BD Not Eating Greens, What should I do?

I've only had my bearded dragon for a couple of days but I notice he hasn't eaten any of the salad stuff. He goes to town on the crickets but I'm worried that he wont get what he needs. I bought him at petsmart where I was told that they were feeding him mealworms and lettuce. Should I try lettuce to see if he eats it then switch to collards slowly? Or, should I try to hand feed him the collards? Please advise.

If it has just been a few days I wouldn't worry too much. It can take a while for them to settle down and get use to their new environment.

If it's still pretty small it will eat mainly crickets. When mine wasn't eating his greens I just put some in his mouth when he opened it as a defense, and now he seems to eat them without issue.

Try green beans, when my roomies doesnt eat lettuce he'll hold green beans in its face and he munches down like crazy.

Baby bearded dragons often won't regularly eat greens, especially if they are not brought up on them from birth (hatch? :) ). As they get older, they'll gradually form a larger and larger part of their diet. Just make sure the crickets are well dusted once a week with a vitamin supplement (different from a calcium supplement) and he'll be fine.

It is always better to get them to eat greens though if possible and I'd start him out on Romaine. Collards are more nutritious but Romaine is better tasting so start with that and try to get him hooked.

Thanks guys. How often should I feed him crickets? Right now he eats only once a day but eats several crickets at a time.

he will be fine since he is just a juvie. They need some time to adjust to their new surroundings. After they get older they do need their greens My adult female sometimes will not eat her greens but if she does not eat her greens then she does not get her supers which she loves. It took her no time at all to figure out what it took to get her supers...

i rarly see my adult eat veggies sometimes when i dont watch them and there all alone they eat them (or scrap them under the paper) cause the bowl will be empty

A good way to do it as well is try and give the greens first and wait for a bit before you give any crickets. If given the choice, they'll fill up on crickets any day. And transitioning from one green to another is pretty easily done by cutting up the 2 different kinds, the majority being what they are used to and slowly increasing the majority to what you want them to be eating.

I'd feed several times a day while it's young and less as they get older. And make sure you are soaking at least every other day as young beardies are very easily dehydrated.

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Originally Posted by Jabberwocky Dragons

Baby bearded dragons often won't regularly eat greens, especially if they are not brought up on them from birth (hatch? :) ). As they get older, they'll gradually form a larger and larger part of their diet. Just make sure the crickets are well dusted once a week with a vitamin supplement (different from a calcium supplement) and he'll be fine.

It is always better to get them to eat greens though if possible and I'd start him out on Romaine. Collards are more nutritious but Romaine is better tasting so start with that and try to get him hooked.

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^exactly!

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Originally Posted by enchantress62

Thanks guys. How often should I feed him crickets? Right now he eats only once a day but eats several crickets at a time.

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Feed him all the crickets he wants as a baby/juvie and offer collards. As an adult it will flip flop. Look in dubias, cannot say this enough. There are no cons to feeding your dragon them, just the person getting over the creepies. My dragon loves them and done 10x better than on crickets...plus you don't hear them chirp!