Enough variety?

[anenglish15]

I give my bearded dragon fresh veggies every day. She's only about 4 months so she's really not eating THAT much of her veggies, but they are also available.

Anyway.. I basically just feed her mustard greens, swiss chard and rainbow chard (recently). I am trying to mix in some squash occasionally, but can not get her to eat it. Very rarely I will mix in red pepper or banana, but again she will not eat it.

Is it enough variety for her to just consistently be eating the mustard greens and chard? Of course, she has a morning and afternoon serving of crickets too and will eat about 30-40 of those.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Taterbug]

As much variety as you can offer and she will accept will give her access to more nutrients and healthy stuff in the food, but of course not always possible. It's not too hard, once you find what she likes it can be as easy as getting a different bunch of greens each week, or an extra piece of fruit.

Chard is one of those greens that ends up being lower in calcium than expected so it shouldn't be the bigger portion of her salad or the only thing she eats if she is picking it out.

I'll offer little bits of whatever I'm cooking with (except things that are toxic or ill advised) to get an idea of what he likes. I've had luck with little bits of pear, pepper, apple, okra, salad greens, carrot, green beans and squash among others.

As she gets older she should take more to the veggies and have a bigger appetite for them.

Edit: I did leave out that it's still important to make sure the bulk of the salad is high calcium leafy greens of one sort or another. Other veggies, and fruits especially should be a much smaller or infrequent part.

 

[unkempt1]

I must respectfully disagree. There is such a thing as too much variety. Dragons can be picky, and can get stressed when you change their veggie diet around too much. You will see they can be picky eaters, and swapping stuff around they don't want to eat for variety's sake is a bad idea.

If your dragon is eating mustard greens, that's good. They are considered a staple item and if I were you I'd stick with it. Squash is great too. I got mine to eat hers by cutting acorn squash into French fry shapes. I guess she thinks they're worms. :twisted:

Variety is good when it comes to the right live feeders, but I'm sure you've noticed they aren't as picky with stuff that moves. When it comes to veggies, stick with the green items on the nutrition guide and you'll be fine.

 

[Taterbug]

I respect your opinion, I totally understand some animals won't be happy with much or any change. I actually have the opposite experience in that mine have been way pickier about insects than greens. Each is unique and we do need to cater to individual preferences. If it's a picky dragon who doesn't want to bother with trying new things, so be it. That's a good situation to stick to the limited options in the "staples" category.

I don't advocate feeding food they don't want to eat, or changing it up in away that is disruptive. It's not just variety for the sake of variety, but for the sake of trying to balance the diet and offer stimulation. That list is great, but I feel it really encourages people to limit what they offer instead of guiding them to offer a range of the healthiest options.

 

[unkempt1]

I appreciate your respectful response, especially considering you bring up an excellent point. :mrgreen: All too often our dragons are insect junkies that shy away from their greens. But every now and then you hear that rare tale about a dragon that tears through their salad like a chainsaw. It's like hearing about a unicorn, as I've never seen it. :lol:

That being said, my response was out of concern because I always stress limiting things like fruit (especially bananas) and "black" items on the list. In my opinion, which was formulated from others with years or over a decade of experience, it's best to limit those items as snacks because these amazing critters have specific needs. That nutrition guide is also the end result of the endless experience of veteran hobbyists, so I militantly refer to it when offering others my advice.

Again, I thank you for your mature response. Many others on this board would have already deferred to snippy responses which aren't good for anyone, especially the health of these boards.

 

[Taterbug]

I'm totally here to learn and discuss! Cheers to you as well, I'm always a little scared talking about food since there are so many really strong opinions on it. It's a relief to not get chewed out, and also rewarding to be respectfully challenged.

I've been doing a ton of research into food for these guys but unfortunately I don't have the decades of experience to rely on (yet!) but some of the stuff is a little bit dogma in my opinion. However, it's safe and safety really is important. I'd rather hear about dragons only getting collard greens than only getting iceberg lettuce and carrots.

What's up with bannanas anyway, that's one I haven't been able to nail down. Mostly it's claimed something about the high potassium levels, but I'm not sure what's dangerous about potassium.