Can Bearded Dragons Eat Iceberg Lettuce?

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can bearded dragons eat iceberg lettuce

Iceberg is the most available and popular variety of lettuce worldwide, but can bearded dragons eat Iceberg lettuce?

Yes, it is safe to serve it to the bearded dragon, but it is not recommended to be on your bearded dragon’s diet list.

Feeding your beardie with iceberg lettuce is like hydrating it with water, meaning it is nutritionally poor, which serves no good and benefits the beardie’s health.

Iceberg lettuce is good for hydration which is an exceptional salad and alternative for water when the weather is hot because they are incredibly high in water content and low in sugar.

Besides having high moisture and low sugar content, why is iceberg lettuce considered a poor diet for your bearded dragon?

 

Why Iceberg Lettuce serves no good and benefit to your Beardie’s Health

 

Iceberg lettuce serves neither good nor benefits because it lacks vital nutrients for your beardie’s health and growth and development.

Generally, Calcium, vitamins, and proteins are the essential diets your bearded dragon needs the most to support their healthy growth, development, and wellness.

Lettuce does offer a little Vitamin A, C, and K, folate, and potassium, all of which your beardie needs. However, it is just not very nutrient-dense and not a great source of calcium. 

 

Especially, Baby and Juvenile beardie require 80% protein and 20% leafy greens and vegetables to enhance their rapid growth and strong bone development.

Therefore, feeding them with Iceberg would not be proportional and useless to their high protein demand, which would then result in stunted growth and metabolic bone disease. 

 

Or, more to the point, a bearded dragon has a small stomach that quickly gets full when you feed it with iceberg lettuce because it contains 96-95% water content.

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Mostly all the contents in the stomach will be absorbed in the beardie’s body, making food go through their digestive system in the form of diarrhea and also cause other digestive complications.

Furthermore, Iceberg should also be the worst choice of all the lettuce because the high moisture content blocks other nutrients from getting absorbed in the beardie’s body, especially the baby and juvenile beardies.

 

However, the downsides of Iceberg lettuce do not automatically rule it out from your beardie’s diet, provided you know the right amount to serve your beardie.

We recommend you offer bearded dragon Iceberg lettuce during adverse times when; there is no water available, it is hydrated, and the weather is hot to replace the lost moisture in the body.

 

How to Feed Iceberg Lettuce to Bearded Dragons

 

Despite being nutritional, serving your beardie with Iceberg will not have any harmful health effects provided you understand the right amount to serve your beardie.

The best way to prevent diarrhea and other digestive complication while feeding your bearded dragon with Iceberg is to supplement it with a high protein, calcium, and vitamins diet as a salad.

 

In the salad, we recommend only 10% Iceberg in the meal to minimize your beardie from getting filled too quickly.

You should not serve Iceberg occasionally, instead once or twice a week is safe, and more than that will induce diarrhea and other digestive health complications.

Twice a week is better during the summer season to meet their hydration demand.

 

In addition, you should also be cautious about the amount of Iceberg you feed them because it depends on their age.

Strictly, do not give baby bearded dragons any lettuce because they need a high protein and calcium diet to support their growth and bone development.

 

Secondly, you should avoid it because it is not dense with nutrients and prevents absorption of nutrients.

But you can feed juvenile beardies with half a leaf of Iceberg once a week. Indeed, their protein to vegetable ratio demand is 1:1.

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Serve adult beardies with a single leaf of Iceberg once or twice a week. They demand 75% vegetables/leafy greens and 25% protein since they have fully grown and developed.

However, if you notice your beardie has diarrhea, stop serving Iceberg in a couple of days until its feces is firmer.

 

Instead of Iceberg Lettuce, What Vegetables Should My Bearded Dragon Eat?

 

Generally, lettuce does not provide any health benefit to your beardie; however, you may opt for other vegetables that are much more nutritious to ingest.

Focusing on other greens is much wiser than feeding your beardie with lettuce. These include Kale, Bok choy, Collard greens, Dandelion greens, Mustard greens, Zucchini. They are healthy and will help to nourish your pet.

These leafy greens are safe and nutritious, with essential and significant vitamins and minerals for their growth and development.

Moreover, vegetables like; yellow squash, carrots, artichoke heart, acorn squash, and raw bell peppers are nutritious like leafy greens mentioned above.

 

While serving your pet with either leafy greens or vegetables, supplement with proteins like insects and other worms. This is especially true for the baby and juvenile.

Darker greens like beet tops and spinach are nutritious, but you should avoid offering them to your beardies.

Because they contain chemicals and minerals that inhibit calcium and other nutrients absorption in the beardie’s body. 

However, it would help to avoid vegetables grown from non organic fertilized soil. They contain a high amount of nitrates and pesticide chemicals.

These elements make non-organic vegetables and leafy greens not health-friendly to your beardie and not environmentally safe.

Good examples of herbs and other safe plants for your beardie to eat include; Clover, Thyme, Daylilies, Rose petal, Carnations, Oregano, Sage, Basil, and Dandelion greens.

Letting your beardie naturally feed on the herbs is an excellent way of encouraging it to exercise and hunt for food. Similar to what it would do in its natural habitat.

Furthermore, the food is also fresh and healthy with the best flavor and pleasant texture.

 

Related Questions 

 

  1. Besides Iceberg, are other leafy lettuce safe for your beardie?

 

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Be it Butter lettuce, Romaine lettuce, or Green leaf lettuce, they are safe for your beardie. But they do not offer dense nutritional value to your beardie’s health.

Therefore, you should avoid them if you can. If you have to provide leafy lettuce to your beardie, do it in moderation. This will avoid diarrhea and other digestive health complications.

 

  1. Apart from lettuce, what other foods should be avoided?

 

You should avoid serving your beardie foods like glowing insects, citric fruits, mushrooms, wild insects, seafood, and fish.

Glowing insects and mushrooms are highly toxic and eventually will kill your beardie if they ingest.

Citric fruits are acidic, which is not safe to ingest. They can hurt your beardie’s stomach by corroding its walls.

Wild insects are not healthy because they might have harmful pesticide and viral infections.

 

  1. How long should lettuce be left in the bearded dragon’s cage?

 

Since lettuce is high in moisture content, it goes bad quickly, thereby losing its freshness and tenderness within 2 hours.

Therefore, it should not be left in the beardie’s cage beyond 2 hours. Indeed, it could become the breeding ground for bacteria. 

 

Summary

 

Generally speaking, lettuce is not a bad choice to include in the beardie’s diet. You need to understand its downsides and the right amount to serve your pet.

Nevertheless, if you supplement it with fruits, and insects, lettuce would be good to your pet’s health.

However, you should take advantage of feeding it other herbs and vegetables from a young age. This will make them receptive to most foods you offer in the future because beardies aren’t picky eaters.

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