4 year old beardie on bug strike

[DragonQueen420]

I have an approximately 4 year old male bearded that was a rescue. He was found in a 5 gallon bucket in the side of the road, emaciated and sickly looking. He has been brought back to health and was eating GREAT till last May (2021) when he altogether stopped eating ANY type of insect!
Turns his nose up to any live feed, frozen pinky, worn, bug etc.
It's been over a year now and he seems perfectly healthy and happy...
He eats sunflower sprouts, and all kinds of greens and lots of them... he LOVES blueberries and happily eats those... I have a MILLION dubia roaches all sizes that he closes his eyes to when they are presented. When he's in his feeding tub they just crawl all over him and he sits there, eyes closed covered in roaches.
Is this normal? Is this ok?
Its VERY possible this bearded dragon is much older than 4... I've had him almost 3 years and he was full grown when I found him.
Should I keep trying to get him to eat bugs or sell off my breeding colony and let him remain a vegan?

 

[KarrieRee]

I have an approximately 4 year old male bearded that was a rescue. He was found in a 5 gallon bucket in the side of the road, emaciated and sickly looking. He has been brought back to health and was eating GREAT till last May (2021) when he altogether stopped eating ANY type of insect!
Turns his nose up to any live feed, frozen pinky, worn, bug etc.
It's been over a year now and he seems perfectly healthy and happy...
He eats sunflower sprouts, and all kinds of greens and lots of them... he LOVES blueberries and happily eats those... I have a MILLION dubia roaches all sizes that he closes his eyes to when they are presented. When he's in his feeding tub they just crawl all over him and he sits there, eyes closed covered in roaches.
Is this normal? Is this ok?
Its VERY possible this bearded dragon is much older than 4... I've had him almost 3 years and he was full grown when I found him.
Should I keep trying to get him to eat bugs or sell off my breeding colony and let him remain a vegan?

He needs protein- have you tried silk worms? If not you might try feeding him off a spoon baby food chicken- that would be some good protein -- 2-3 times per week

 

[DragonQueen420]

Sunflower sprouts are extremely high in protein,(for a plant) that was why i started feeding those to him, because i knew he needed the protein. He refuses any food offered by hand EXCEPT blueberries

 

[KarrieRee]

Sunflower sprouts are extremely high in protein,(for a plant) that was why i started feeding those to him, because i knew he needed the protein. He refuses any food offered by hand EXCEPT blueberries

Boy I am not sure then --- we can ask our vet tech on this issue-- I will flag to her
@Drache613

 

[xp29]

You could try carnivore critical care, you can get it on amazon and maybe from a vet. Mix it to the consistency you need, it could be spoon fed, syringe fed or mixed in his greens.

 

[DragonQueen420]

He honestly doesn't seem unhealthy? Poops daily, active, eats everything great... except for bugs.. of ANY kind! He actually went almost 6 months and didn't eat much of ANYTHING and I was getting super concerned when he started going for the sunflower sprouts.... then the other greens...
I've thought about trying horrors because when I first found him all sickly and emaciated he was OBSESSED with those. That was how I fattened him up

 

[DragonQueen420]

He honestly doesn't seem unhealthy? Poops daily, active, eats everything great... except for bugs.. of ANY kind! He actually went almost 6 months and didn't eat much of ANYTHING and I was getting super concerned when he started going for the sunflower sprouts.... then the other greens...
I've thought about trying horrors because when I first found him all sickly and emaciated he was OBSESSED with those. That was how I fattened him up

Hornworms not horrors

 

[fcooper]

Sunflower sprouts are extremely high in protein,(for a plant) that was why i started feeding those to him, because i knew he needed the protein. He refuses any food offered by hand EXCEPT blueberries

Regular seeds are fine, but I'm not sure how healthy salted ones are

 

[xp29]

Hornworms not horrors

I was wondering what horrors is lol

 

[DragonQueen420]

Regular seeds are fine, but I'm not sure how healthy salted ones are

They aren't seeds? They were raw seeds that were grown into a sprout... it's green and leafy