Can bearded dragons eat bok choy? Yes, bearded dragons can eat bok choy. This vegetable has many essential vitamins and minerals that bearded dragons need to stay healthy and strong. However, bok choy also contains a high level of goitrogens, which can harm them. To ensure bok choy doesn’t affect the health of your beardie, feed them in moderation.
Is It Safe For Bearded Dragons To Eat Bok Choy?
Bok choy is safe for bearded dragons to eat, only if they eat it in moderation.
While this leafy green is nutritious, it has a very high level of goitrogens present. These compounds are found in many other plants as well.
If your bearded dragon eats too much bok choy, it will affect its thyroid gland. In large amounts, it can be deadly for them.
Bok choy fed to them in small amount won’t cause them any issue. If you’re going to feed them as a staple green, this can become a problem.
Therefore, to ensure bok choy doesn’t cause them any health issues, only give them in moderation.
Is It Healthy For Bearded Dragons To Eat Bok Choy?
Bok choy is a nutrient-rich vegetable, yet low in calories and fat. It is a good source of many essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. All these nutrients make bok choy a healthy food for bearded dragons to eat.
Nutrition Facts
A 1-cup serving of raw, shredded bok choy contains:
- Calories: 9
- Protein: 1 gram
- Fat: 0 grams
- Carbohydrates: 2 grams
- Fiber: 1 gram
- Sugar: 1 gram
Source: USDA
Below are some of the health benefits of feeding bok choy to your bearded dragon:
Strengthen Bones
Bok choy is a good source of calcium, which is an important mineral for maintaining and strengthening the bones. By feeding your beardie food that is high in calcium, they will be less prone to bone fracture and prevent metabolic bone disease.
Boost Immune System
Bok choy is high in vitamin C, which will help boost your beardie’s immune system. When their immune system is healthy, they will be less likely to become sick. If your beardie does become sick, plenty of food high in vitamin C will help them recover from the illness quickly.
Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Bok Choy?
Baby bearded dragons can eat bok choy, but only a small amount of it. While most leafy greens are great for baby beardie, bok choy isn’t one of them.
This leafy green contains a high level of goitrogens and vitamin A. Both of these are extremely harmful to baby beardie.
Instead, there are much better leafy greens to feed them such as kale, parsley, turnip greens, mustard greens, and collard greens. You can feed them these veggies 3 times a week or even more.
Baby bearded dragons grow at a very fast rate. For that reason, the majority of their diet should be insects and other live food. Insects such as crickets and grasshoppers are a staple diet for baby beardie and this is what they need to grow strong and healthy.
As for bok choy, you can feed your baby beardie, but only in small amounts, once or twice per month.
How To Feed Bok Choy To Bearded Dragons
Much like other leafy greens, bok choy will need to be prepared first before bearded dragons can eat them. Giving the whole piece of the vegetable could cause them to choke on it.
Therefore, it’s best to shred or cut it into small pieces. Both parts of the plant are safe for them to eat. Some beardie prefers just the green leaves, while others will eat the white stalk as well.
You can give your beardie both parts of the vegetable and see what they prefer.
How Often Can Bearded Dragons Eat Bok Choy?
Bok choy can be offered to your bearded dragons on occassion. While the vegetable contain many essential nutrition for your pet lizard, it have a high amount of vitamin A and goitrogens. These two things can cause harm to your beardie’s health. Too much of it in their diet could cause death for them.
Therefore, to prevent bok choy from causing any health issues for your beardie, give them a small amount, once or twice per week.
Other Vegetables That Bearded Dragons Can Eat
Broccoli
Bearded dragons will eat broccoli, though it’s not a very common food for them. Broccoli is a healthy leafy green vegetable that can be fed in moderation to bearded dragons.
Celery
Bearded dragons can eat celery as part of a healthy diet, but it’s important not to give them too much. You should also avoid feeding them the leaves from the plant because they are high in oxalate, which can lead to a variety of health conditions.
Yellow Squash
Bearded dragons can eat yellow squash, but not all the time. There are some veggies that should be avoided, like tomatoes and peppers. You can learn more about feeding bearded dragons by visiting your local pet store or following one of these helpful websites:
Conclusion
As you can see, bearded dragons can eat bok choy. Bok choy is a great vegetable that provides bearded dragons with essential nutrients and fiber. If your beardie enjoys it, give them a small amount of bok choy, once or twice per week.
