Beardie Not eating Veggies

[ryuk]

Like the title says my beadie hasnt been eating her greens.. she got impaction because of that.. i took her to the vet and they pretty much took everything out.. but now she still not eating her greens.. i offer her various different types of veggies and nothing
I have even tried giving her the veggies mixed with superworms and she barely notices it
I've heard that u let them starve for 2 or 3 days it should help encourage them eat.. i tried it once but still didnt work.. what else can i do? Please Help me

Ryuk

 

[luissandoval87]

Impaction is basically constipation. It's a clump that forms in the dragon's stomach usually due to eating sand and or unsafe substances. I don't think your beardie got impacted because of the veggies, but I'm no expert. If you want to feed your dragon veggies you can try these things:
1. leave a small piece of collard greens/mustard greens or whatever you're trying to give him in his basking spot
2. get a little dish with all veggies chopped up and throw some superworms or mealworms in there or anything that moves, hopefully while eating the worms your dragon will get some veggies in his mouth and realize its food as well
3. try to get some water on a veggie and give him water from there. It's a little difficult to do, but if you can do this when he licks the water off he might realize he can eat it and go for it.
4. always leave a bowl of fresh veggies in his cage everyday --remove all uneaten food at the end of the day.

Just keep trying and don't give up soon enough you'll see that he'll eat his veggies. Don't stop feeding him for long periods of time if he's not in good health. If he was just impacted, feed him regularly wait atleast until he poops once or twice and then once he looks healthy enough you can try the fasting method to get him to eat his veggies.

 

[kcarello]

Hello, sorry your dragon isn't doing well. How old is your dragon?? You said you took your dragon to the vet and "they pretty much took everything out"?? Do you mean they got her to go poo??? Did they say she was impacted, and why she was?? Impaction can be caused by several things, but not from not eating they're greens, unless that was the only type of hydration she was getting. Are all the feeders you are giving her smaller than the space between her eyes? What type of substrate do you have your dragon on? Do you give your dragon baths? I would not starve your dragon for a couple days,,ever. If your dragon is young, under 16 inches, you should not be feeding him superworms. Phoenix worms would be a better choice to put in the greens to try to get her to eat. How many feeders and what type are you giving your dragon. How often are you feeding him?
Let me know the answer to some of these questions and we will see what we can figure out,
Kelly

 

[slightlymad]

my female beardie is a pain in the butt recently.

She had a bad impaction problem which was solved by bathing and introducing much smaller locusts , since that event she eats about 1/3 of her normal diet and ignores her greens but never says no to a waxworm so i know shes not ill.

TBH what I have learnt is they can be quite stubborn and quite lazy and each are unique . if the weight is on and the colour is fine I dont think its too much of an issue.

The only way my beardie hydrates is bathing I see her gulp the bath water but in her tank she refuses the bowl . Crazy monster!!

 

[ryuk]

Looks like there was a little misunderstanding.. i meant that she got impaction cause she didnt eat any veggies.
Anyway.. well she s almost 2 years.. and yes they did take out all the poop she had.
She has wood chips for substrate.. i bathe her every 2 days
I feed her superworms, crickets, once in a while a baby pinkie, also like to give her phoenix worms and butterworms.
she usually eats around 10 to 12 of whatever feeder i give her..
Thanks for your concerns

Impaction is basically constipation. It's a clump that forms in the dragon's stomach usually due to eating sand and or unsafe substances. I don't think your beardie got impacted because of the veggies, but I'm no expert. If you want to feed your dragon veggies you can try these things:
1. leave a small piece of collard greens/mustard greens or whatever you're trying to give him in his basking spot
2. get a little dish with all veggies chopped up and throw some superworms or mealworms in there or anything that moves, hopefully while eating the worms your dragon will get some veggies in his mouth and realize its food as well
3. try to get some water on a veggie and give him water from there. It's a little difficult to do, but if you can do this when he licks the water off he might realize he can eat it and go for it.
4. always leave a bowl of fresh veggies in his cage everyday --remove all uneaten food at the end of the day.

Just keep trying and don't give up soon enough you'll see that he'll eat his veggies. Don't stop feeding him for long periods of time if he's not in good health. If he was just impacted, feed him regularly wait atleast until he poops once or twice and then once he looks healthy enough you can try the fasting method to get him to eat his veggies.

Well thats the thing eventhrough sometimes i dont feed her cause of this she still acts just as active as when she eats..
Thank you for these awesome tips.

Another thing ive noticed is that every morning i turn her lights on she almost never wants to get out of her log.. she would stay all day there.. does anyone know why?

 

[luissandoval87]

Yes I think there's a little bit of confusion about impaction. Impaction, like I said before is when something is stuck in her belly and she can't poop because whatever she ate probably wasn't digested properly and clogged her. Dragons don't get impacted from not eating their veggies. I've seen dragons that don't eat many vegetables because they never learned to eat them when they were young and from what I know, they grow up to be healthy and active dragons. I think you'd only have to offer them a lot more water, because their intake of veggies provides them with a lot of water so if they don't eat veggies you'd have to compensate for that by giving them a lot more water. I hope that helps...

 

[kcarello]

I would strongly suggest getting rid of the wood chips and put her on paper towels, newspaper, reptile carpet, tiles, anything but a loose substrate,,no sand or walnut shells or wood chips. The loose substrates are a cause for impaction,,as are pinky mice.