Can Bearded Dragons Eat Watermelon?
Bearded dragons can safely eat watermelon and any other kind of melon too. However, it does need to be in moderation as melons, in general, don’t provide much nutritional value to bearded dragons.
As with most fruits, due to the high sugar content, you should only feed watermelon to an adult bearded dragon.
Babies and dragons of up to 12 months have more delicate digestive systems, as they’re still growing.
This means that you do need to be a little more sensitive to what they can and can’t eat.
While they’re growing the majority of their diet should be made up of protein, which can be obtained from live food.
Watermelon contains very little protein, if any, so isn’t suitable to help grow healthy bones and muscles.
How Do I Prepare a Watermelon for My Bearded Dragon?
Obviously, you can’t just plonk a whole watermelon in your dragon’s terrarium and expect them to work it out. You’ll need to cut the melon into tiny pieces, around the same size as a grape ideally.
Bearded dragons can only eat the soft, internal part of the melon, the harder skin outside can damage their teeth, but if it’s there, they will try to eat it.
You’ll need to make sure every bit of the outer casing is removed before handing it to your dragon.
It’s also a great idea to wash the pieces of melon before you offer it, just to make sure there aren’t any impurities there that might make them ill.
Melons are often full of seeds too, and specifically in watermelons, they can be hidden within the red flesh of the melon. Be thorough in removing these.
The seeds are quite large and difficult to crush so they could get stuck in your dragon’s throat if they were to accidentally eat one.
Check and double-check first!
How Often Can I Feed my Bearded Dragon Watermelon?
Bearded dragons love watermelon, so it’s tempting to offer it to them all the time just to make them happy.
However, watermelon as part of their daily diet can have detrimental effects on their health due to excess sugars and water.
You wouldn’t want to deny them this tasty treat altogether though.
You should offer watermelon as a treat every 2 weeks, or once weekly as a maximum.
Feeding them fruitless often could even be beneficial for your relationship too.
If you feed them the tasty fruit that they enjoy while they’re out of their terrarium spending time with you, you’ll develop a stronger bond.
This is because your dragon will associate spending time with you with the positive experience of getting their favorite food.
The Benefits of Watermelon
To be honest, there aren’t really any nutritional benefits to feeding your bearded dragon watermelon. Let’s face it, it’s pretty much just water anyway.
The biggest benefit that you’ll get from watermelon is the fact that your bearded dragon will love it.
As well as being a tasty treat to add to their diet occasionally, it could also help you persuade your dragon to broaden their horizons.
Bearded dragons, in general, are quite picky eaters. This means that they might refuse to eat certain vegetables that you provide which actually do have nutritional benefits.
Watermelon juice could be your savior here. Just squeeze a little over the top of their salad and make it taste like watermelon.
It’ll help to convince them that they should be eating it.
Are There Any Health Risks When Feeding My Bearded Dragon Watermelon?
1. Lots of Sugar
As with most fruit, watermelon is quite high in sugar. Bearded dragons experience the same issues that we do when they eat too much sugar.
It can cause damage to their teeth and gums and because their teeth are attached directly to the bone of their jaw, unlike with us, cavities can turn into much deeper and long-standing issues.
High amounts of sugar can also cause them to gain weight quickly, making it difficult for them to move around and meaning they might become lethargic.
This means that they’re unlikely to lose the weight again and no one wants an obese bearded dragon.
2. Lots of Water
I’m sure you’ve noticed that watermelon is one of the juiciest fruits out there. When we eat it, it’s all over our hands and dripping down our chin.
However, while that amount of water is only good for us, it can cause issues for your bearded dragon.
Bearded dragons live in sandy, desert-like areas in the wild.
This means that they don’t have a lot of opportunities to drink water, as there aren’t too many puddles laying around in the desert.
Instead, they take in their water from their food along with other nutrients and have adapted to store water for a long period of time.
Taking excessive water into their body alongside the high content of sugar could cause digestive issues and lead to diarrhea.
If that’s the case, excessive water may have the opposite effect and eventually cause dehydration.
3. Not Much Calcium
Bearded dragons need lots of calcium in their diet. That’s because they’re prone to metabolic bone disease, which can cause bones to become flimsy and mean that they struggle to move around.
While watermelon doesn’t influence the calcium currently in their body, it doesn’t really have much calcium in it to contribute either.
In this respect, watermelon is fine to feed to your dragon, but don’t use it as a part of their normal diet, as it won’t provide the amount of calcium needed for them to be healthy.
Summary
Watermelon is an amazing treat for your bearded dragon and something they’ll certainly appreciate. However, you do need to be careful about trying too hard to please your dragon.
It’s easy to slip up and start providing it more often just because you can see how much they like it. Be strong and stick to once every couple of weeks.
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I was just 15 years of age when I first met a bearded dragon. It was at my friend's house and I instantly grew an immediate attraction to, what has now become, my favourite animal on the planet! Making fantastic pets for both children and adults alike, they each have their own personality and are certainly full of character. There are, though, some important things that we should all know when it comes to caring for these amazing animals!