What Fruits Can Bearded Dragons Eat?

Knowing what fruits bearded dragons can or can not eat is important to know. Although they are omnivores and get their protein from insects or small mammals; fruits and vegetables are an important part of their diet.

This mixed diet helps them to stay healthy, much like our own diet.

Your beardie will love a small piece of fruit every so often and will see this as a treat. However, as fruits are rich in sugar, ensure you don’t overfeed them.

Vegetables should still make up a much higher percentage of their diet than fruit.

What are the Best Fruits for Bearded Dragons?

A nice tasty treat for your bearded dragon could be a piece of peeled apple, a grape, or raspberry. They’ve also been known to love fruits such as

  • Bananas
  • Blueberries

And fruits such as watermelon and pineapple are great too, as long as they’re peeled first. See below for a list of fruits a bearded dragon can safely eat:

  • Peaches
  • Raspberries
  • Apple
  • Grapes
  • Bananas
  • Blueberries
  • Pineapple

Can Fruit Cause a Calcium Deficiency?

Many fruits contain oxalate which binds with calcium rendering it unsuitable for metabolism. This could lead to a calcium deficiency in your beardie.

This does not mean though, that you can’t give your beardie fruit, it simply means that you need to moderate how much fruit you are giving your beardie.

You can also counter this problem by dusting certain foods (such as crickets) with a calcium powder on the days where you don’t offer fruit to your beardie.

Bearded Dragon calcium

What Fruits Can Bearded Dragons NOT Eat?

Citrus

You should never feed your bearded dragon oranges or similar citrus fruits. They contain too much sugar and acid content which can cause diarrhea. For the same reason you should avoid:

  • Limes
  • Lemons
  • Grapefruits

Fruit Skin

Although a bearded dragon is adapted to eat many different types of fruits, you should try to avoid any fruits with hard skin.

Fruits such as apples and pineapples have a tough outer skin, which a bearded dragon is unable to swallow.

To be on the safe side, peel your fruits before adding them to your bearded dragon’s menu.

Raisins

You should also avoid raisins. Although their original grape form is fine for bearded dragons, the dry form is too concentrated with sugar.

As there’s no water in them to balance this out, they can cause massive problems for your dragon.

Bearded dragons wouldn’t be able to digest raisins at all and they may even get wedged in their throat when swallowing.

Tomatoes

While bearded dragons can eat tomatoes, too much can cause problems due to their high Vitamin A content. You should always accompany a small piece of tomato with some healthy greens to balance this out and help stiffen the stool.

How Often Can Bearded Dragons Eat Fruit?

Fruits are usually high in water content, oxalate, and sugars. Because of this, a number of problems can occur if you feed your beardie too much fruit.

Some of these problems include:

  • Obesity
  • Fatty Liver Disease
  • Gum Disease

Your bearded dragon can have a small piece of fruit every other day, as a treat. A small piece of fruit would be classified as a single grape or piece of apple.

When Should Bearded Dragons Eat Fruit?

Bearded dragons tend to always go for their live food (worms or crickets) first. This will mean that the static food will sit there for longer.

Since you have a UV light shining in there throughout the day, it’s likely that your fruit will go off fairly quickly. It is good practice to place fruit into a feeding dish, this way the sugary residue can be easily cleaned.

Bearded Dragon Tank Decor Zoomed Feeding Dish

This being said, you don’t want your bearded dragon to eat rotten fruit as it will make them ill. The simplest way to prevent this is to give your beardie fruit as a treat from your hand first.

This way you know it won’t be left to rot. If you are worried about your fingers getting nipped by your beardie then you could use some feeding tongs instead.

bearded dragon feeding tongs

Are Some Fruits Better Than Others?

Soft Fruits

Soft, easily chewable fruits are the best for your bearded dragon. Remember that your bearded dragon doesn’t have canine teeth as we do, so it’s harder for them to pull pieces of food apart.

Ideally, you should provide a softer type of fruit that will easily mash-up in their mouths rather than them having to tear it.

Fruits such as peeled peaches or plums are perfect. Bananas without the skin also provide great potassium levels for them.

Grapes

Grapes are also really good for their fiber intake. You’ll need to monitor how many they have though.

Grapes are very moreish due to their extremely high sugar content, so just the one every few days will do.

Watermelon

Bearded dragons are also fond of watermelon, but, due to its high water content, make sure that this is only an occasional treat.

Although, it’s good in small doses, the amount of water can actually have a detrimental effect if eaten in large quantities. The same could be said for tomatoes or vegetables such as cucumber.

In Moderation

All fruits, with the exception of citrus fruits, provide their own unique health benefits for your bearded dragon. Let them try a few different things to see what they like best.

But make sure whatever they choose is in moderation. You can certainly have too much of a good thing.

What Else is Needed in a Bearded Dragon Diet?

Your bearded dragon will need a meal each day for most of the year. If your bearded dragon starts to go into brumation, you’ll need to naturally reduce this over a period of weeks until they stop eating altogether.

However, here are a few things you can provide for your beardie for the rest of the time.

Protein

A healthy meal comprises of some form of protein. This is usually some sort of insect, the most popular choice being worms or crickets.

Generally, a bearded dragon will eat two or three crickets in a single meal, depending on its size.

As an occasional treat, you could give your bearded dragon a couple of too. They contain about 9% protein and are quite popular with beardies, you can even get live ones online now too for convenience.

Veggies

Vegetables are an absolute must! Bearded dragons get a lot of their vitamins from vegetables, just like we do.

Offer your bearded dragon a small piece of fruit alongside any of the following to sweeten up their dish a little

  • Swiss Chard
  • Bell Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Watercress
  • Kale
  • Collard Greens

Water

Although beardies get most of their water from the food that they eat, you may also need to provide water in a shallow dish. Bearded dragons in the wild would drink water from droplets of dew on the plant life around them.

This means that your beardie may not know to drink from the dish. You could instead use a pipette to drip water for your beardie to drink.

Pipette

Summary

Knowing what fruits bearded dragons can eat is a useful thing to know. Fruit can be a wonderful treat for your beardie and they will love the sweet juice from it.

Just be careful. Do not feed too much of it otherwise, this can be bad for your beardie’s teeth.

Note: If you start to notice problems occurring with your beardie’s teeth, like swollen gums or redness you may want to check out this guide on how to clean bearded dragon teeth

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what fruits can bearded dragons eat

  • About Matthew Cantell

    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!
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