Can i feed a beardie frozen veggies?

[AK3]

i am trying to find an easy way to feed my beardie a myriad of veggies. she is small for her age, so i think it is because she isnt really getting as many veggies as often as she needs. Could i buy frozen mixed veggies, (referenced from beautifuldragons.org) thaw them and then feed them to her? like does it have any impact on the nutritional value? in the summer i can feed her fresh greens from our garden.
plus she is a little over a year, so when do i switch to 80% veggies and 20% crickets?

 

[DragonMomSandy]

You can mix the frozen veggies with fresh greens. But, frozen vegetables lose a lot of their nutrients during the freezing process. Fresh is always better. I know it gets a little hard to find a wider variety of greens during the winter, but, get what you can for the staples and you can add some of the frozen (once thawed).
How soon to go to 80% greens. Well, at one year start increasing the amount of veg and decreasing the feeders. For example, under 1 year you feed live feeders 2 times per day, at one year start giving them once per day. Each month, reduce this by one day until you are feeding live feeders only 2 times per week by the age of 18 months when they reach full adulthood. By 18 months you should be at 80% greens and 20% protein. The only exception to this is while an adult female is gravid and right after she lays her eggs to rebuild nutrients she's lost and put weight back on her. Also, once they reach 18 months, cut calcium supplementing back to 3 days per week on one meal, and vitamin supplement to 1 day per week.

Hope this helps.

 

[wes]

But, frozen vegetables lose a lot of their nutrients during the freezing process. Fresh is always better.

Actually, Sandy, that's a common misconception. Very little nutrients are lost during the freezing process. If by fresh you mean freshly picked from the garden or purchased from a farmer's market, then yes, fresh is better. But if by fresh you mean picked early, transported a great distance, placed in a warehouse and then on a supermarket stand, then no, that kind of "fresh" is not better.

 

[AK3]

Thanks, anyone else have opinions on both questions?

plus does anyone know of any good bagged greens that i could feed (sold on the east coast in grocery stores). like how they have the mixed salad greens. (although i obviously wouldn't feed her lettuce) im just trying to find a good way to get a mix of veggies to her.

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

The percentage rule on feeding dragons 80% vegis when they are adults is more of a guide line than a real rule. Not all dragons are the same, im sure by now you can tell that lol. My 2 younger girls eat twice as much salad as my oldest just because he's a spoiled brat. The best way is to make the transision slowly and get them as vegitarian as they will go at the time. Keep nutrition in mind too, gut load the meat with veggis and things like that. Roaces and worms are what they eat.

 

[LilahFaye]

I would not suggest feeding your beardie frozen veggies. When freezing veggies, the vegetables usually loose a vitamin called B1, which contains thiamine. Thiamine is a necessity. Without the vitamin B1 for a long period of time, your lizard can develop a disease called hypothiaminosis. Hypothiaminosis can cause the lizard's extremities to twitch or tremble. This would usually be misdiagnosed as MBD, which is why it is not treated for a long period of time. I would say that if you were to freeze the veggies, mix them with other unfrozen veggies (though, it seems a little pointless )