Vegetable issues

[jonathanoakley88]

Hey guys, new dragon owner here.Had him for about 2 weeks now. A friend gave him to me. He is in a large enclosure with lots of room with logs and a hammock to bask on. He is a 5 year old dragon (male) and he loves super worms (suprise suprise) Im having issues with him eating vegetables. He LOVES asparagus. But i read that shouldnt be a staple. He wont eat kale, shredded carrots, romaine lettuce. Have not tried turnup greens or collard greens yet. He wont eat green bell peppers either. I dont want to feed him too many super worms a day. Suggestions on what veggies to try or how to get him to eat more veggies? Is assparugus ok? He eats a supplement as well that i sprinkle on the worms. He looks healthy and behaves normal and loves attention. He likes to be hand fed the asparagus.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

How many and how often is he eating super worms?

Stubborn adults will often hold out and not eat any salad especially if they know they will eventually get bugs.

It might sound odd, but truly the best method to fix that is to stop giving bugs all together, only offer salads. It sounds harsh, but a healthy dragon won't let itself starve to death. He knows salad is food, he just would rather eat bugs. Stop the bugs and only offer salad and he will eventually eat the salad. And once he does, you can start slowly introducing bugs back into his diet. That teaches him that he can still have bugs even if he eats his salad.

You have to commit to it if you're going to go this route. It's not uncommon for them to go over a week without eating before they finally cave and start eating the salad. 2 weeks isn't uncommon and we've even had a few on this board go a full 3 weeks before finally caving in. It's likely they probably had been munching or nibbling small amounts that weren't noticeable, but the point is a healthy dragon isn't going to let itself starve.

-Brandon

 

[jonathanoakley88]

Hi there,

How many and how often is he eating super worms?

Stubborn adults will often hold out and not eat any salad especially if they know they will eventually get bugs.

It might sound odd, but truly the best method to fix that is to stop giving bugs all together, only offer salads. It sounds harsh, but a healthy dragon won't let itself starve to death. He knows salad is food, he just would rather eat bugs. Stop the bugs and only offer salad and he will eventually eat the salad. And once he does, you can start slowly introducing bugs back into his diet. That teaches him that he can still have bugs even if he eats his salad.

You have to commit to it if you're going to go this route. It's not uncommon for them to go over a week without eating before they finally cave and start eating the salad. 2 weeks isn't uncommon and we've even had a few on this board go a full 3 weeks before finally caving in. It's likely they probably had been munching or nibbling small amounts that weren't noticeable, but the point is a healthy dragon isn't going to let itself starve.

-Brandon

yeah for the first week i was giving him 3-4 super worms a day, then the second week 2 per day with assparagus. Sounds like my own fault then. He hasnt had any super worms in 3 days but has been eating 2 peices of assparagus each day. Wont touch the kale-pepper-carrot mix i make for him. Likes to be hand fed the asparagus he was clearly spoiled but he is not overweight at all. He is about 19 inches long but not overweight.