Picky eater

[Mflav]

Hello my Oscar is just about a year old and still refuses to eat pretty much all greens and veggies. I have had him since he was a baby( 2-3months old) and has been this way all along. I have tried all greens acceptable on the list along with veggies and fruits. The only things he will eat are peas(which I do not like to give because it gives him very smelly runny poops) and mango(which is given very sparingly because it’s a fruit). Every day I prepare him a nice fresh salad within about 2 to 3 hours of awakening with a variety of different things yet he still does not eat it. I have tried making a gravy with puréed baby food with no luck, added worms etc. which he just picks out and eats, and even tried feeding him out of tank. He still does NOT like any of it! He is gaining weight steadily( 17” long, 425grams) so that is not an issue. For his first seven months he was on crickets for protein. Since then he has been on Dubia roaches. I am no longer feeding them daily figuring that is what is keeping him full but he still does not go for his greens. What do I do????

 

[KarrieRee]

Have you tried BSFL on top of his salads -- they are small so he would need to dig in to get to them ---also what worms have you tried - fortunately w/ him being as old as he is now its gonna take a lot if even that to get him to to eat the greens --- I have learned you need to get them to eat from when you first get them at the age of 3 months to start eating salads ---- some love their salads and have no issues getting them to eat them and then there are ones that just refuse to eat -- I have a 2 year old that will not eat them either and I serve him fresh greens every day w/ silk worms butter worms etc --- now my 10 month old will eat them but I started him out on them when I first brought him home w/ super worms as lures and BSFL -- you can start w/ holding the insects for a few days and see if he will go for the greens and get your BSFL on top to see if that will entice him to eat
Karrie

 

[Mflav]

Already tried all of that no luck! Also, have been offering salads since he’s he’s 2-3mon old he’s just not interested

 

[Claudiusx]

Don't give him any bugs at all until he starts eating his salads.

It might sound extreme, but it's really not. He's not stupid, quite the contrary actually. He knows if he waits he will eventually get his bugs.
He also knows he could eat that salad if he wanted.
So he won't let himself starve. He might let himself get hungry, but baring any medical issues, a normal healthy dragon will not let itself starve to death.

Nix the bugs, and just offer him a nice fresh salad every day. Eventually he will give up and eat his salad. Once he does, you can offer him a few bugs. But don't give in until he does first.

I've had people do this for over 2 weeks before their dragon finally caved in and started eating salad regularly. But it works. Sometimes it only takes a few days without bugs. Sometimes a week. Sometimes 2. A lot of times they will just nibble at it and you won't notice much gone. But trust me, they won't let themselves starve and eating salad is a necessity, especially if they aren't getting much insect variety. The body needs those nutrients.

-Brandon