Major feeding issue - please please help me...

[mortimerthedragon]

Hi guys,
I'm fairly new to the forum, have been having a major problem with getting my 2.5 year old dragon to eat anything besides dubia roaches. My last post was about a month or two ago, when I was posting asking anyone if they felt it was OK to feed him Dubias that eat only veggies (gutloaded dubias) - the reason I asked this is because he wont TOUCH his veggies and I've been offering them for over a year. I have tried Mustard Greens, Collard Greens, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and every other top nutritious food from the famous chart.
However, the ONLY vegetable he will touch is Green Beans (perhaps because it looks more like a worm lol) - and I have to hand-feed him in order for him to eat it.
I'm really desperate here - I've NEVER had this issue with any other beardies, I've had several. I know everyone says they should be eating a higher percentage of veggies at this age, but let's be real - if they were in the wild, they'd be eating whatever they get ahold of, and it's not like there are calcium-dusted dubias running around

Please help me - bottom line, can my beardie eat only either Dubias (that are properly dusted and gutloaded on high calcium greens) and Green Beans once in awhile?

PLEASE HELP!!!

MORTIMER REALLY APPRECIATES IT

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Some dragons are a pain in the ass when it comes to vegetables. Tsam is much the same.
Yes, gutloading helps, but keep persisting with the vegetable application. Tsam discovered a love for raspberries and blueberries (blueberries roll along wonderfully!).

You can also try making vegetable "soup" by pureeing some choice cooked foods and use a syringe. Also, try presenting it in different fashions - if thin wedges aren't interesting for things like apple, butternut squash, carrots etc, try grating it. The difference in texture often helps too

When Tsammy's being a real nuisance, I let him go hungry for a couple of days (he's got good fat pockets and 24/7 access to fresh water) - he will often have some vegetables then and gets a reward of something he likes after. He discovered a love of broccoli in this fashion, though that is kept as a treat too.

 

[RioReptiles]

How long have you gone without feeding him any dubia? I've got an adult male that I didn't raise and he wouldn't eat any greens at first. In the beginning I gave him dubia to fatten him up, then I tapered down to feeding only once a week. Then I stopped bugs all together and after a week or so started offering greens. He resisted at first, but eventually started eating the greens. He's an adult and isn't going to starve if he doesn't get bugs for a while. I think it took Zyo about a month, but he loves his greens now since sometimes that's all he gets.

 

[Snarf]

I certainly agree with the above. I'm pretty sure I developed an eye twitch from trying to get mine to eat his greens!

I know hand feeding is a pain in the rear but if it helps for now, then I would persist with it. I've developed and used all sorts of weird things to try and encourage to eat some greens and I also found that I had to change and swap what I did for a long time changing method every 2-3 days to keep him eating.

One thing was I shredded everything; grated carrot, grated apple, sliced kale into strips as much as possible, same with rocket and grated cooked squash etc. With that I also dipped some in a little baby food and/or puréed veggies and then wriggled it using the tongs to mimic worm movement and tricked him! ....he did look a bit confused right enough. I then progressed to some peas etc and dipped in the purée and let him nibble (going more for the purée I'm assuming). I also put worms under the veg bowl and so he would see the movement and also would take some vegetable even if he did go for a worm.

I've heard that a lot of people had success using little clips you get in aquatic stores, so they beardie has to tear the strips of veg off themselves (never tried).

Can also try dabbing a little purée on the roaches before trying it with the veg, as it will give them a taste for the purée. My methods, they weren't the fastest for results but on the other hand after a month so it was reaping in results and for the first time in the year I had him, he started himself on a stable diet.