My Beardie Wont Eat Veggies

[SapphireTheBeardie]

Hey my beardie Hennessy won't even TOUCH greens. Let alone look at them. I have tried everything. I give him salad everyday which consists of collard & mustard greens, green beans, peas, carrots, peaches and sometimes raspberries, and sometimes grapes. But he never eats them. I pick him some dandelions everyday and he devours them in seconds. Is there a way I can get him to eat them, or am I doing something wrong. On top of that, he will not eat his crickets unless they are dusted with his calcium+d3. Is that too much Calcuim?? He just will not touch them if they aren't dusted. PLEASE help me. My poor little buggie. Hes completely active as usual, he runs around his cage and gets in his little pool (a bowl with warm water in it) and he climbs on his logs and hideout and his loft (a second story to his cage, he loves it.) His cage is roughly 3 feet long, 4 feet tall, and 3 feet deep. We have two 250 watt day lights along with another 250 watt red bulb in his cage, his UVB bulb just burnt out, so we have one ordered and should be here shortly. His "substrate" is tile. He has water available all the time. He takes a bath 4-5 times a week. Recently he has been spending more time in his hideout, sometimes all day long and all night. What am I doing wrong? I am COMPLETELY open to any and all ideas. Thanks so much!

 

[william488]

how old is he? or if unknown, how long is he from nose to tip of tail? 250w bulb for that size tank might be too strong. What are the temps? Basking temp? Cool side temp? how are you measuring those temps? Bearded dragons don't like the red bulb( I am guessing you are using it for temps at night?) younger bearded dragons don't eat alot of the greens. if temps are not right, they cannot digest good enough. if its too hot, he can hide alot. Also, what type of UVB bulb are you buying? everyone here will advise a reptisun 10.0 tube type.

 

[SapphireTheBeardie]

hes two years old & 20 inches from nose to tail. His basking spot is between 99-103 and the cool end is around 83. I am using digital thermometers. I use the red light during the day, because even with the three bulbs we have a wire top for his cage and the heat just goes POOF and doesn't stay in his cage. I am also buying the reptisun10.0 tube, we had that one previous and it worked really well for u, and Hennessy, plus I did my research and I found that the reptisun 10.0 is probably the best UVB tube out there

 

[SapphireTheBeardie]

worked really well for *US

 

[william488]

well all sounds good, now for him being 2, he should be eating alot more greens. I have a tough one too. he is aprox 2.5-3 years old. he will only eat greens if I give it to him by hand, lol. What others told be is be strong, watch his weight closely, but give him verried greens daily and only feed him bugs every other day. I am still doing that with my big boy.

 

[SapphireTheBeardie]

Yeah hes always been picky. Hes my tough one. I have an iguana who LOVES to eat. But Hennessy just doesnt like to eat greens. Ive given him everything possible but he wants his crickets with the dust. Am i dusting the crickets to much? And how can i get him to eat the crickets without the dust??

 

[pigglett79]

My 3.5 yr old wont eat greens or anything either. I got him from a friend a few months ago. We have tried everything. I put baby food on them to make them more appealing, tried offering tons of different greens, squash, fruits veggies,....nothing. Even tried big pieces, small pieces, feeding by hand. All he wants are insects. He loves all insects except dubia roaches. He will eat horn worms, silk worms, butter worms, crickets etc. I hope you find something that works and I will try it. I even put the worms on top of the greens, under the greens, you name it and he just picks them out of them greens like a ninja. I can sometimes get a few leaves in him by having a horn worm grab on to it and they both go down the hatch. I just don't know what else to try.

As for the dusting, if you are worried about too much D3, you can get a calcium dust without D3 and alternate them that way he isn't getting the D3 everyday.

 

[SapphireTheBeardie]

Awe what a funny little guy. Yep ive tried the worms on salad and mine as well picks them out. I just tried giving him his veggies like i do with my iguana where i chop them up almost like a puree and give them to him as well as his daily salad. My boy is quite funny though, he plays in his salad. He will throw it all over his viv. But never eats it haha. Im going to try lightly dusting crickets until he no longer is picky about them being dusted. As far as calcium goes I have both calcium+d3 as well as calcium without d3 so ill start switching it up a bit. If I find anything as far as veggies go that he likes, ill be sure to share!