Can Bearded Dragons Eat Bean Sprouts? All You Need to Know!

Can bearded dragons eat bean sprouts along with their regular food items?

Yes, bearded dragons can eat bean sprouts as long as they only consume these vegetables occasionally. This food option even has nutrients vital for beardies’ growth and keeps their body in good condition. 

However, these vegetables also have contents harmful to reptiles, like improper calcium-to-phosphorous ratio. It’s thus important to learn how to serve this food item to boost your scaly friend’s health while avoiding any ailment.

I thus scoured through different information about bearded dragons’ health and confirmed if they can consume bean sprouts. I also included helpful guides on preparing these vegetables to prevent making the reptile sick. This post contains the vital details you must know about the matter.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Bean Sprouts without Sustaining any Ailment?

Bearded dragons can eat bean sprouts as they are omnivores. Thus, they can consume plant-based food, including mung or soybean sprouts. The dragons can also get vital nutrients from this vegetable and improve their physical wellness. Moreover, it adds flavors to the reptile’s meals and strengthens its appetite.

However, only serve this food item occasionally because large amounts could harm the beardies. It’s also vital to remember some points for preparing this food to keep your reptile safe from poisoning and other ailments.

What Health Benefits Can Bean Sprouts Give to Bearded Dragons?

This plant contains different nutrients vital for improving bearded dragons’ health. Thus, they can offer excellent health benefits to your pet, like:

• Better Growth

This vegetable is good for baby lizards as it contains minerals promoting better physical development.

It has high-protein content, which is essential for muscle growth. It also contains iron for improved blood health and B vitamins for better metabolism and cell development.

• Immunity Boost

It also has sufficient vitamin C content to meet a reptile’s daily requirement. The food can thus improve your pet’s immunity against different infections and diseases.

• Low in Fat

This plant is also known for its low-fat content, which will not lead to obesity and other ailments caused by excessive fats.

• Improve Appetite

This food adds flavors to your beardy’s meal and improves their appetite. And having a good appetite helps your pet eat other healthy food like veggies and bugs.

How Can Bean Sprouts Harm Bearded Dragons?

This plant is safe for beardies to consume, but only occasionally and in small amounts because of its high acid content. Acidic food can easily irritate your reptile’s stomach lining and cause diarrhea and dehydration. And excessive dehydration can eventually trigger kidney ailment, heart failure, and even death.

Moreover, this vegetable has relatively lesser nutritional content than other options. For example, it contains calcium necessary for the reptiles’ bone development. However, it also has too much phosphorous that makes calcium hard to absorb in the body. 

Overeating could thus cause calcium build-up in the digestive tract and damage the kidneys. It’s, therefore, better to look for food that can meet your scaly friend’s daily nutrient requirement. Only add a small serving of bean sprouts to their primary meals.

You might be interested in Can Bearded Dragons Eat Chives?

Can Baby Bearded Dragons Eat Bean Sprouts?

Baby beardies can eat this plant occasionally. This vegetable is also healthy for growing young reptiles as it contains protein, calcium, and iron. 

However, as mentioned above, too many of these can cause health problems for your baby pet. So, only feed them a few pieces together with their meals. 

Moreover, remember that young lizards need more protein, calcium, and iron to help them grow. So, feed them 80% to 90% bugs and only 10% to 20% veggies.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Cooked Bean Sprouts?

Never feed cooked bean sprouts to your bearded dragons, as heat exposure could affect their nutritional value.

Remember that this vegetable has relatively lesser nutritional content, and heat exposure could dissolve some minerals and vitamins. Cooking the vegetable could thus further reduce the health benefits it offers.

In addition, many spices and preservatives are toxic for reptiles and could trigger gastrointestinal problems, and salt could result in extreme dehydration.

It’s thus better to feed fresh plant meals to your pet and provide enough clean water in their enclosure.

How to Feed Bean Sprouts to Bearded Dragons?

Here are the crucial points to remember when including this vegetable in your beardy’s diet:

• Dragons can eat sprouts from different beans like mung and soybeans. However, remove the leaves as they could contain harmful chemicals like pesticides.

• You can feed it to your pet a few times a week. However, it’s better to serve it only about twice or once a week to keep your scaly friend safe.

• Remember to soak the sprouts in cold water for at least eight hours before serving them. Remove the excess water while preparing your pet’s meal.

• Remember you must only treat this vegetable as an additional flavoring on your scaly friend’s meals. So, only serve about two pieces of sprouts together with your reptile’s primary food items.

• Don’t force-feed this vegetable to your beardy if they consume it in a meal. Your pet may not like its taste. So, you may have to train them by introducing small bits together with other food from time to time.

• Always remember the proper portioning of bearded dragons’ meals, whether you offer them bean sprouts or not. Babies should eat 80% to 90% bugs and 10% to 20% veggies. On the other hand, adult reptiles should consume 10% to 20% bugs and 80% to 90% veggies. 

Summary

So, can bearded dragons eat bean sprouts?

Yes, they can, and the vegetable could even bring excellent health benefits to beardies, like improved growth, immunity, and overall health. 

However, only serve small amounts and properly prepare this food item to avoid making your pet sick. This vegetable has high acid content and an improper calcium-to-phosphorous ratio. Thus, they may cause severe health problems when consumed in large amounts.

Consult the vet if you notice something unusual in your pet after eating bean sprouts.