You love your pet, and it depends on you completely in order to provide the kind of life it requires to be happy, healthy, and live a long time. This is a lot of pressure, knowing even a simple mistake could make your pet very sick- or worse.
One of the most important things in caring for your pet is what is safe to feed your beardie and what isn’t. Just because your bearded dragon will eat something doesn’t mean it should. In this article, we will specifically discuss grapes and other fruits. Can bearded dragons eat grapes? Should they? Let’s find out now!
Table of Contents
- Can Bearded Dragons Eat Grapes?
- What’s the Ideal Diet to Feed Your Bearded Dragon?
- Fruits to Avoid for Your Bearded Dragon
Can Bearded Dragons Eat Grapes?
The answer is yes…sort of. Bearded dragons love fruit. Both red purple and green grapes can be fed to them occasionally. While bearded dragons love grapes, it is important for you to understand that they contain a lot of water, sugar and fruit acid. Because they are high in sugar, this makes them inappropriate as an everyday food, but an excellent occasional treat.
Another thing to keep in mind is that bearded dragons should only be fed seedless grapes. Cutting up the green and red grapes ensures that there are no seeds, since even the occasional seedless options may have grape seeds and can block its digestive tract. You may also want to remove the grape skin, especially for younger dragons.
In fact, cutting up the grapes is a good idea for several reasons. Although bearded dragons can eat grapes whole, many owners prefer to cut them up to make it easier for their dragons to eat and to eliminate any possibility of choking. If you’re going to feed grapes to your pet, be sure they’re in smaller pieces.
What’s the Ideal Diet to Feed Your Bearded Dragon?
Only feed your pet a diet that keeps it healthy. Just because something is cute to feed it or the dragon seems to enjoy it doesn’t mean it’s good food for it. Doing so will help avoid ailments such as metabolic bone disease and fatty liver disease.
Since this species is an omnivore, bearded dragons eat greens and other animals. As babies and juveniles, they require about 70% insects/protein and 30% greens. Gut-loaded crickets and dubia roaches are great options for staple foods, with hornworms, waxworms, and butterworms being an occasional treat. A few classic greens/veggies for a proper bearded dragon’s diet include collard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, butternut squash, acorn squash, and bell peppers.
Tip: Dragons eat grape leaves! Grape leaves are high in protein and calcium, and low in phosphorus. This means they are more nutritious for bearded dragons than the fruit itself.
Fruits to Avoid for Your Bearded Dragon
Just like people, eating fruits is healthy for your pet. That’s not to say all fruits are a suitable addition to their diet. You want to pay special attention to fruits and veggies high in oxalates. Oxalates bind together and form calcium stones. These can prevent your lizard from absorbing beneficial nutrients in their digestive tract. This causes health problems, and may even possibly lead to dehydration.
Grapes contain oxalates, but a small amount. Any sorts of citrus fruits (lemon, orange, grapefruit) should not be fed to your pet, or to gutload insects your pet is eating. Do not feed your bearded dragon avocado, as it is always poisonous to them. Other foods to avoid are spinach and broccoli, which bind calcium, and any kind of lettuce, which will give it diarrhea in addition to being void of nutrients.
Can bearded dragons eat grapes? Yes, bearded dragons can eat grapes but only as an occasional treat.
Be sure to provide your pet reptile with the best food for bearded dragons. With any additional questions about caring for your bearded dragon, reach out to us and ask! You can also acquire the best supplies for your bearded dragon that’ll create the ideal environment for your pet reptile. You can be sure you’ll find items such as tanks with the proper temperature ranges, cage decorations, and more!
