How do I get him to eat greens?

[ronni1221]

Ok, I've tried numerous times with numerous greens, vegetables, fruits, etc. Brutus does NOT want to eat anything that doesn't move. How do I get him to eat greens? He's only 6 months, so I don't want to cut the insects out of his diet.

 

[jmmcdavid]

My BD is about 5 months or so and would not eat any greens either. I find that if I take a piece and put it on the tip of my finger he will eat it. I also do it before I feed him crickets so he is real hungry. I have only seen him eat greens once out of his food bowl. I also one time put a little bit of squash baby food on a piece of greens and he ate it then I could get him to eat the greens w/o the baby food. Hope this helps!

 

[ronni1221]

Hmmm... I'll have to try that. It's just a waste to have to buy the greens and then they go bad because he's not even eating them! Yargh... :x

 

[eruantalisse]

Still offer him daily an amount of fresh greens, even if it is just a small salad. Perhaps putting it on a small piece of flagstone instead of in a bowl will help. As the beardies are young, the greatest part of their diet will contain insects. When they get older, greens are eaten more. To keep the greens stored, wrap them in silver foil and keep it in the fridge. This works really well (I can keep endive, sweet pepper and apple, even sliced fresh this way for 2-3 weeks).

My little man will not eat from a bowl if he can avoid it. When it goes for silkworms, it is ok and I put them on a flagstone. If it goes for dubia's, he does not have the choice: either eat them out of the bowl or no dubia's. I put greens on a shallow, flagstone like bowl. He eats better from this.

 

[rossm007]

when i noticed my beardie wasnt eating his greens out of his dish, first i dropped little pieces of zucchini/ squash right after he eats some crickets (so i kno hes still hungry) from the top so they kinda bounce around jus a little when they hit the ground (unless u have sand). he notices them movin when they first fall and became so interested in what it was that he licked it a few times and eventually ate it. now i jus dont use his dish, i jus put a very small "pile" of greens in his cage and he eventually eats it.

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

I leave for work early in the morning. sometimes around 6 or 7. Spots lights don't come on until 8:30. I leave a bowl with some greens and a few worms. When I come home (between 4 and 6) they're all completely gone and she is starving for some crickets! Before I started doing this, she would occasionally eat greens, but not be all too excited about the idea. Now she seems to really enjoy it. When I replentish the greens that night, she still nibbles at them.

 

[ronni1221]

Alright. I'm trying all these suggestions. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[blown2tone]

I was having the same issues until around a few weeks ago. This whole time i've been just nicely mulching the mustard greens, and he would sort of peck at a few of them, like he was avoiding something in the bowl.
2 weeks back, I trimmed the fringy edges of the mustard greens off, cut into nice squares as usual, and he instantly attacked them. Its nice to go buy greens, because he actually eats them now....
If he's still reluctant, sprinkle a few waxies(unless hes already plump ) or throw 3-4 superworms in between all the leaves in the bowl. That was the only way i'd get mine to eat them up until lately.

I also noticed with collard greens, he wasnt going for them much, but as of late, I misted some water heavily over the collards, and he must've liked the beaded water dripping on them, because he started munching those.

For some reason, I find it hard to believe these methods work were all he needed. It just seems he's "grown" into liking greens. Who knows.. give it a shot!

 

[herpfreak]

This may partly be because of his age. He is still young and should be eating mostly insects. By the time he is 18 months old, however, he should be eating 90% greens and 10% live food.
I got my beardie as an adult and he loved his salads from the start, but I have discovered some things that make him more eager... its worth a try anyways.

-Mist the greens. My boy seems to like "dewdrops" on his greens.

-Hold the dish in front of him. Instead of putting the salad bowl in a corner or somewhere where he may not notice it right away, hold the dish in front of his face while he's basking. If you use a steep-sided dish, you can use a tupperware lid.

-Change salads every 24 hours

-Change salad an hour or so before you usually feed live. This is the time when he will be the most hungry.

-Add worms to the salad (if your beardie likes worms). Then hold the dish in front of him (as mentioned above). He will see the worms and go to get one, also getting a mouthful of greens. Then, even after he has eaten all the worms, the greens will still smell slightly of worms. He will also get used to being fed worms in that dish, and when you put it in the enclosure he will get excited.

-Sprinkle frozen mixed veggies (the brand I use includes corn, peas, carrot bits, and green bean bits) on his salad. My beardie adores frozen mixed veggies. Apparently, they have some preservatives and salt in them that make them not as healthy as fresh greens and veggies, but if you combine them with his salad and he likes them, he will end up eating some greens, too. If this works, gradually decrease the amount of frozen veggies you add.

Good luck! Don't worry too much; in the wild, baby beardies eat mostly bugs.

 

[ronni1221]

So I wiggled a piece of shredded apple in front of Brutus, hoping he'd be enticed to eat it. He looked at it and ran the other way. It was pretty funny, as if he thought it would attack him.

 

[threecupsofcoffee]

Even now if i wiggle any greens in front of spyro she'll back off, but waxworms in a moist fresh salad definately works she eats plenty of salad now.
Julie

 

[WarEagle90]

Max seems to like his greens only on Mondays. I am not sure why, but when we come home each Monday afternoon all his greens are gone. It appears he eats a little bit the other days but nothing like Mondays. He also has a bad habit of scattering his greens. Like this morning about ten minutes after I gave him his salad I went and looked and they were all over his viv. He loves to be hand fed fruits though and he doesn't care what kind either. He'll eat them till he pops if you let him.

Dan

 

[herpfreak]

Same here! Budo always makes a huge mess of his salad. He'll take a few large bits of green in his mouth and chomp and chomp and half of it will fall onto the floor of the viv, where I have to clean it up! Then he digs around in his salad to pick out all the frozen veggies. :evil:

 

[MagillaGorilla]

I've found that if i put just the leaves in he eats them alot more often than if i split them up into smaller pieces by hand.