call for you imo. Be aware we've seen it take over 2 weeks in most cases before the dragon gives up and eats. There have been a multiple cases of 3 weeks+ too. Weve seen it all over the years. The whole point is they have food whenever they want, a healthy dragon will eat when it gets hungry enough.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
SirBeardie":1b1cji7l said:
This will be controversial, but I'm posting it anyway.
Everyone should feel welcome to post their opinions and experiences on this board :) I'm glad you did because honestly I haven't seen a dragon hold off for much longer than 3 weeks before giving in. But, that's the whole point of this board, sharing experiences for the betterment of our dragons :)

-Brandon
 

SirBeardie

Member
claudiusx":664256jl said:
honestly I haven't seen a dragon hold off for much longer than 3 weeks before giving in.

Believe me, I was starting to worry well before then. I kept wanting to toss in a superworm or something just so I didn't feel so guilty - but as you say, he had his salad available, and if he was truly hungry he'd have eaten it. But even though the rational part of my brain seriously doubts that his ultimate response to this treatment was as planned-out as it appeared to be, I still think he was definitely letting me know what he thought about the salad and where he thought I could shove it.

And you know what? If he can effectively communicate his displeasure with his food to me in such a dramatic way, I'll respect his opinion and listen. :lol:
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Could it be that he just doesn't like the greens he's being offered? There are a lot of choices out there; could it just be a matter of finding the right one(s) for him?

And yes, I'm still skeptable [sic] about that being a "spite poop". :roll:
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
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