1st-- know what greens are good all the time, which are good some of the time, and which are good rarely. My favorite staples are: collard greens & mustard greens. The rest of my mix changes weekly. I've added in cilantro, parsley, spring mix, kale, beet greens, bok choy, and others. You can grow your own greens, buy them from farmer's markets, or get them from any produce seciton.
2nd- buy your greens. I buy most of my greens from Wal-mart or from a local grocery store. Sometimes I'll buy a box of Organic spring mix from Costco, but lately my reptiles can't eat all of it before it goes bad (so it doesn't really save me much money even though it is super cheap).
3rd- I soak all my greens in the sink for 5 minutes. Then I swish them around with my hand. You can buy organic greens, but you should wash them anyways.
4th- I cut the stems and wilted pieces off my greens. I save the ends & such and put them in a bag to send to my neighbor's chickens. I chop up the greens and put them in my plastic reptile greens container.
Putting a paper towel in the box keeps the greens from going mushy quickly. I change the paper towel out frequently (every other day or so).
5th-- I will grate other veggies: carrots, squash, zucchini, apples, red bell peppers, etc and put them in separate containers. I learned the hard way that storing other veggies with my greens makes them all go bad. :( So now I just grab out my greens box and my other containers.
6th-- I never have enough feeding/watering dishes to go with my rescue tanks and am always buying them. I was so excited last weekend when I found small, rounded plates at a thrift store for a quarter a piece. I bought a dozen of them.
Now I can pull out my clean plates along with my greens and dish up the greens from the kitchen and then deliver them to my tanks.
7th-- all my old, dried greens go into my compost box. Though I do have a few beardies who will NOT eat greens until they are totally dried out & crispy. Crazy beardies!
8th-- repeat when the greens are gone. I do it at least weekly, but sometimes every 5 days.
This way saves time & works well for me-- especially when I have 8 beardies to prepare greens for and an iguana-- that iguana eats a TON of greens twice a day. :) Sometimes I'm not as organized and I find myself scrambling to find things to feed my reptiles-- which is no fun. It's just easier to play ahead.
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Here's a link to my FAVORITE list of what beardies can eat:
Beardie Dragon Diet
The key is variety. No beardie likes to eat the same thing over and over. If you're finding your beardie has stopped eating greens, then switch it up. Let them try something new to see if they'll start eating again. Swapping out your veggies will make sure that your beardies get many essential vitamins & nutrients.
Share your own tricks, secrets, and ideas in the comments box below!
