Can I feed my bearded dragon shrimp to help him eat veggies?

Some of it depends on the age of the beardie. If young, make sure any live food is small enough for it. Meal works, crickets or even pinkie mice Here's a good recipe for a reptile salad. Basic Salad Recipe 1/2 cup shredded raw green beans 1/2 cup shredded raw orange-fleshed squash (such as acorn, banana, kabocha, spaghetti, and pumpkin) - you can occasionally alternate with carrots 1 medium or 2 small raw shredded parsnips (in areas where these are seasonally hard to find, you can substitute with asparagus or cooked or canned lima, navy or kidney beans that have been well rinsed and minced or mashed. If you use beans, add extra calcium to offset their high phosphorus) * 1/4 cup mashed/minced fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mangos, papaya, figs, cantaloupe, cactus pear) Alfalfa ** Multivitamin and calcium supplements * If parsnips are a seasonal vegetable where you live, you can use 1/2 cup shredded asparagus, trading off with 1/2 cup drained, rinsed, and chopped canned cooked lima beans, plus additional calcium to make up for the lousy calcium:phosphorus ratio in beans. Cooked beans are acceptable for short term use only due to their phosphorous content and other chemicals that can impede the uptake of minerals and trace elements. Asparagus is comparable in protein to parsnip, but does contain oxalates, so should not be a long-term staple. ** The quantity of alfalfa you use will depend upon the alfalfa product you are using. You want to add about 15 grams of protein. That is about 1/2 cup of alfalfa rabbit pellets, or about 1/4 cup or less of alfalfa leaf tea or a tablespoon or so of alfalfa powder. The older the healthy iguana is, the less protein they need, so you may end up using only a couple of teaspoons for an adult iguana. Thoroughly mix all the Basic Salad Recipe ingredients together. Makes about 3.5-4 cups. Add in a multivitamin supplement (any multivitamin supplement for birds or reptiles is fine, but the best, actually, is powder from a crushed Centrum tablet) and a calcium supplement. You do not need to get a calcium supplement that has phosphorous or D3 in it, as the iguana is already getting considerably phosphorous from the plants and multivitamin, and their D3 is best manufactured in their bodies by regular exposure to direct sunlight or special UVB-producing fluorescents. And more good info on husbandry and feeding isnhere. If temperature is not correct they also may not eat. http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

Feed him as many appropriately sized (no bigger than the space between his eyes) crickets or dubia roaches as he will eat in 10-15 minutes. Baby beardies are eating machines consuming as many as 80 crickets or more daily! Juveniles will eat more live pretty than vegetables. Offer about a tablespoon or two of finely chopped spring mix for him. Change it daily. You can also offer squash, peppers, asparagus, pumpkin and yams just to name a few other veggies. Avoid iceberg lettuce, celery and light colored greens. These offer little in the way of nutrition.

Thanks for reaching out about Smaug and including photos. Adult bearded dragons are omnivorous eating bugs and vegetation. With the vegetables, red, yellow and orange vegetables are also important. Insect have inverse calcium to phosphorus ratio and are a poor long term diet. Gut loading the insects is important to provide appropriate nutrients. If he doesn't get as much bugs, he might be hungry and eat the vegetables. By the photos, he is a little overweight indicated by the thickness of the tail and fat pads in the axillary (armpit) area. Good luck.

It sounds like you are doing just fine but I would say that the insects should be offered only once per day. So when you feed him, give him as many insects as he can eat within a 10-15 minute time frame and then remove the remaining insects from their tank. Fresh salads should be offered daily and consist of greens such as collards, dandelions or mustard greens as their staple vegetables (should be included in every salad). When you give your beardie insects you will need to make sure that the insect isn't too big. If it is longer than the space between it's eyes, then it is too large. Insects should be sprinkled with some calcium and a multivitamin before feeding. VERY IMPORTANT!! Hope this helps. Best wishes!

Since lettuce is mostly water it is not nutritious for bearded dragons. Because of this it is best to avoid feeding your bearded dragon lettuce or any greens with the word "lettuce" in the name. Spinach is also another food to avoid. While spinach is healthy, calcium binds easily to it which can make it hard for your bearded dragon to digest. Do not feed your bearded dragons avocados. They are toxic, but their toxicity levels are unknown so it's best to avoid them. Your Bearded Dragon's diet should replicate what she would eat in the wild. It should include insects, vegetables, fruit and greens. Insects: Crickets Mealworms Kingworms Waxworms Earthworms Cockroaches Locusts Fruits: Figs Kiwi Melon Apples Mango Papaya Dates Peaches Apricots Plums Strawberries Vegetable list: Broccoli Ocra Peas Green beans Butternut squash Sweet potato Bell pepper Greens: Kale Collards Parsley Clover Dandelion greens Turnip greens Mustard greens Endive Here are some items they can eat occasionally: sprouts, tomatoes, blueberries, pears, grated carrots, banana, grapes and cucumber. You will need to prepare some of fruit and veggies by taking the peel off and/or cutting it down into bite-sized pieces. This is a good article that has more information that may help you: http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-nutrition-data.php#fruit Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Offer the greens in the morning, about an hour or two after the lights and heat turn on. Be sure they are finely chopped. You can sprinkle bits of freeze dried crickets or mealworms on them to stimulate the appetite. Once she finishes the greens, offer protein.

Confirm proper temperatures. Low temps can affect activity, appetite and digestion in reptiles. Soak Jax in a warm 50/50 solution of water and unflavored PediaLyte. This will provide heat and may treat or prevent mild dehydration. Be sure prey is appropriately sized, no bigger than the space between the eyes. Look for pinhead crickets or freshly hatched/molted dubia roaches. Gutload them for 24 hours prior to offering to maximize nutritional value. Fluker's Repti-Boost can be used as a supplement. If Jax does not begin eating, have him examined by your veterinarian or an experienced herp vet to diagnose illness or injury.