Picky eater

I got a bearded dragon (Griff) a little over a month ago he’s almost 6 months old and I don’t think his previous owner gave him a lot of veggies. Now he’s very picky and all I’ve gotten him to eat is meal worms, green beans, his freeze dried crickets and little bit of scrambled eggs. I’ve tried strawberry’s, apples, arugula, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and zucchini and he hasn’t been interested in any of it even when I mix it with the foods he does like, he just eats around everything and eats the green beans or meal worms. I don’t know how to make him eat other kinds of veggies not to mention it’s really confusing to look up what kinds of foods they can eat cause every website says different things some say I can feed him meal worms everyday and some say I can’t cause it has too much protein and some say i can feed him certain veggies everyday and then i’ll look at another website and it says that it’s dangerous to feed them that veggie all together. Also he doesn’t seem to drink his water which kinda concerns me, I spray him with warm water once or twice a day and give him a bath once a week (twice if he’s shedding). Honestly I’m just really confused and in need of assistance. Over all Griff seems to be doing fine he’s really sweet and has never tried to bite me he doesn’t seem under weight but could definitely be larger than he is right now. Sorry for how long this was but I would appreciate some advice!

Ok I can help w/getting him to eat his greens --- but you need to ditch the sand --- its bad for your dragon -- it causes impaction and harbors bacteria--- you can get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner from your local home improvement store cheap and it is easy to clean w/ vinegar/ water 50/50 and insects cant get underneath - cut it to the size of your tank --
ok here is a website for nutrition http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder -- please NO more freeze dried crickets --- get your self a 10 gallon plastic tote or aquarium and order some dubia roaches they are the best staple feeder I think - they dont chirp they dont stink they dont infest and they dont fly -- you can feed them dubia food and carrots and squash for hydration -- and other food your feeding your dragon
I am going to post some websites for the dubias and worms - I want you to order some super worms if you cant get them from your local petsmart - your dragon is hooked on the worms but we are gonna try and get him to start eating his salads --- get a glass bowl or ceramic one - one that dubias and worms cant get out of then fix your salad and add these to the top of it 1-3 super worms - 1 horn worm 1-2 silk worms and some BSFL -- as many as you want they are a good staple feeder
add those to his salad in front of him - let him see you do this it will entice him to the bowl --- kinda mix those around so hes having to dig for them -- in the process he should be eating his greens and whatever you add to the salad like squash gr pepper rd pepper etc........... let him eat from that bowl for say an hr or so -- then feed him the dubias - add them to the same bowl - let him see you put them in there -- dust them w/ his calcium D3 and or his vitamins --
here are some websites you can order from
www.reptiilianarts.com they have nice silk worms - if you order like 50 which is bulk make sure you get food for them you will need to feed them and clean their containers out every day removing old food and poop- you can also order dubias I have not gotten dubias from them before-- my go to store is not shipping right now as they are trying to restock --- I have ordered some super worms from them - also the silk worms are another staple feeder ---
www.dubiaroaches.com they are great for dubias but are the ones not shipping - you can order super worms and horn worms from them the horn worms grow really fast so order small amounts - they also have BSFL or also known as nutri grubs calci worms and phoenix worms - these do not dust and use as many as you want they are another staple feeder order large tho as they are small great for babies but as the dragon gets older it takes alot to feed them - they are great as a addition to the diet besides the regular staple feeder-- butter worms are good too but everyone is out at the moment
www.symptonbsf.com BSFL site these people are good
www.coastilsilkworms.com east coast is out but the west coast has them
www.mulberryfarms.com they have a variety of worms too --- I just ordered silk worm food from them -- but right now alot of people are out of this stuff ---
try some of the hints I have given see if it works for you --- he will be stubborn most of them are ---
Karrie

Okay thank you so much that helps a lot! As for the sand I had heard it could cause impaction but the cage and whole set up came with him and he was already stressed from moving houses I didn’t want to stress him out more by changing his tank around and he loved to dig holes and sleep in it, I kept checking to make sure he didn’t look impacted and he was having regular bowel movements and watched to see if ever tried to eat it which he didn’t. But I will take it out just for precaution. You have helped so much; do you have any suggestions about how to help with the water situation?

If hes eating his greens or salad wash/ rinse the greens before serving - he will get moisture from them - also the worms like super horn especially they are a hydrating worm and then silk worms have alot of moisture in them --- gut loading your insect feeder w/ carrots as hydration will also give moisture to them --- watch his poops urate will be white moist firm semi hard -- if it comes out chalky or dry looking hes dehydrated -- last resort you can syringe feed him water 2 times per week do it slowly tho so he does not aspirate-- then watch his poops again and see what it looks like
Karrie

What a gorgeous boy! Congrats!

We just started giving our baby (5 months) dubia roaches and black soldier fly larvae and they are so much better than the crickets we were feeding. She doesn't eat a ton of veggies, but we offer them every day (usually multiple times a day depending on if she eats them well). The site http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html seems to be the holy trail of nutrition.
Also, there are a couple recent threads on getting them to eat their veggies, I encourage you to check those out.