4 months old beardie - won’t eat veggies!

[Vicky1234]

Hi all,

Our four month old beardie never wants to eat veggies, no matter what we try. We’ve tried carrots, strawberries, kale, blueberries, tomatoes and a bunch of other fruits and veggies but he completely ignores them. Is this okay and normal? Should I be worried? He’s currently mostly eating crickets and wax worms and we just recently also added a few super worms and meal worms to his daily diet too.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[SpeedRacer]

Hi! My beardies never really thought much of greens either when they were that little. And I mean they don't really need a whole lot as it is when they're young but how I got my 4 month old to notice his greens was I showed him a dandelion flower and the bright yellow really caught his eye and he practically wolfed it down! If that doesn't work either, I've noticed wiggling the bowl of greens near them catches their attention too because I guess they think it's a bug or something! Best of luck!

 

[QuinnF]

Once you beardies are old enough to go without food for a few days, you could put in a big bowl of veggies and take them off insects for a few days

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Avoid feeding tomatoes, superworms and mealworms. These aren't the best foods. Defiantly avoid feeding tomatoes though...
Superworms are very fatty and way too big for a small beardie to digest properly and not have problems. Mealworms have a bit of fat, but the dangers with them are mostly the chitin which is very hard and young beardies have problems digesting them which in some cases causes impaction.

I'd limit the waxworms, these are very fatty foods although they can be given to young beardies because they are generally soft bodied treats.
Overall treats can be quite addictive for beardies and some will straight up refuse any food in favor of the treats.
It took 10 months for me to get two of my beardies off superworms.

This will explain all the types of foods you can feed, and can't feed (mostly according to age).
All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-nutrition-data.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html


At his age salad doesn't matter, the bugs are the thing that matters however.
However once he's near his sub-adult and adult life stages he should begin to eat a bit more salad.

 

[Vicky1234]

Hi thank you so much for all the information, this was extremely helpful. I’ll follow this and fingers crossed he will eventually start eating some veggies and fruits as well.

I’ve already purchased a bunch of the super worms and meal worms, can I just put them in the fridge and they would last?

Really appreciate all the help!!

Avoid feeding tomatoes, superworms and mealworms. These aren't the best foods. Defiantly avoid feeding tomatoes though...
Superworms are very fatty and way too big for a small beardie to digest properly and not have problems. Mealworms have a bit of fat, but the dangers with them are mostly the chitin which is very hard and young beardies have problems digesting them which in some cases causes impaction.

I'd limit the waxworms, these are very fatty foods although they can be given to young beardies because they are generally soft bodied treats.
Overall treats can be quite addictive for beardies and some will straight up refuse any food in favor of the treats.
It took 10 months for me to get two of my beardies off superworms.

This will explain all the types of foods you can feed, and can't feed (mostly according to age).
All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-nutrition-data.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html


At his age salad doesn't matter, the bugs are the thing that matters however.
However once he's near his sub-adult and adult life stages he should begin to eat a bit more salad.

 

[QuinnF]

They will eventually die but they will be ok for a while. The only problem is if they are cold you can’t gutload them

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Superworms would die in the fridge as they aren't very cold resistant, however mealworms would last in the fridge, where I am they are native here and it can get pretty cold in the winter.

However you could probably start putting the superworms in small containers, separating them as long as their full grown and turning them into beetles so you could then breed them, and also sell any excess superworms if you get too many.

Mealworms should last for a while in the fridge, though I'd take them out every two weeks maybe at room temp for a few days and give them food before putting them back.

You wont need to really gut load them as you wont be feeding them until the beardie is the correct age to occasionally eat the treats.