Can Bearded Dragons Eat Apples? 7 Secrets

Can bearded dragons eat apples? Well, your bearded dragon deserve the right food and diet to maintain great health. Maybe some cucumbers, cabbage, or mango.

But most of us wonder; which food or snacks should your avoid or give to beardies? Well, bearded dragons eat a variety of foods like fruits, vegetables or commercial foods.

But can bearded dragons eat apple? Yes, bearded dragons will eat apples. However, for a healthy diet, peel the apple’s skin and cut the fruit into small pieces.

Ensure the Caution – only feed apples like a treat because excessive apples will lead to runny stools. Apples are a source of nutrients including vitamin C, proteins, fiber and so on. Apples also contain a lot of water which helps in hydrating your beardies.

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Bearded Dragons and the Apples

Apples make a very good diet for bearded dragons like tomatoes eat bearded dragons. Apples are good for because of their high nutrition value. But peel the apple fruit first before feeding on the beardies.

Notably apples are a good source of vitamin C, protein, fiber, carbs and so on. Though bearded dragons require small amounts of vitamin C, it’s a vital component of their diet.

Improperly or unpeeled apples fed onto the bearded dragon could cause impaction. Also, give the apples as snacks – in small bits to avoid running stools. You can give bearded dragons water from some bowl.

Deficiency in vitamin C can cause stomatitis, bleeding gums, bruising of skin. Bearded dragons or reptiles exhibiting such conditions are usually treated using vitamin C – known this to properly care for your bearded dragon.

Apples consist about 86% water. That gives you a perfect means of hydrating your bearded dragon. Notably these creatures drink little water and most of them don’t even know how to drink water from a bowl. In fact, it takes time to train your beardie how to drink water. However, when you feed then with apples, you don’t have to worry about dehydration.

Apples meant for bearded dragons need to be washed properly to remove chemicals used for pest control. Ingesting pesticides can make your beardie very sick or even result to death. In addition, apples should be peeled and sliced into very thin slices to make it easy for them to chew.

Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Apples?

You can feed your baby bearded dragon on apples but not on a regular basis. The diet of baby bearded dragons should consist of 80% animal protein since they are still in their growing stage.

So, they should be fed more on insects such as roaches, worms, crickets and so on.

Their plant protein diet should only be 20%. Therefore, baby bearded dragons should be fed with minimal amounts of apples. This applies to other fruits and vegetables.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Apple Skins?

Well, bearded dragons will eat apples as part of their diet. However, don’t feed the apple skins or peels to the bearded dragons as this may cause trigger runny stools.

Also, cut the apples into small bits after peeling their skins. Because bearded dragons won’t chew properly, the small bites makes it easy to eat and equally delicious.

Bearded dragons won’t easily eat the apple skins or peels. The pets are unable to properly digest the apples skins and thus you’ll need to avoid feeding them on your beardies.

Can Bearded Dragons Drink Apple Juice?

Apples are very enticing to bearded dragons. So, they won’t resist the taste of apple juice. However, they should be given small amounts of apple juice because it’s sugary drink.

Too much sugar isn’t good for a bearded dragon’s stomach. It causes loose stool thus leading to a lot of mess in their cage. You can take advantage of the sweetness in apple juice to teach your bearded dragon how to drink water from a bowl.

Beardies are not used to drinking water from a pool when in the wild. They normally hydrate from their diet which mainly consists of plants and insects.

Adding apple juice to the beardie’s water bowl makes the water a little bit tasty. Your pet will get lured to the flavoured water and with time it will get used to using the water bowl even without the flavour.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Green Apples?

Most of the apples appear red in color. But there’s also a green apple going by the name Granny Smith Apple. Bearded dragons will eat all types of apples regardless of color.

Their differences in nutrition content are negligible, with the green apple having higher protein, iron and potassium content.

The only notable difference is their taste. Red apples are sweeter while green apples have a sour taste. Also, green apples have a slightly greater fiber content compared to the red apples.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Apple Peels?

Fruit peels including apple peels should not be given to bearded dragons for two reasons. First, bearded dragons have a delicate digestive system which cannot effectively digest apple peels. Chewing the peels also proves difficult for these tender creatures.

Another reason why you should not feed your beardie on apple peels is that the skin might contain chemicals sprayed on apples. Ingesting such chemicals can lead to illness or even death.

How to Feed Bearded Dragon with Apples

Some bearded dragons take some time to get accustomed to a new diet or environment. As a result you might notice that your beardie isn’t eating apples.

But with some effort and trick you can easily get your bearded dragon to start eating apples. Follow these steps to prepare and teach your beardie to eat apples:

Wash the apples to remove dirt and any chemicals used as pesticides.
Peel off the skin using a knife or vegetable peeler. Ensure you don’t lose too much of the flesh. If this is too much work, you can get a mini peeler to help you peel apples in a short time.
Slice the apples into very thin pieces. Bearded dragons won’t be able to chew large chunks of apples. For baby beardies, the pieces should be even smaller.
You can chop a sizeable amount of apples and store in the refrigerator for future use. But of course you should defrost the pieces before feeding. When feeding your beardie with apples from the freezer sprinkle some thiamin powder since freezing causes a reduction in thiamin.
Place the pieces in a shallow bowl so that your beardie can easily see what’s inside.

If you’re giving them apples for the first time, they might refuse to eat. In this case, you can teach them to eat apples through hand-feeding. You can touch the beardie’s mouth with a piece of apple so that it gets a taste of the sweetness.

Conclusion

Apples are an ideal diet for bearded dragons in addition to other plants like vegetables. Other than being a source of vitamins and fibre, apples are less acidic which makes them good for beardies.

When feeding your beardie on apples, ensure that they are thoroughly cleaned, peeled and chopped into small pieces. Plus do not overfeed your pet on apples.

There’re plenty of other foods you can give to your beardie including insects and leafy vegetables. In particular, baby beardies should be given very small amounts of apples.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Apples? 7 Secrets