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Getting frustrated on what is a staple veg and greens and what is not

3K views 7 replies 2 participants last post by  Mum of Cactus 
#1 ·
Hi all, I’m getting quite frustrated with which veg and greens I can feed Cactus EVERY day, as a staple not as an occasional food. I have searched the whole of my town and cannot find spring greens anywhere as I know they can be used. So what other greens can be used everyday without causing harm or ill health to our little fella? Same for vegetables too ie red/green/yellow pepper, sweet potato, celery etc. So confused
 
#2 ·
PLANTS -VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

You should be aiming to provide a minimum of five different types of plant matter on a daily basis, now, this might seem like a lot, but it’s nothing compared to the variety these guys would much on out in the wild, and more variety you provide, the better the range of nutrients it gets and the better the chances you stand of never having to take it to a vets. By providing a good varied diet you might spend a few more pounds a week (at most.) but you will save yourself hundreds of pounds on vet appointments, treatments and follow up care.

I honestly mean that, if you don’t provide a good diet for the animal you WILL end up spending hundreds and hundreds of pounds trying to undo the long term health complications of providing inadequate nutrition. You won’t know there’s something wrong until its reached a stage that its having a physical impact that it can’t hide anymore, and Bearded Dragons (indeed reptiles in general) hide illness VERY well.

There are things that can be fed every day, some that should be fed only a few times a week and some that should only be fed 4 or 5 times a year, as well as things you should never ever feed a Bearded Dragon. This is due to a variety of things that can be found in these plants, some are toxic, some interfere with calcium absorption and others have a direct negative impact on health. Others have high levels of things that a Dragon can only have in limited quantity (and nutrition is a huge, huge subject so I can’t explain it all her)

The easiest way to provide a good mix of “Veggies” is to pick something like 5 different veggies that can be fed on a daily basis. To this pick a couple of things that are occasional veggies and make a batch of salad up that will last 3 or 4 days. This can then go in the fridge in a plastic container to keep it fresh. Misting it after a couple of days will help maintain its shelf life.

Then, when you make the next batch, exclude the two veggies that were taken from the occasional veggies list and chose two different ones. This way, you can end up creating a rotation, ensuring a good variety of veggies and as such providing a wide variety of nutrients and a balanced health diet.

When preparing salad, you should cut out any stems or thick veins in leaves (like the central veins in romaine lettuce or spring greens) and chop it into suitably sized bits. The younger the dragon, the smaller it should be. Adults are quite able to much away on a large leaf but babies or juveniles will struggle.

Staple foods you can easily find in your supermarket:
Spring Greens, Butternut Squash, Radicchio, Lambs Lettuce, Watercress, Basil, Endive/Frisee Lettuce, Rocket, Cucumber, Sweetheart Cabbage, Sage (There are lots and lots more…)

Occasional foods you can easily find in your supermarket:
Blueberries, Apple, Strawberries, Papaya (In fact any fruit they can have should be occasional and used as a treat) Celery, Bell Peppers, Pea Shoots, Carrot, Bok Choi, Parsley, Romaine Lettuce (There are lots and lots more…)

Foods you should never feed:
Spinach, Citrus Fruit (Orange, Lemon etc.) Rhubarb, Avocado, Bran, Wheat, Eggplant, Garlic (This list goes on)

It’s important that if you try to feed anything new you check before that its suitable, some foods will be listed as “Never Feed” for a variety of reasons, for example, Orange and Spinach CAN be fed but only in small amounts and only a couple of times a YEAR…as such they will be considered items not to use.

Things such as Rhubarb are listed as Never for a very different reason, they are toxic to Bearded Dragons, as such, never means NEVER
 
#4 ·
Thank oh AzastraI I read the other thread it was so helpful. I had researched vegetables etc before we got Cactus but it’s so conflicting and worrying, what one person says is good others say it’s a no no. I will follow your advice and feed him a big variety from what you posted. Thanks again
 
#5 ·
Well that is most certainly not a complete list. If you search the forums there are lots of food lists up, Sal does some excellent ones if you can find it in the history somewhere.

Just try and give as good a mix you can. If you want to cheat...
Morrisons do a Herb salad, florette do a salad mix called crispy and you can get bags of things like lambs lettuce and rocket.
Herb salad and florette crispy gives you about 7 or 8 different veggies, bag of each and you have a good supply for 4 or 5 days easily, just mix it up and pop it in a tub, about day 3 give a light mist and toss and you should get 5 days out of it. (always look for the bags with longest best before dates on them).
Can also do herb salad and lambs lettuce and rocket, another quick fix mix.
Jusst remember to take out any thick bits of stem/core viens as they can be a bit tough for them.

REALLY good staples are spring greens, butternut squash, rocket, lambs lettuce and sweetheart cabbage, remember with things like the cabbage and squash you dont want too thick a bits, might find a mandolin really useful here (i use it for stuff like squash to get thin slices)
Can pick couple of staples, and then add on top out of things like pea shoots, small amounts of carrot, kale, romaine lettuce and so on... the bigger the working list of stuff you can use, the more you can mix it up, but variety is so important.... start them right and they will be really healthy little guys, same goes with the insects, whatever variety you can do, its def worth it.
 
#6 ·
Thanks again Azastral. He does love his Rocket and I add parsley and basil some weeks as well as sweet potato, peppers squash, Bok choy, ocassionly carrot apple, grape or blueberry. I even purchased some bee pollen powder (organic) to sprinkle on his salad. Insect wise it’s locusts, just waiting on a large batch of Dubias, calci worms (every two weeks) and waxworms every 6 weeks as a treat. Tried to get silkworms but they’re out of stock. I shall peruse Morrison’s for the other greens you mentioned too. We’re first time lizard owners so really want to do right by the little fella. When we got him he was 2-3 months old and 6.5 inches now he’s 4-5 months and 12 inches so he is growing, active and healthy. He poops everyday his basking rock is 42c, hotter if my house is warm with these summer days, his cool side varies from 24-26c I mist his hide a couple of hours before lights out to keep it cool and he has plenty pro rep substrate to dig to make his bed. The ambient temp is 35-40c again depends on if it’s really hot outside, my house gets hot. His humidity is anything from 30%- 45%. I hope I’m doing things right. Please feel free to tell me if I’m going wrong or anything else I can do to make his life the best. Thank you
 
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