Getting your beardie to eat pellets

[liquidgoggles]

or any type of commercial food.

I have no problem at all getting them to eat their greens or live food. But I can not get them to eat any type of pellet food. It is getting expensive feeding them only greens and live stuff so I am trying everything to get them to accept pellets. I have tried many kinds. So far the only one that they have eaten were those Fluker's red round pellets. And that was only because I left it there and I assume they finally just ate it because they were starving, but I don't want to make them starve before they eat something. Now I am trying this http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=222&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=1&SearchContext=YTo1OntzOjg6IlNlYXJjaElEIjtzOjE6IjEiO3M6MTA6IkRhdGFiYXNlSUQiO3M6MToiMiI7czo3OiJIZWFkaW5nIjtzOjk6IlRlcnJhcml1bSI7czoxNToiUHJvZHVjdENhdGVnb3J5IjtzOjQ6IkZvb2QiO3M6MTE6IkN1cnJlbnRQYWdlIjtzOjE6IjMiO30= right now. I add a little water to moisten it and make it into a little mash and mix it with mixed veggies and they just pick out the veggies every time and leave the mash. What can I do

 

[liquidgoggles]

Also, I have one more question. I recently read that you should never feed a bearded dragon Iceberg Lettuce. It this true? And if so, how come?

 

[mickeysmomma]

Mine will munch on the pellets every now and then..maybe a couple times a week. Even baby Mickey eats them..i crushed them up real small for him

 

[liquidgoggles]

I pre-make their salad and keep it in a large ziploc in the fridge. This time I used parsley, peas, carrots, lima beans, green beans, corn and cut up banana (with the peel). They really love the carrots and peas and pick them out first. I just gave them some and mixed in some of that zoo med pellet food (with a little water to make it mushy) and they ate a little bit of it this time with the veggies. So maybe I am making some progress

 

[Utahraptor]

for the lettuce question, it isn't really that the lettuce is harmful. The problem is that lettuce doesn't have a lot of nutrients. I believe lettuce is mostly just water.

 

[burt1016]

When I had a thing of those pellets that came with a kit, I just sprinkled them ontop of Burt's salad. He didn't mind them, but didn't purposefully eat them.

 

[diamc]

I tried a few different pellets and none of ours ever really liked them. I'm not sure how old your beardies are but if they are under a yr old, they need a lot of protein from live feeders to help them grow up nice and healthy. When you order feeders in bulk, they are much cheaper. Crickets and supers are quite cheap feeders when you get them online so something to keep in mind. :wink:

I also wanted to add that lettuce does contain mostly water so it can cause watery stools which isn't good.

Here's a site that shows the best greens/veggies to feed: www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

 

[alanhuynh2000]

a decent commercial food is Bearded Dragon Bites by Naturezone. Just google them. They come pre moist and smell fruity. They last in the fridge forever and have a pretty good amount of protein. I always sprinkle these on top of any salad I make.