If you’re wondering “can bearded dragons eat mango” then you have come to the right place
Bearded dragons can eat many different types of fruit ranging from
and much more. Bearded dragons are omnivores and their diet will actually mostly consist of vegetables and protein.
too much fruit can actually cause an issue which you do need to be aware of
Before we continue take a look at this long post about what bearded dragons eat
first lets look at
Table of Contents
Can bearded dragons eat mango
Yes and they should once in a while.
Mango is full of awesome vitamins and minerals that are actually safe for consumption but you need to be aware of two minerals
Phosphorus and calcium
mangos contain these vitamins
- vitamin A
- vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin B6
- Iron
- Phosphorus
- calcium
- Fiber
- Carbs (sugars in the fruit)
- Protein
- fats (not much)
now the most important two are bolded for you because they need to be in a perfect ratio for your beardie
The ratio needs to be 1:1
I have a particularly picky bearded dragons who loves to only eat fruit and sweet things so sometimes he will refuse food
Too much phosphorus can actually lead to many health issues because it binds with calcium
this is why too much fruit can be a bad thing, especially fruit that is really high in phosphorus and low in calcium
the best way to combat this is to just limit the amount of fruit!
This is why your beardie should be eating mostly vegetables and protein. Calcium dusted protein at that!
A little tip you can use is to add fruit like mango to your bearded dragons salad.
If your bearded dragon isn’t eating check this page out
How I safely feed my bearded dragon fruit
This is the schedule i put my bearded dragon on
i look at fruit like a treat for him every 3 – 4 weeks
week 1 will be mostly vegetables and protein at around 80% vegetable and 20% protein ratio
Week 2 ill sometimes drop the vegetable down to 70% and up the protein to 30%
Week 3 I will lower it down a little bit again and introduce a little more protein at around 35% protein and 65% vegetable content
Week 4 this is where i will introduce fruit a few days during that week. you can mess with the ratios for this week all you want really because they will be coming off fruit pretty quickly.
i understand it might seem a little bit weird for a schedule so strict i guess but i do care about my beardies health long term because Metabolic bone disease is a terrible thing
Why Bearded dragons shouldn’t eat mango all the time
Bearded dragons need a break from the sugar
Too much sugar causes all kinds of problems and bearded dragons are very small compared to humans (obviously)
Now fruit does have fiber and high water content but the sugar content is still too high for them to consume all the time
Sugar causes obesity over time but on top of that it will cause digestive issues and inflammation
These will lead to more long term problems over time
One more thing to not forget about is their teeth!
Too much sugar can rot their teeth out. Some people are surprised that beardies have teeth
We already covered the phosphorus content but ill go over it quickly
Too much phosphorus is bad because it binds to the calcium if the caclium is lower in ratio than the phosphorus
So the ratio needs to be at least 1:1 in favor of calcium and in mango phosphorus is higher
prolonged fruit can cause metabolic bone disease because not enough calcium is being absorbed into the bloodstream
Be very careful with how much you feed them fruit.
One last little thing. Fruit contain a lot of water
If you feed your bearded dragon too much water they might get diarrhea
Your bearded dragons poop can tell you a lot about their health
How to feed Bearded dragons mango
First things first
get organic fruit and veggies every time
If you can’t its OK but just know that regular fruits and vegetables will have pesticides and other stuff on it that isn’t so good for your beardie
Next thing is to cut up the fruit into smaller pieces
mango skin is tougher and not too good to feed your beardies so i would peel that off
I would cut it into smaller pieces. When i give my bearded dragon mango i cut it up into slices that are a little bigger than blueberries
this video is cute and they will show you how to feed bearded dragons fruit and other food
conclusion
Bearded dragons can eat a ton of different food but it doesn’t mean they should
Its kind of like humans
We can eat many different types of foods and bad stuff like fast food
our bodies can normally handle it but it doesn’t mean you should eat it all the time
Bearded dragons are no different really, they are much much smaller than us and the impact of the choices of food they have is important
Thank you for reading!