Bearded Dragon Fruit
What Fruits Can Bearded Dragons Eat?
We often get asked what fruits can bearded dragons eat, or indeed whether they in fact can eat any fruits at all. Bearded dragons can definitely eat fruit, however some fruits are more suitable than others. You should really only give a bearded dragon fruit as an occasional treat though not as part of their staple diet.
This category contains all our posts about which fruits are safe for bearded dragons to eat and which are not.
Fruits are high in water content which can be helpful to keep your bearded dragon hydrated. However, vegetables are generally a better option for this as they contain less sugar.
All fruits are high in sugar content, which has a number of risk factors for bearded dragons. The following things can occur if you feed too much fruit to your bearded dragon.
- Calcium deficiency, which in turn leads to Metabolic Bone Disease. A lot of the fruits listed here are high in oxalates which bind to calcium and prevent its uptake into the system.
- Tooth decay, because of the sugar content.
- Over-fermentation in the gut, again because of the sugar content.
- Obesity, due to the sugar content and lack of exercise experienced by captive dragons.
- Acidity regulation. Many fruits are quite acidic in nature, particularly of course the citrus fruits and tomatoes. We recommend avoiding fruits that are too acidic as it upsets the natural balance of gut flora required for proper digestion of other foods.
- Too much sugar, acid or water will potentially cause diarrhoea and therefore dehydration. So even though fruit contains a lot of water, they could lose more than they gain if they’re fed too much fruit.
Check the individual articles below to see which fruits bearded dragons can eat.
