Can beardies be picky eaters?

[xiallie]

I have had my beardie, Norbert, for a little over a month. He has been doing just fine, he eats his crickets and absolutely loves turnip greens. But everytime I try to introduce him to new veggies and fruits, he refuses to eat them. I have tried handfeeding them, putting them with his greens, and even hiding them among his greens. When he can see them in his greens, he will either eat very little or none at all of his salad, but when I just put the greens in by themselves, he happily eats almost the entire thing. And the one time I tried sneaking them in by hiding them under his turnips, after discovering them, he stopped eating his salad and wouldn't touch it again! I tried many different kinds of veggies and fruits to give him a variety but he just isn't interested -_-

 

[TheWerewolf]

Beardies are very picky eaters. My Nim will eat whatever I throw at him, but if it is a fruit or veggie he will taste it and if he doesn't like it he will just run away. My Nim also has one type of veg he eats and that is dandelion greens (organic of course.) I say don't worry about your dragon's pickiness. If you want him to get nutrition from foods that he doesn't like then give it to your feeder insect. Nim doesn't like squash, which is very healthy so I give it to his crickets. That way he still gets the nutrition but all he tastes it cricket. Oh, here is a very good food chart to follow, (if you already don't have it) http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html Good luck on your dragon!

 

[peach88]

Rex is fussy I order loads of Dubai roaches and he would eat a few and then tip his head up at the them and then il offer his mario worms or hoppers and he will eat loads of them. Same as veg Rex loves rocket if I mix it he will not touch it. I stopped rocket for a few weeks tried butter squash, spring greens, kale and the paki choi and he was having none of it. It was a waste of money. Same as fruit he likes raspberries and nothing else when I do him a fruit salad every now and again he only eats the raspberries and I know because it is all round his mouth. I am trying to in courage him to eat other veg but I give into him with rocket and feed the hoppers the other veg?????
Do you think I doing the right thing???
I think his spoilt lol.

 

[xiallie]

Thank you for the help and the suggestion! I will start feeding the really nutritious stuff to his feeder insects instead. And the website, I hadn't come across that one yet. I guess if your bearded dragon just doesn't like something, you can't really force it. Although, I gave him a few bits of watermelon that we just bought even though it doesn't have much going for it nutrition-wise, and he ate that! So hey, at least I found something he likes.

Peach88 - I can just imagine your little bearded dragon with the raspberries around his mouth, so cute! Just like the first person said, I guess you could just keep feeding whatever he doesn't like to the feeder insects. So sounds about right

 

[Mummapinkham]

I understand feeding the stuff the beardie won't eat to the feeders, but what if the beardie, my stubborn lil guy, won't eat the crickets?? He eats supers and maybe one bite of greens and thats it. I can sometimes get a piece of fruit into him, but it's like pulling teeth. Any suggestions???????

 

[peach88]

Have you tried hopper i know that are a lil bit more money then crickets but i had the same situation with rex and as soon as i put him on hoppers he will eat 10 and even more a day. I now cant get him off them. Lol i tried roaches and he has three then shuts his eyes and sticks his head up at the bowl i dont know if the rouches are more filling? My partner says he is spoilt. But i dont care cos he is my lil bubba and deserves to be spoilt lol
Sam