8 Week Old Beardie Not Eating Greens

[xpresean]

I read that babies only eat a little bit of greens and mainly insects. I have been able to hand feed my guy his crickets, but he has yet to eat any of the greens I offer. I have been finely chopping collared greens and he just doesn't eat them. I tried green beans and he didn't want those either. Should I try romaine, dandelion, etc. to see if he eats?

I read a post that talked about chopping up a hard boiled eggs, some strawberries, etc. Should I try something like this?

 

[DinoTheDinosaur]

It's quite common for babies to not eat their greens, your still supposed to offer them regularly.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
This is an amazing nutrition site that shows pretty much everything that you should and should not feed them Good luck

 

[xpresean]

Thank you. I did read that list, but it is somewhat incomplete to me. I do make sure to offer them every day, I guess what I'm worried about is if he doesn't eat them for a while does that pose a health risk?

 

[DinoTheDinosaur]

I think that being a baby his nutritional requirements are more 80% protein (crickets) and 20% greens, so I think it's not going to pose a major health problem. He will start eating them when he is ready to. Our little guy just started but won't eat them out of the dish, I have to hand feed them to him.

 

[mudskipper]

Have you tried throwing the veggies around if hand feeding the veggies doesn't work? You could also try mixing in some colorful veggies like red peppers, carrots, and squashes.

 

[miloandrufusdragons]

Try putting some phoenix worms on it and he might eat it. If he's 8 weeks old don't sweat greens TOO much.

 

[xpresean]

I picked up a butternut squash the other day. Do I cook it first like I would for human consumption? Or can I just chop it finely? I guess that is a basic question. Like red peppers, are they too hard so I have to blanch, or is is uncooked ok?

I tried holding some collared green fine chopping with the crickets when hand feeding and he did eat some, so that's working. I'm going to order more phoenix worms and I'll put them on top of the greens.

 

[jsnsan]

Have you tried mustard greens? That's the only type of greens my 5 month old will eat so far :roll:
You don't have to cook the squash, but I "believe" you have to peel it. Also, I know people shred it over the top of the greens.
Not sure how people prepare peppers...sorry.

 

[Claudiusx]

You don't need to cook the squash. All my dragons love squash just sliced up.

-Brandon

 

[tunapeach]

I'm new to the game as well, and was also concerned when my babies were not eating their greens. I don't know if it was just the stress of getting a new home and a cage, but niether would touch their greens, infact, they wouldn't eat anything but crickets. One day, however, about 3 weeks after I brought them home, they decided to eat them. They don't each very much of their greens, but I'm satisfied with the 2-3 bites they take! I mince up kale, chard, sweet peppers, and carrots. Hang in there, if they are healthy (meaning no underlying health problems) you're beardie will come around and try the greens