[JemmaLizard]

Hi, I need some advice about my bearded dragon. He is around 9-10 months old (not sure of his exact age but I got him in March 2014 when he was 21g). The problem is that he will not eat any vegetables at all.
I am offering spring greens daily with a combination of rocket, water cress, dandelion leaves, pea shoots, peppers, carrot, peas, mango, papaya, blueberries, strawberries etc. (I think I have tried nearly everything from the beautifuldragons list).
I have tried hand feeding, putting worms in the salad bowl, sprinkling it around his vivarium, spraying it with water, wiggling it around so it looks more alive, putting calcium on it, Repashy’s super veggie and I have ordered some bee pollen which should come today. I have tried withholding live food for 4 days so far (before I gave in) - but then he casually walked over and ate a couple of locusts as if he wasn't really that hungry.
He eats live food absolutely fine - he gets mainly locusts with some morio worms, occasionally crickets and pachnoda worms, I gut-load all of his live food with beardie-safe vegetables so he gets some vegetable nutrients.
He did pick at salad occasionally when I first got him but he has since stopped and wont touch it at all, he just closes his eyes when I try to hand feed it to him as if to say “I’m not eating that!”. He is otherwise healthy, he weighs 450g now. He has been to the vets a couple of times as he has positive stool samples for nematode ova when I got him and then coccidia (both now cleared) and the vets were happy with his health otherwise.
So my questions are, firstly, does anyone have any other suggestions for getting a bearded dragon to eat vegetables?
Secondly, I suspect that the only thing that may work is withholding live food as he is being stubborn. How long is appropriate to withhold live food for to get him eating salad?
Im sorry for the long post, thank you for any suggestions you can provide!

 

[Liamwilko]

I may be wrong but for 9-10 months that's a massive weight. Mine is around 10 months and only around 175-200g (I've not weighed for about 3 weeks). Mine is a female but this still seems like a huge weight difference for the age.
They can go weeks without eating anything so a few days they aren't even sweating it. Have you tried chopping it really finely then putting mealworms underneath it so when he picks the worms up he takes the veg with it?

Try florets crispy salad mix, I have used it for years just pick the more stalky bits out, mine goes mad for the red leaves so I finely chop then she has to take mouthfuls of mixed leaves to get the red.

 

[JemmaLizard]

I may be wrong but for 9-10 months that's a massive weight. Mine is around 10 months and only around 175-200g (I've not weighed for about 3 weeks). Mine is a female but this still seems like a huge weight difference for the age.
They can go weeks without eating anything so a few days they aren't even sweating it. Have you tried chopping it really finely then putting mealworms underneath it so when he picks the worms up he takes the veg with it?

Try florets crispy salad mix, I have used it for years just pick the more stalky bits out, mine goes mad for the red leaves so I finely chop then she has to take mouthfuls of mixed leaves to get the red.

Thank you for the quick reply. Wow that is a big difference, I always thought that my beardie's weight was about right for his age, he could be older than I think though, Iv just estimated that he was around 6-8 weeks when I got him, but could be wrong. I have tried chopping the veg finely but he seems to have excellent aim and will pick the worms out without taking any salad. I will try the florets crispy salad mix. Thank you.

 

[Pogonaviti]

Don't worry if he's not eating veg. Some just dont, so long as the live foods gut loaded he's getting the veg without knowing.
Also, I don't think going off weights is the best estimate for health ect as beardies do grow to different sizes. My little guy is fully grown and is a decent size but I have seen a beardy twice his size too. If he looks nice and healthy then he's fine.

 

[JemmaLizard]

[/url]Beardie by Jemmaeg, on Flickr[/IMG]

Here he is now, I think he looks healthy (Iv never posted a picture before so please bear with me if this doesn't work).

 

[Debbie1962]

He doesnt look overweight but I think he is older than what you think. He looks like an adult and has an adult weight so probably older than a year.

 

[Liamwilko]

I agree with Debbie I was about to say he looks like an adult and quite healthy. As suggested gut load your insects with the appropriate veggies and get them in him that way. I'd still continue to offer it then at least he has the choice to eat it or not.

 

[JemmaLizard]

Thank you all for your help, If he is an adult then he might just start eating his veg on his own when he's ready. Ill continue to offer a good salad daily and gut-load his live food with it. I forgot to ask the reptile shop when I got him how old he was and I really did not want to contact them again once I got him home. Thank you all.