Trying vegetables with no luck, please help!

[BoidKeeper]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what types of vegetables would be good to try to start my beardies on. So far they have turned their nose at mixed vegetables and some fruits. They have nibbled on oranges, maybe banana and apple but nothing significant. I have four and they are eating a ton of crickets and mealies but that’s it. What one vegetable do they always go for, or is it different for each dragon.
Thank you,
Trevor

[ReptileHQ]

They will usually go for bitter green leaf vegetables such as dandelion, water cress, and with lesser nutritional values kale, collared greens. In the summer and from a pesticide free source, plantains, clover, mallows etc.

Chris

[BoidKeeper]

Can dandelion and water cress be purhased in the produce section?
Thanks,
Trevor

[Grant vg]

Our beardies love Carrots and Zucchinni. :D
We also feed them dandellion, kale, escarole, etc...along with some fruit once a week or so.
Everything can usually be bought in a grocery store.
Ur best bet would be to try some escarole and carrots. ;) im my experience anyways.
Carrots are key though ;)

[eyespy]

My hatchlings went crazy for collard greens, dandelions, endive and parsley right from the beginning. I start mine off on greens the day after they hatch and don't offer crickets until the third day to get them off to a good start on salads.

Snow peas, green beans, yellow and orange squashes, cantaloupe and raspberries seem to be general favorites after they are well established on greens.

If all else fails, try smearing the greens with baby food, like chicken, peach or pear. That often makes them try a bite or two. ;)

Grant, be careful not to give too many carrots. They have oxylates which bind calcium and too many can lead to MBD or kidney stones.

[silke]

i find that it depends on their age ...my Dexter wouldn't eat greens until he was about a year old
he prefers curly leaves...escarole, endive and a bit or kale mixed in with his collards, dandelion, arugula and water cress

[Jaylyn]

Carrots are on the bottom of the list of veggies containing oxalic acid at 56 ppm.
For comparison:
Peas - 60
Lettuce - 138
Mango - 300
Green Beans - 312
Cabbages - 350
Sweet Potato - 1,000
Sweet Peppers - 1,171
Mustard Greens - 1287
Banana - 5240
Spinach - 6580

I would avoid the foods on the higher end. Shucks - no feeding the portulaca from the garden (16,790 ppm). Variety is key - otherwise our herps would miss out on a whole lot of nutrients these foods have to offer. Brassicas in moderation, though, they can lead cause thyroid dysfunction. And, of course, no spinach!

Jaylyn

[ReptileHQ]

If I can add to the carrot discussion Jaylin,

Carrots should be fed in moderation as they contain tannins.

Tannins(plant polyphenols) can have a major inhibiting effect on starch and protein availability of other foods ingested at the same time. Tannins bind with proteins in the stomach, protecting them from effective digestion, thus not making alot of nutrients available to the animal.

Although, carrots do have diuretic properties and contain agents which are an active urinary anteseptic, so they do have some positive uses as well.
People also use carrots to help de-worm herbivorous reptiles.

Remember the key to any food item is moderation..

Chris

[Grant vg]

I wasn't implying that that you should feed tons of carrots to a BD, However, we have always noticed that baby beardies are more inclined to take Carrots and Zucchinni as there first veg. At least in our experience.
Usually after a couple trips to the veg bowl, they begin taking most of what is there.
And Yes, like anything, moderation is very important. :D

[Jaylyn]

Here's a link to the site I've been using:

www.ars-grin.gov/duke/highchem.html

Any thoughts about it? I couldn't find carrots under tannin at all ...???

Jaylyn

[ReptileHQ]

Hey Jaylin,

That is an excellent site, it has come in handy for me many times as well,

if you do a quick internet search, you will find a considerable amount of info regarding carrots and high levels of tannins.

Chris

[ReptileHQ]

and Grant...

the most important thing is getting them started, so whatever works for you in getting them to thrive, as long as you don't start them on Big Macs. :)

Chris

[Grant vg]

Actually, i have found that those McRibs work wonders for beardies. Too bad they're not selling em any more, back to carrots i guess. :p

[Pythonian]

try hibiscus leaves my beardie LOVED THEM!!

mike

[eyespy]

In 15 years as a vet tech, I've never seen one beardie with thyroid disease. Not saying that goitrogenic foods should be fed in excess, but the risk is definitely over-emphasized in most literature.

Remember that thyroid controls such metabolic functions as regulating body temperature in mammals. Since reptiles don't work that way, their thyroids are less active in general and therefore far less likely to "misfire". Warm-blooded creatures such as humans run a far greater risk of developing thryoid disease from nutritional sources and even that is very rare. Most thyroid disease is an autoimmune problem such as allergies, rheumatoid arthritis or lupus.

[eyespy]

Carrots are low in the amount of oxalates contained, but also comparatively low in the minerals that bind with it, and so have a higher "net" level of oxalates in the gut. Spinach, for example, has such a high calcium level that the oxalates contained in it usually bind to the spinach's own calcium and do not rob the body of any calcium acquired from other sources.

Carrots are far more likely to bind dietary sources of calcium because of their chemical makeup.

[eyespy]

Tannins are kind of like selenium, it's very difficult to say how much is in any given food because they are leached from the soil in which the plant is grown. So levels can vary quite widely.

[Dragons & Balls]

Hey
We feed ours a mixture of dandelion greens, mustard greens, carrot tops, some kale, and once a week we shred carrots with a cheese grater and hand feed them a few. Mostly ours like the darker greens.(chard sometimes)We have 7 and they eat vegies everyday. We feed them worms and krickets 3 times a week(with calcium, and multi-vitamins on them).

Hope this helps. If you have to, don't give them anything but vegies for 2 days and hopefully they will start eatting that way. They will get hungry. I would like to know a dragon that doesn't eat like a pig :-}
LaRea