New Bearded Dragon Owner

I am new to the Bearded Dragon Community. My 16 year old owns a veiled Chameleon and we have had great success with her. We purchased our Beardie from a Family that had a young son that owned it as a pet. All that was mentioned was that the Bearded Dragon came with a 75 gallon tank and all accessories and that they owned it for only 6 months. When we arrived we heard the story that the Beardie was aggressive with the son and thats why they were selling it. The Beardie did not look very good and skin seemed sunken in. What looks like 3 inches of his tail had also been missing and the nub looked as if it just healed as blood was still crusted in on it. We asked about the tail and they said it just fell off. I suspect he was grabbed by his tail or it was stepped on or the son had something to do with it. The Beardie was gentle to touch and we purchased him and took him home. He is roughly 15 months old. His tank was in terrible condition...lined with newspaper and nothing more....it had a lot of junk in it..rubber bands...ribbon...I felt so sorry for this Beardie! Dried foot pellets was all that he was eating. When we got home we handled him gently right away and he was great about that...we cleaned out his cage....added in a whole new set up including a proper basking light and perches and cave. I was concerned that we may have shocked him with his new environment but he took to it right away. I also gave him a bath...he loved that and with a soft tooth brush gently cleaned him...he loved it...and I was very surprised and how he snuggled up into the towel when I dried him off. He has plenty of daily interaction with my husband, myself and my two children an he is very active! I placed a ping pong ball in the cage and he loves to nudge it.
I have a few questions.....since he has only been eating dry pellet food...How do I introduce him to fresh greens and fruit if he seems to have never eaten them. He did take a small piece of blueberry for me and small piece of squash and a small piece of carrot. I have tried to entice him with collard greens, mustard greens, red and white cabbage, cucumber, turnip greens, sweet potato, and small pieces of apple....he wont touch it. He ate a few crickets but he is not crazy about them and wont touch them either. He does like the super worms and meal worms.... he seems to eat them every other day. I am feeding the worms all of the greens he is not touching and I also give him a calcium powder on the worms...I have left a few pellets out for him which I have pre-soaked in water but he refuses to touch them anymore. He is very active but he likes to sit most of his time basking. He is now having normal bowel movements and they look healthy to me and he seems well hydrated now.

My other question is...will his tail ever grow back for him?

My Thanks for your time in reading this..I would appreciate any feedback...I want my little guy healthy and happy!
B

Beardie's tails dont just fall off, those people lied to you, something happened to cut off his tail and that must have been horridly painful. They don't grow back because that is not a survival mechanism they are equipped with. It's like a human losing a limb.

There are some lizards that can drop their tail at will, bearded dragons are not one of them, so that tail was cut off by force. I really hope that with the proper care you can get him the proper nutrition and nurse this rescue to health. (I'd make sure the nub heals up and the dried blood goes away soon)

I'd be aggressive too if some person cut off a limb of mine!

As for his eating habits. I'd stay away from mealworms specifically, as they are known to cause digestion issues and constipation. Also... beardies have their preferences. My girl Deja loves asparagus while Rusty will spit it out. It's about finding the right things and getting them to actually taste them.

I would love to see him. If we could see some pictures of him + tail we could look for any health issues.

Hi. Thank you for taking the poor fellow in . Here is a site that alot of us go by beautifuldragons.com. Good feeders besides crickets and superworms are Phoenix worms, horn worms, silk worms and dubia roaches( depending where you are). Good luck with him