# Spinach and rocket a no-no for beardeds?



## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

Can I give my bearded dragon (adult) rocket or spinach? Upon looking on various sites people have given me on here I noticed these two greens have conflicting advice on them. Some say is a good staple and others say it makes their poop runny. Also apple is either fine or too acidic and none say wether to peel the skin off first. Think I asked here about apple before anyway and the skin and people said it was fine to leave the skin on? And he didn't eat any of it anyway. 
He's not eating anything again veg wise. I tried everything on the list I can get my hands on. 
Can I buy seeds to grow my own dandelions indoors? Thanks.


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## sn8ks4life (Jul 27, 2011)

as far as im aware spinich is to rich in iron i think, bannana has to much potassium and theres something in iceberg lettuce which is a no no aswell... this is what ive been taught, like to know how acurate it is:lol2: all the beardies in the shop and mine absolutley adore rocket, kale, mango etc.. dont see why u cant grow your own dandelions indoors?
and if hes not eating the fruit and veg try putting it ontop of aload of mealworms to get the salad moving and he might eat it...
hope that helped even a little:/ LMAO


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## Reptor (May 2, 2011)

spinach is a is a def no no in my book as its very high in iron which stops the absorbtion of calcium by binding it. rocket i do give to mine and i find that their poo's are slightly runny but not alot which also lets me know that they are well hydrated. as for growing your own dandelions do you mean in the viv or seperate? as the viv is too hot and you wud have to water which would increase humity but in a window in house should be fine.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Rocket would be one of my choices of food that I would be happy to include daily, depending on what else was going in the food dish.

Spinach, if you wanted to include it I would not offer it more than once a year for the reasons stated above.


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## LizardFTI (Dec 2, 2006)

If your breadie wont eat his greens, try rubbing a little soft fruit on the leaves. I have to do this with my blue tongue skinks salad else he ignores it, but make it a little bit sweet and he will nom the lot ^__^


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## LittleC (Nov 24, 2011)

I feed mine rocket and baby leaf salad daily but was told by the breeder to stay away from spinach and iceburg lettuce as too much iron on them for beardies and rankins x


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## Jay1978 (Sep 1, 2009)

Spinach a deffo no no hun but they go mental over rocket and when I had dragons they used to get it a lot.

Jay 

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk


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## BeardedDee (May 26, 2010)

BlackRose said:


> Can I give my bearded dragon (adult) rocket or spinach? Upon looking on various sites people have given me on here I noticed these two greens have conflicting advice on them. Some say is a good staple and others say it makes their poop runny. Also apple is either fine or too acidic and none say wether to peel the skin off first. Think I asked here about apple before anyway and the skin and people said it was fine to leave the skin on? And he didn't eat any of it anyway.
> He's not eating anything again veg wise. I tried everything on the list I can get my hands on.
> *Can I buy seeds to grow my own dandelions indoors?* Thanks.


I've found they readily grow the leaves in pots on a window sill (not winter) but don't flower


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

Thankyou. That helped a lot. I will trybthe rocket then as vie been staying away from it till now. That's the last thing I havnt tried that I can buy in stores that he has a chance of eating. Spring greens he's never liked. I offer kale daily ane he's never eaten it. Watercress he's sick of even though it was his favourite and thats all he would eat. 

All cabbage is out isn't it except for bak/pak choi? He wont touch that.
I rarely give banana anyway and only a tiny bit which he does go for and seems to be the only thing. Maybe smear a bit on his salad?

I want to grow the dandelions outside the viv in the flat somewhere but unsure wether they'll grow in this cold season. And I don't know what part of it to give once it's grown?


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## Debbie1962 (Dec 5, 2008)

I think that many people panic too much about their beardies not eating enough or any veg. How much would they come across in the wild? Very little in the way of fruit I would have thought and any veggies/plants would be pretty dry and boring. I'm sure they would eat it if it was life or death but how many do you think would see a cricket then see a plant and say yummy plant and let the cricket go lol. 

So many veggies are unsuitable for one reason or another it's enough to do your head in. Spinach and Kale are calcium binders, Iceberg Lettuce has too much water in it, Cabbage isn't that great either, fruit can cause mouth rot, the list goes on.

I try to say to people that if your dragon has a healthy appetite be it greens or insects then you can't really ask for much more, sure variety is better but they are a bit like children and won't always eat their greens but don't panic about it.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

Thanks well some days he won't even eat crickets so he goes without a few days out the week. Being an oldie he's not as active as he once was and even when out he just sits there. During summer he's all over the place and I take him out now and then in the sun too which sometimes helps. 
I don't like to gve him buffalo mealies and they arnt a huge hit with him anyway. I never feed him live in the tank btw. Always on the floor or in a large tray type thing. He seems to eat on the floor a bit better.
Show him crickets on an off day and he won't touch em. Show him a tarantula or leopard gecko tank and he will go for the crickets in there! 
And if my spiders are out and he sees them he wants them! My fake robot butterfly in the jar I got...he wants that! So it's all about being bored I think, nothing else. Apart from he looks a bit skinny from time to time and his fat pads arnt as fat as they should ne and used to be he's fine in himself.

I used to feed him bits of red salad leaves in with his watercress when e started getting bored cos he went through a phase of loving only red leaved foods. 
Nothing gets his interest now at all. 

Also I was wondering how come bearded dragons can see waxworms if they're not supposed to see White?
Mine even sees the waxworm tub from across the room and goes mad trying to get out. I gotta give him some then even if they're meant for someone else cos I feel sorry for him and I think it's best he fattens up a bit and eats that than nothing else. I had a problem with my Leo eating before though and so i did the same thing and she got addicted to waxies! Took a long time to get her back onto crickets. Beardeds seem a lot more stubborn though!


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

BlackRose said:


> Thanks well some days he won't even eat crickets so he goes without a few days out the week. Being an oldie he's not as active as he once was and even when out he just sits there. During summer he's all over the place and I take him out now and then in the sun too which sometimes helps.
> I don't like to gve him buffalo mealies and they arnt a huge hit with him anyway. I never feed him live in the tank btw. Always on the floor or in a large tray type thing. He seems to eat on the floor a bit better.
> Show him crickets on an off day and he won't touch em. Show him a tarantula or leopard gecko tank and he will go for the crickets in there!
> And if my spiders are out and he sees them he wants them! My fake robot butterfly in the jar I got...he wants that! So it's all about being bored I think, nothing else. Apart from he looks a bit skinny from time to time and his fat pads arnt as fat as they should ne and used to be he's fine in himself.
> ...


I think that the whole white thing seems to come from if they are put in an entire space that is white, it would mess with their heads, (I have seen iguanas do this when put into a bathtub it tends to be why some panic alot) by offering it in an area where there are other colours around, the beardy would not struggle to see the worm.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

Im trying some apple again today. Skin or no skin do you think? Can find my old post on it.


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## sn8ks4life (Jul 27, 2011)

try mushing it up slightly without skin, if he eats that then u can try mushed up apple on his salad and it may encourage him to eat it.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

Success! Well he ate a little cube so far so pushed the bowl nearer to him, sprayed it with water for extra moisture and left him to it. I cut off what skin I could but couldn't seem to mash it. He prefers hard foods anyway and doesn't do too well with mushy squishy foods. 

Then the parrots had some and cut off what skin I could with theirs too just in case.


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## sn8ks4life (Jul 27, 2011)

BlackRose said:


> Success! Well he ate a little cube so far so pushed the bowl nearer to him, sprayed it with water for extra moisture and left him to it. I cut off what skin I could but couldn't seem to mash it. He prefers hard foods anyway and doesn't do too well with mushy squishy foods.
> 
> Then the parrots had some and cut off what skin I could with theirs too just in case.


fair play atleast he ate something:2thumb: lol... bet the parrots loved it to bless them
hope he carries on munching for ya: victory:


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## Debbie1962 (Dec 5, 2008)

How often do you feed him? As he's an adult I would only feed every other day that way you may get more interest out of him. I guess if he's and oldie, like my charlie, he may not want to eat as much as he used to. Charlie can often look like he needs a good feeding up but he seems fine in himself. If you want to rule out any parasites that may be affecting his appetite get a stool sample screened. It may put your mind at rest if nothing else.


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

dandelions will grow on your windowsill all year around, it`ll take ages for seeds to get to a size that you can use the leaves, but if you go outside and find some dandelions, you can dig up the root and pot that up, its like a white carrot and will give you a head start.


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