Beardie will only eat hand fed

[CataclysmKitten]

I have a 2 year old rescue beardie named Zeus. He used to be very picky, but he'd eventually give in and then eat kale, but not that much. Then I found he liked escarole and would eat it without us even doing much, with us sprinkling butternut squash on it. He's ENAMORED with butternut squash. I've been off the forums a month or so, but this is a new problem. He still LOVES large calcium dusted crickets and eats all 30. But....the greens have been sitting there....so today my fiancee and I picked up the leaves and hand fed. he only ate a FEW greens, but I don't know... I've tried collard greens, kale, escarole... but i don't want to give him romaine! it does not have the nutrition he needs, even though I spray his food. ARGHHHHHHHH!
What can I do!? He's 2+ so he needs more GREENS.
HELP!

 

[mrstuart75]

I was told by our vet that kale has a lot of oxalates in it (like spinach) which bind to calcium and kale should be avoided in beardies!

Only greens with the actual word 'green' in the name should be fed...turnip greens, collard greens, dandilion grees etc...

Also our dragon is very spoiled and will only eat her fruits hand-fed to her. greens she'll manage to eat on her own, but any fruit must be hand fed. Our vet said beardies can get very spoiled and extremely accustomed to being hand fed Not that I think there's anything wrong with that!!!

 

[CataclysmKitten]

thank you for your advice. For some reason Zeus HATES collard greens. So i'm hoping in the new supermarket that opened I can find other kinds of greens. Today is cricket day, and he had red lettuce and green lettuce, but it's better then iceberg or romaine. The old owner fed him iceburg. omg i am so glad he's alive today. I put vitamins in everything.... food calcium drops in water, calcium dusted crickets, and hes been happy as a clam except for the last few weeks.
So...shall i try turnip greens? how many's beardies like that? :shock: