Rescued Dragon won't eat unless hand fed.

[Anhlyss]

I recently got a Bearded Dragon, who we were told might be as old as 10. The previous owners seemed to feed him only Superworms, when they remembered, and he probably never got any type of vegetation, so he didn't know how to eat it. My friend (who had a lot of experience with Beardies) put out "salads" for him of the various types of plants her Dragon liked, but he wouldn't eat any of it. He would occasionally jab at it with his tongue, and get frustrated when it didn't stick like the worm.

I went onto this forum, and some people said that I should try to drop some food into his mouth when he opened it, and he would eat if he was hungry, but spit it out if he wasn't. Tried it, and it worked like a charm. Now he comes over and opens his mouth, and waits to be fed.

Problem is, he still won't eat on his own, and has stopped chasing down the worms - just waits for you to put them in his mouth as well.

Unfortunately, my friend who was helping my has passed away suddenly, so I can't get any advice from her.

He did have a check up by a local reptile breeder (no actual herp vets nearby), and he said he was healthy, a good weight for his length (if a bit small), and was getting the correct type and amount of UV. But he didn't have a lot of ideas on how to make him eat, either than just leave the food for him, and eventually he will eat on his own. He is also making me some grub pie to try out.

Anyone have experience with this? I checked some other forums, but I didn't really find the answer on how to get him to eat on his own.

Things he like to eat, that I can currently purchase in Manitoba in the winter:
- Kale (loves this - gets daily)
- Romaine lettuce (rarely)
- Sweet Bell Pepper (small slices daily)
- Carrots (matchsticks cut bite size)
- Blueberries
- Cucumber (rarely)
- Apples
- Strawberries (loves these, but expensive this time of year)
- Commercial Dragon Pellets (likes them moistened in water or blueberry juice)
- Superworms

Things he doesn't like:
- Melons
- Mealworms

 

[CooperDragon]

If he's that old he may be pretty set in his ways but if he will eat veges by hand feeding I'd keep offering them that way. Does he get time out of the tank to roam around and exercise? Sometimes that helps get their appetite up. I would continue offering daily salads but reserve bugs for once or twice per week. Can you post some photos of him? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button

 

[Anhlyss]

This is the only one I could upload from my phone (the others kept scrolling).

He gets lots of exercise. Likes to run around on the carpet, or swim in the tub. Eats a lot after that.

Yesterday after his bath, once he was all dried off, he climbed down from his basking rock, put but hands on his food bowl, looked at me, and opened his mouth. I think he is spoiled. I have a couple of kids I watch after school, and they love feeding him, and he loves getting fed. I enjoy it too, but it is so time consuming.

My concern is that I need to go out if town occasionally for work trips. I have someone lined up to watch him, but it would be so much easier if they could just give him his salad, and not have to feed it to him.


One other thing - he started shedding yesterday. So maybe he will be more willing to give up the pampering when he's done?

 

[PodunkKhaleesi]

I’ve got one beardie that’s similarly picky. She’ll often disregard her salad completely, but then if I pick up a piece of collard greens or butternut squash and offer it to her by hand she’ll scarf it down in an instant. A few things that helped: I moved her salad dish so that it was directly in her line of vision from her favorite basking spot. Essentially, this forced her to stare at it and thus contemplate it all day. Eventually she’d hop off her perch and begrudgingly eat the salad when she realized she wasn’t going to be waited on and fed by hand. She still has her princess days but she’s become much better at accepting that her salad bar is self serve. And I agree with CooperDragon that exercise can be a great appetite builder. One other trick that worked for some of my younger guys when they used to snub their salads was dropping an insect (usually a BSFL for this purpose) onto the salad. They’d either get a mouthful of greens when they went to snatch the worm or the worm would burrow a little, making the salad leaves wiggle enticingly enough for them to chow down. Eventually they’d eat their salads without being coerced with bugs. I know it’s a bit tougher when you’ve got an older beardie that’s pretty set in his ways, especially if he was fed only superworms. There’s also the hardball method (no bugs until he eats his greens), so if he’s in good health you can try a little tough love. Sometimes a beardie will ignore greens simply because he knows insects are around the bend. It’s great that you gave this older boy a good home. My last two adults lived to be 16 and 17 (almost 18) and were extremely energetic up until the end, so age is really but a beardie number. He looks healthy/a good weight and it sounds like he’s got a lot of energy.