dragon not eating

Question
Hi, I have two baby bearded dragons one eats almost a dozen crickets a day but no greens,the other which is small in size only eats like 2 or 3 crickets a day and a lot of greens (mostly broccoli and lettuce)should I be concerned? Also what are the best types of greens to feed them?

Answer
Hello Martin:

First, you have to "gut load" your crickets, to give him or her crickets out of the bait shop is equal to giving them news paper to eat.  Buy a good quantity of crickets (500) and buy a special food for them at any pet store or ask the clerk for the best Gut Load food he has in stock for feeder crickets and then your dragon will start to get a taste for them and get the nourishment it needs.
As for the greens, I am not an expert on dragons, I work with snakes but I don't think Broccoli is a good choice, nor is lettuce and spinach.  I would buy a book and read it from cover to cover and go from there.  One very important thing is temperature, it must be in the mid 80's to low 90's.  If the temp. is to low, the food will NOT digest and you end up with a sick dragon or one that does not eat well.

Young reptiles are voracious eaters.  I would try collards, mustards, kale, cantaloupe, bell peppers, blue berries, etc.  The food items must be no larger then the dragons mouth, small bite sized pieces.  But check the temperature, I bet if you adjust it to the right degree, your babies will start eating.  Watch for nipping, if one starts to nip at the others feet or tail, separate them until they start eating well.  Remember to ask about gut loading your crickets, that is very important.

Other then this, I am not the man to ask.  A young gal named "Pam" is really good with Herps like this, you might ask her but please buy a book or two.  Sometimes things go wrong that would have been easy to avoid had a book been around to advise you.

                 Best of luck
                   Joel