Greens etc.

[GingerNut]

Hi there,
i'm getting my first bearded dragon next week (dead excited!!!)
however, i went to tesco to have a quick look about getting greens etc. (im in the UK)
After reading beautiful dragons' nutrition sheets i made a list for myself.
However, when i went to tesco, morrisons and even asda! the only thing i could find for my dragon was squash.
Couldn't find any of the greens listed.
So yeah i need a bit of help, where can i get the likes of mustard greens, turnip greens and alfalfa greens? Or is it just because us Brits label them differently? lol.
Sorry for sounding really stupid, but i would appreciate the help
thanks

 

[crush330]

you can get mustard greens and turnip greens from reptile salad. thats where i get mine from u can 2

 

[Tomhill131]

im in the uk and the best thing i have found is marks and spencers salad bags as long as they dont have iceurg lettuce in it. or the local market and picking up a expensive type of lettuce its kinda purplr looking and he eats loads and cant get enough of cucumber!
if he doesnt start eating the salad see i puting a small amount of worms in with the salad normally works as it looks like the greens are mving.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[SoapDish]

I'm sure some of it is just a name thing.
Wikipedia says: "Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand it is known as lucerne and as lucerne grass in south Asia."
I know we don't have alfalfa plants in the market here but during the warm months I get it from hay fields (I ask first and make sure they haven't been sprayed with anything) since it is a staple here for horses and cattle. The other bonus of getting it this way is that it is free.

collard greens are also know as "tree cabbage" I wasn't able to find a UK name but i did read a post on another board that Tesco had them for sale as collards. I think the best thing here is to know what you are looking for. http://patrickstack.com/images/2008/02/collard_greens.jpg Someone else from the UK suggested growing their own, apparently they found seed packets there

Mustard greens are very popular is Asian cooking and if you were to use the seeds they would produce brown mustard.

and Turnip greens are the tops off of turnips. you can also turnip plants that are grown mainly for their greens.

Arugula = rocket

 

[GingerNut]

okay thanks guys that's a lot of help
yeah i'm just like so excited and i wanna have food for him haha

but yeah thanks for the help,
we grow turnips already so might ask to use some of them cos we dont spray them and that.

What about carrot greens?
Same sort of thing as turnip greens i guess.

But yeah thanks for the help, it's appreciated
xxx

 

[GingerNut]

also, for those who give their dragons squash, do you cook it or give it raw?
thanks
x

 

[SoapDish]

I do both, although my beardies LOVE squash baby food they make a HUGE mess I feed them that as a treat. otherwise I bake or boil the squash if I have time and if I don't I just cut the rind off and chop it up. I give the extra squash and seeds to the rats, they prefer it raw.

 

[Madie]

Hi as far as i know collard greens are the same as spring greens or fresh greens that you buy from Tesco. My little one eats that and loves it, i've also started growing my own mustard greens and dandelions

 

[Elora]

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
this webiste has nutritional information on just about everything you might want to feed your beardie

any type of lettuce dosnt have much of any nutritional value. The things listed in green on this webiste are very healthy. I dont live in the Uk so i cant help you there im suprised that you cant find them! Ill ask Holly (ethelia)

 

[Ethelia]

So yeah i need a bit of help, where can i get the likes of mustard greens, turnip greens and alfalfa greens? Or is it just because us Brits label them differently? lol.

Hey there,
Yup we have different names for them here in the UK!

OUR top feeders that are availiable from tesco are:
Butternut squash
Rocket (the Yanks dont have this beauty. my monsters will chomp my arm off for this stuff)
Watercress

Those are the best in terms of nutritional content.

Other things to look out for are:
Kale
"Spring Greens selection" is our equivolent of mustard greens really.
Endive = chicory to us.
Escarole is a type of frizzy lettuce that supermarkets dont seem to stock. Ive only found it in market stalls myself.

Id steer away from pre-packaged salad selections.
Most contain things like frizzé, spinach, raddicio, lollo rosso etc. All these are not nutritional for your beardie so end up being a big old waste of money.


Personally I usually give my dragons a salad of rocket + spring greens and then mix in an extra squash/green beans/apple/blueberry for variety.
They love their rocket but if i give them the same salad every day they quickly get bored and go on strike.

Good luck!
Holly

 

[SoapDish]

we call rocket, Arugula here in the states. I don't see it in the stores too much here other than in a bag mix or at a farmers market, but than again the selection that I have up here is VERY limited since I live in the middle of no where. My kids also love Cilantro (Coriander) as a treat. it seems the more pungent the greens the more they like it.

 

[GingerNut]

thanks so much holly

yeahh i went to tesco earlier and just got a mixture of basically the things you said, i wasn't 100 percent sure at the time, but thought it looked similar to some of the pics i've seen so that's great you just reasured me

Thanks for all the info guys,
its much appreciated
Rachel

 

[herpfreak]

Growing your own greens is another option to consider. I believe alfalfa is really easy to grow indoors.

I do both, although my beardies LOVE squash baby food they make a HUGE mess I feed them that as a treat. otherwise I bake or boil the squash if I have time and if I don't I just cut the rind off and chop it up. I give the extra squash and seeds to the rats, they prefer it raw.

Oh yes! Budo has never been particularly fond of butternut squash, but he loves babyfood.
I learned quickly to always feed him before his bath.