Terrible Time Getting Them To Eat Veggies

[EarthUponWater]

I'm having a terrible time getting my two beardies to eat anything but live bugs. I've tried really ripe banana, still green banana, yellow banana, butternut squash, carrots (which the female took a bite of), apple, greens, and sweet potato. Do you think maybe I'm should grate the food like cheese instead of chopping it up? I've tried feeding in the late morning, afternoon, evening, and later at night. The female loves mealworms and crickets. The male will eat each only after some prodding. Though, he did have a blast when I was transferring crickets to this free cricket keeper. I didn't realize there was a hole in the bottom (which I'll probably not fix). Crickets were dropping from the sky and he loved it.

How can I convince them to eat more veggies?

 

[Grimmjow]

Try putting the mealworms on top of the food, I think the wiggling will get them more interested. I put some dried grasshoppers ontop of greens, mine will eat the greens anyway but he loves grasshoppers. Or you could always just not feed them crickets so they are starved into eating it.

 

[definitions]

I have a 4 month old and I am having the hardest time also trying to get him to eat his veggies he seems to only like flat mustard greens. he wont eat anything else and when he eats the mustard greens its usually just a couple bites.

 

[alenke]

My babies are about 6 months old now and just started really tearing into their veggies. I never had to used baby food but i heard a little bit on the tip of their nose and they'll lick it off. My really like snap peas and green beans chopped up extra fine.

Alyssa

 

[EarthUponWater]

My problem is that all of my beardies are full grown adults. I'll try the mealworms on food thing. The only other thing I can think of is what I have to do with my WC turtle - gut load the insects with fruits and veggies right before I feed them instead of just using the basic gut loader I usually do (oats, cornmeal, and whichever extra fruit/veggie I happen to put in there the night before).

 

[Gail]

Since they are adults, you can play the waiting game but they can be really stubborn. Stop feeding insects, only offer a nice plate of mixed greens/veggies. Sooner or later they will get hungry and eat the salad.
Greens are more important then fruit, fruit should only be fed 1-2 time a week so don't worry if they aren't eating any. For the harder foods like squash, you can shred it with a cheese grater.

 

[EarthUponWater]

I'm more worried about Sam than anything. He's such a wimpy looking boy. I have snakes, so I'm very good at the waiting game. I'll give them another three days to eat and try the mealworm thing first. After that, I'll starve them out. I'm doing that with an Ultramel Motley corn snake at the moment. I've had him since May and he has only eaten once because he refuses to eat. I'm winning that one though.