Live without veggies?

[Mishbenz]

Could a bearded dragon live without veggies. I’m not going to do it with mine but I was just curious if they could

 

[kingofnobbys]

Yes. Wild bearded dragons can survive their entire lives' and never see anything green or any berries or flowers or fruit in their natural habitat during decade long droughts (very common). viewtopic.php?f=18&t=237167

But - it's healthier to include some , even if it's disguised (in the feeder insects by gutloading them).

Good if you can try to follow this feeding guide if your bearded dragon is an adult : https://www.completecritter.com/bearded-dragon.html
Younger dragon's have different optimal diets and need more frequent feeding.

 

[Mishbenz]

Yes. Wild bearded dragons can survive their entire lives' and never see anything green or any berries or flowers or fruit in their natural habitat during decade long droughts (very common). viewtopic.php?f=18&t=237167

But - it's healthier to include some , even if it's disguised (in the feeder insects by gutloading them).

Good if you can try to follow this feeding guide if your bearded dragon is an adult : https://www.completecritter.com/bearded-dragon.html
Younger dragon's have different optimal diets and need more frequent feeding.

Well my bearded dragon just won’t eat greens but I feed her crickets gut loaded with carrots and pellets which contain calcium, vitamins and minerals and at the top of the packet it has a bunch is different veggies and fruits so I presume that it’s included inside the pellets

 

[kingofnobbys]

Sounds like Peppa, I hand feed her greens to her , big leaf of buck choi , chopped , slipped into her mouth between crickets.

 

[Mishbenz]

Sounds like Peppa, I hand feed her greens to her , big leaf of buck choi , chopped , slipped into her mouth between crickets.

I’ve tried that with mine and she just spits them back out. So I guess I’m gonna have to stick to gutloaded crickets

 

[kingofnobbys]

Sounds like Peppa, I hand feed her greens to her , big leaf of buck choi , chopped , slipped into her mouth between crickets.

I’ve tried that with mine and she just spits them back out. So I guess I’m gonna have to stick to gutloaded crickets

Peppa often does that too... she's got to be in the right mood and the green stuff just right in size and age …. If the buck choi doesn't taste nice, or I try to slip in some puk choi instead. Perseverance is the name of the game .
I also gut load the crickets with choi too.

I also give her a daily large silkworm most days that's full of fresh mulberry leaves (extremely nutritious and very good Ca/P. I raise my own silkworms.

There are other options ie
https://www.store.repashy.com/by-product-name-en/beardie-buffet/,
https://www.store.repashy.com/by-product-name-en/bluey-buffet/ ,
https://www.store.repashy.com/by-product-name-en/veggie-burger/ ,
which are made as needed as a gel and can be used as food substitute.

Or creating a paste of the veggies and salad you want the dragon to eat (using your food processor) and giving this rather than grated or chopped or shredded veg and greens maybe feeding using a spoon.

I have Veggie-Burger on hand but have not felt the need to use it, though I am tempted to offer it to Peppa and occasionally to the BT skinks and to fluffy to round out their diets.

 

[kingofnobbys]

My big girl Peppa made a liar of me this afternoon and instead of either spitting the buk choi out or simply refusing to even let it go into her mouth , she polished off an entire big leaf of buk choi with her crickets in very short order .

I had to cut the leaf into strips and hand them to her , but that's fine. The latest buk must either be nice tasting or she was just in the mood for it .

 

[MarlowAndMe]

Just chiming I’m on the repashy, I use Repashy Grub Pie in place of my boys staple insects daily. Insects cost a lot and mean ALOT where I am so it is not a viable option. I started with insects but then I was told on here about some breeders who live in my country that successfully raised bearded dragons on it and about how the repashy couple raised hatched on it with great results - now I use it daily

Since yours is the other way around ( insects are easy but veges are refused) the repashy veggie burger would make a good add on to veges as like a dressing, my boy always takes to new veges when he has the repashy grub pie on top of it.
Some greens topped with and disguised by repashy very well may do the trick for you - and the repashy veggie burger would mean yours is getting some goodness from that also

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Feeding