# How long can beardied dragons go without food?



## firefly19

I want to introduce new foods into my beardie's diet, how long can I safely leave her without food if she won't eat new stuff straight away?


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## Ex0tic

I've left my 2 beardies without food for 5-7 days when I went on holiday last year I fed them up with a lot and gave them tons of water before I went if that helps at all.


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## Azastral

It depends on the condition of the beardie to start with.

If you have a healthy dragon, with reasonable fat stores, they can go several weeks, if not months, without food.

If you are doing what i think you are doing, you plan to stop giving food that it will eat in order to get it to eat a more varied diet?
So a stubborn dragon which only eats one type of insect or plant having been fed a limited diet for some time?

The dragon WILL eat before risking starvation, and this can take a couple of months. Its a battle of wills, will you give in out of worry before the dragon gives in out of hunger?

If you are going to provide a mixed salad/veg bowl daily, and stop all live feed, expect it to take a good month before any signs of giving in.

There are two things to avoid.
First, if your dragon rapidily looses weight it could be a sign of other problems, watch its weight, you will get weight loss but it should be gradual as it burns its fat supplies.

Second, do NOT feed it anything that it would usually eat happily, as it will hold out for weeks at a time if it thinks you will then crack and feed it what it wants. If you feed it a couple of locusts after two weeks because you think it must have something, it will remember and will hold on for longer rather than eating whats readily available.

Beardies are stubborn, you have to be more persistant.


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## firefly19

Ex0tic said:


> I've left my 2 beardies without food for 5-7 days when I went on holiday last year I fed them up with a lot and gave them tons of water before I went if that helps at all.


Thanks Ex0tic, yes that helps a lot. Someone told me they can survive without food for 2 months, I wouldn't leave mine for that long.


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## firefly19

Azastral said:


> It depends on the condition of the beardie to start with.
> 
> If you have a healthy dragon, with reasonable fat stores, they can go several weeks, if not months, without food.
> 
> If you are doing what i think you are doing, you plan to stop giving food that it will eat in order to get it to eat a more varied diet?
> So a stubborn dragon which only eats one type of insect or plant having been fed a limited diet for some time?
> 
> The dragon WILL eat before risking starvation, and this can take a couple of months. Its a battle of wills, will you give in out of worry before the dragon gives in out of hunger?
> 
> If you are going to provide a mixed salad/veg bowl daily, and stop all live feed, expect it to take a good month before any signs of giving in.
> 
> There are two things to avoid.
> First, if your dragon rapidily looses weight it could be a sign of other problems, watch its weight, you will get weight loss but it should be gradual as it burns its fat supplies.
> 
> Second, do NOT feed it anything that it would usually eat happily, as it will hold out for weeks at a time if it thinks you will then crack and feed it what it wants. If you feed it a couple of locusts after two weeks because you think it must have something, it will remember and will hold on for longer rather than eating whats readily available.
> 
> Beardies are stubborn, you have to be more persistant.


I want to make sure she has a more varied diet, she likes Kiwi Fruit but she can only have that occasionally. I've tried doing this before but I gave in before she did. I will persevere this time.I'll let you know how I get on


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## Azastral

They tend to like fruit a lot... anything sweet (apple, blueberries, raspberry, papaya, strawberry) But ALL fruit should be treated like sweets, and once a week maybe twice at most.

If you are trying to get more varied veg in, start with things like butternut squash, rocket, lambs lettuce.
Tend to be popular with them (squash in particular).

I would need to know more about what you do feed and how often to give a more specific idea, but i would stop all live feed (because they will just live off that if they dont want the veg) and start with Butternut squash, sweatheart cabbage, spring greens, lambs lettuce and kale all mixed up.

All are good staple veggies, cut out the thick stems and chop into smaller bits, either grate or use a peeler to get strips of butternut squash (get the thick outer skin off it first). 

Once peeled/grated the shredded/thinly sliced squash doesnt last too well (two days before getting a bit slimey) but the rest of it you can do a big batch up and keep in a tb in the fridge for 4 or 5 days easy.
Second week, swap out one of the veg for something different (pea shoots, cucumber, bell peppers etc) and so on.

So slightly different salad each week, and put a mixed handful in each day fresh, empty it before bed and fresh in the next morning.


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## firefly19

Azastral said:


> They tend to like fruit a lot... anything sweet (apple, blueberries, raspberry, papaya, strawberry) But ALL fruit should be treated like sweets, and once a week maybe twice at most.
> 
> If you are trying to get more varied veg in, start with things like butternut squash, rocket, lambs lettuce.
> Tend to be popular with them (squash in particular).
> 
> I would need to know more about what you do feed and how often to give a more specific idea, but i would stop all live feed (because they will just live off that if they dont want the veg) and start with Butternut squash, sweatheart cabbage, spring greens, lambs lettuce and kale all mixed up.
> 
> All are good staple veggies, cut out the thick stems and chop into smaller bits, either grate or use a peeler to get strips of butternut squash (get the thick outer skin off it first).
> 
> Once peeled/grated the shredded/thinly sliced squash doesnt last too well (two days before getting a bit slimey) but the rest of it you can do a big batch up and keep in a tb in the fridge for 4 or 5 days easy.
> Second week, swap out one of the veg for something different (pea shoots, cucumber, bell peppers etc) and so on.
> 
> So slightly different salad each week, and put a mixed handful in each day fresh, empty it before bed and fresh in the next morning.


At the moment she has rocket and locusts, I know this is not a good diet but I have tried other things and she will not eat them. I took her to the vet for a health check and he said she is perfectly healthy but it would be good to get other things in her diet. She loves rocket, hates butternut squash but I will try other greens. I know she can only have fruit once or twice a week but what is the best way to feed apple? Can she have kiwi fruit?


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## Azastral

With apple i slice it very thin and hand feed so they take bites out of it, if i put it in their bowls i dice it into little bits like you would with an onion when cooking.

Not sure about kiwi, never tried it, but search online and you should be able to find an answer.

I would stop the rocket and locusts, only give mixed salad (4 or 5 different varies at a time) and stick to it for a good six weeks, changing the salad one item at a time each week like i mentioned earlier.

Watch the weight, any rapid weight loss and you will have to try a different idea, most people say no more than 10% body weight loss (which should be the fat stores)

If already slim or skinny or signs of bones poking out then this is not a good idea, needs to be a healthy animal with some fat stores as they will deliberately not eat until they have to or until you feed them something they like.


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## firefly19

Thanks for the help, like I said in an earlier post she's been checked by my vet and he said she is healthy. Apparently kiwi is okay but only occasionally, once or twice a week. I gave her rocket, kiwi and carrot yesterday, as expected she didn't touch it. I will been offering sweetheart cabbage, carrot and apple today, watch this space.


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