Sparx just won't eat veg

[Michaelm1990]

So sparx is around a year and a half (just under) and he will not touch veg. You can count on the one hand how many times he has eaten it.
We have tried everything we can think of to entice him to eat it from trying to hand feed him it to putting fresh veg and fruit in a bowl and topping it with some movies to trick him into eating it.
I am holding off on syringe feeding him it as a last last resort as I am a big believer in keeping things as natural and as close to the wild as can be.
Does anyone have any tips or tricks to try?

 

[CooperDragon]

I'd use his weight as an indicator. Keep a log so you can track his weight trends. If he isn't losing weight he may just be in a slowdown phase. I'd keep offering the veges but offer only veges for a while and see if he'll eventually tuck in. If he's losing weight it may indicate an illness of some kind.

Did you wind up getting that new Arcadia bulb?

 

[Michaelm1990]

Will do just worried because you are supposed to switch him over to mostly veggie diet so don't want him having health problems or some th ING coz he's only eating lives
What would be an ideal weight as a benchmark?
Not as of yet still waiting on my tax return going through. Hopefully within the next week I will have it failing that two weeks.
Can't wait haha

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah he's definitely at the age to switch to mostly veges. My guy is somewhere around there in age (he's a rescue so I don't know exactly) and he get veges every day and a handful of bugs a couple of times per week (usually big roaches and some various worms). It's tough to say exactly what his weight should be. It varies so much between dragons. The more important thing to do is record his weight and measure it against himself. Look for the trends. If his weight is steady or increasing that's usually a good sign. If it's decreasing for an extended period it may indicate a problem. I record the weight daily in a google doc and have a chart built in so I can watch the trend. He was starving to death when I got him so he has a steeper growth curve than most would at his age but the point is it's increasing and I can see that easily with a chart.

 

[Michaelm1990]

Yeh I think I will start giving that a go.
He looks like a healthy weight so I'm not overly worried about that as such but I will start taking a note and persevere with the veg

 

[CooperDragon]

In the picture I saw of him he looks OK. Nice full arms and legs. Probably a good starting point for taking measurements give it a couple few weeks to start to really get a trend to monitor. Daily weights will often fluctuate which is normal.

 

[Noellerch]

Have you tried feeding him a dandelion flower? That was the first plant that my Beardie went crazy for. He loves them! After I hand feed him a few flowers, I then hand feed him a few greens. Another "first food" was a carnation! I have a fairly large garden, so I know they do not contain pesticides. Another trick that I have read on here is to see if he will lick baby food from your fingers. We did this with apple sauce, and then he did start to eat tiny little bites of apples.

~Noelle
Mom to Petri (estimated 4 months old)

 

[Michaelm1990]

Thanks for the suggestion I will look into it and give it a try