Substitutes for greens to feed Beardy?

[Sarah26]

Hello,

Okay so I live in Dubai,UAE and I can't seem to find ANY of the greens that must be used as a staple for a beardy.
Mustard greens, turnip greens... etc... NOTHING :!: + he is a VERY picky eater when it comes to his veggies. He is around 6-7 months old. He only eats : Green peas, yellow peppers, and sometimes parsley... That's all he will eat. Every morning as a staple, that's what I feed him. What I did was I bought T-rex Veggie growth formula as it states that it can be sprinkled on something with little to zero nutrient value like lettuce, and still give a beardy the nutreints it needs. Therefore I sprinke that on his veggies every day. So far Iv'e had him since the 1st of March, and he has grown from 6-7 inches to 11-12 inches, and has shed a few times... So the veggie dust must be good, right?

Fruits:
Papaya, apples, blue berries, Strawberries. (The berries are fed rarely, while the papaya is fed every other day to weekly)

As for his insects, he gets anywhere between 11 to 20 crickets a day + mealies (mostly dried which are easier to digest)
Can I add silk worms as a staple? How many can I add? I have dead moist silk worm in cans by exo terra, he likes them, but I only feed 2 to him once or twice a week, sometimes more... The reason is because I thought that silk worms = wax worms and should only be given as a treat as they are high in fat. I discovered today that that's false. So how many can I feed him a day as a staple :?:



Any suggestions would be helpful.

Note: I can't order/buy/find Dubia roaches or any other insects other than live or dried crickets, and live or dried mealies and dried silk worms. That is all, I tried via online none ship internationally! So yeah!

p.s Can I feed him Rocca leaves?
Thanks

 

[plato]

At least your's will eat! Mine is on a hunger strike and is not brumating.Silkworms is ALL he will eat! He's driving me CRAZY! 14 months old.

 

[mickeysmomma]

silkworms are great for them! Just like crickets...they can have a lot of them!!

Can you order any of the pellet foods and see if he will eat those? Mine love the dried grasshoppers. Not the ones in cans that are kind of slimy, these are just in a jar and feel dry.

What type of plants are available near you?

 

[plato]

My wallet can't handle 40 cents a worm!! He wont touch any kinda of crickets and no roaches available here. Lots of greens here in Canada, but won't eat any of them. Had a fecal test, good. Still good weight, but an scared he's going to die!

 

[Okiemavis]

I'm not sure if you can get this brand where you are but San Francisco Bay brand makes a "Healthy Herp" frozen line including packaged mixed greens (frozen into mini ice cubes), it's a pretty nice variety. If he's a picky eater he might not touch it though, and it'll never fully replace fresh ones.

If you can find edible cactus he'll love that and it's very healthy. My friend feeds his beardies hibiscus flowers too

Rocca leaves as far as I can tell are somewhat like spinach? Generally dark, leafy greens are all good, you just don't want to feed it as a staple as it may be high in oxalates.

The reason veggies like iceburg lettuce isn't recommended (aside from being zero nutrition) is because they contain a lot of water and can give your guy the runs. A good vitamin supplement and a separate calcium one is always a good idea at least a few times a week though.

As for silkworms, they are a great staple diet. Wax worms are very fatty, which is why you shouldn't feed them too often, but silkworms are actually lower in fat than crickets! I'm not sure how great the canned stuff is, I'm sure some nutrition is lost, but it's certainly something you don't need to worry about feeding often. Generally speaking the nutritional content is preserved much better in canning than in drying. As for how much to feed him, that will change quickly along with his growth. You'll get a feel for how many it takes for him to get full, same way you do with the crickets.

Sounds like he's growing fast! He certainly doesn't sound undernourished

 

[Sarah26]

Thank you all for ur replies, and a special thanks to Okiemavis, for a more thorough answer.

I just gave him 9 silk worms and he ate them all then 10 crickets and he also ate them. He seems to be a lil full right now.
I might find cactus plants to feed here... The question is even if I do find it will mr picky even attempt to taste it? lol
I'll look into the different flowers, like dandelions and hibiscus. I already did, and found none, but I'll try again.
And occasionally feed him rocca leaves... It's not spinach, here's a link to it http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZBuUcD-qFmc/R-cG-M2IjcI/AAAAAAAAAvg/0VGGeoFny8E/s400/Rocca%2BRW%2BFarinata.JPG


I have been using the supplements daily with every feeding. I read a lot about the supplements and I think it's working rather well with him.
Here is a link to the calcium I use to dust his insects:
http://www.petco.com/product/10996/T-Rex-Bearded-Dragon-Calcium-Plus.aspx
Click on discription and direction. In the direction part it says it's designed to be used with every feeding.

Also a link for the other calcium which I use for his veggies :
http://www.google.ae/imgres?imgurl=http://www.petclubuk.com/tmp/assets/1169049999383.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.petclubuk.com/sp/reptiles/reptile-vitamins/fruit--veggie-dusting/t-rex-dragon-dust-vegetable-growth-formula-50g/1212&usg=__8KfrhLic-1LD8ETjwndZebEF6f4=&h=250&w=200&sz=22&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=4KrAEuPgtLZ27M:&tbnh=111&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTrex%2Bveggie%2Bgrowth%2Bformula%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch


I highly recommend everyone to give this product a try. They even have calcium for geckos.

What do u guys think?

 

[Sarah26]

silkworms are great for them! Just like crickets...they can have a lot of them!!

Can you order any of the pellet foods and see if he will eat those? Mine love the dried grasshoppers. Not the ones in cans that are kind of slimy, these are just in a jar and feel dry.

What type of plants are available near you?

I tried the pellets, he hates them with a passion lol!
I tricked him into eating one and he spit it out!
I give him dried crickets as well. Which he doesn't mind eating, he LOVES dried meal worms. They are like chips. Even smell like chips lol. And are much easier to digest than the live mealies.

The silkies are not dried, I also want to get him some canned crickets as well, much better than the dried crickets.
There are no grasshoppers :-( Once I found one in the dried cricket container and he went gaga over it, he loved it!

 

[Okiemavis]

I might find cactus plants to feed here... The question is even if I do find it will mr picky even attempt to taste it? lol

Hopefully he'll try it- I know at least with prickly pear cactus the red color is supposed to attract them. My beardie did a double take when he saw them and was pretty excited to take a taste.

 

[Sarah26]

I might find cactus plants to feed here... The question is even if I do find it will mr picky even attempt to taste it? lol

Hopefully he'll try it- I know at least with prickly pear cactus the red color is supposed to attract them. My beardie did a double take when he saw them and was pretty excited to take a taste.

Thanks, I looked in a few stores, some flower shops and some veggie places... So far nada, nothing!

Really annoying.

Thanks, I'll keep looking.

 

[Buggsy]

Just wanted to say please dont feed dried meal worms, they can not only impact beardies (they still have a lot of chitin, dried or not) but they have little or no nutritional value, think cardboard, but very addictive cardboard!

 

[Sarah26]

Just wanted to say please dont feed dried meal worms, they can not only impact beardies (they still have a lot of chitin, dried or not) but they have little or no nutritional value, think cardboard, but very addictive cardboard!

Thanks for ur comment, I have decreased the quantities, he really is a meal worm addict! lol, and I'm too scared to feed him as many as 7 or 10 at a time, so I resort to dried ones. But I'll decrease it even more, thanks to ur post

 

[Buggsy]

other good worms are phoenix, butterworms or silk worms. If hes over 16" you could also try superworms.

 

[Sarah26]

other good worms are phoenix, butterworms or silk worms. If hes over 16" you could also try superworms.

Thanks for the mean time, I can only get my hands on mealies and silkies. He likes both, but prefers mealies! I will feed his less mealies tho