Bearded Dragon Diet - Safe Food List

Here is a list of food your bearded dragon can eat safely and a healthy diet.

Live insects:

• Dubai Cockroaches
• Calciworms
• Butterworms
• Crickets
• Locusts

Should NOT eat:

• Mealworms
• Morioworms
• Waxworms

These insects are all fatty with virtually no nutritional benefit, that can also cause constipation in your Bearded Dragon.

I have additional articles on this subject such as [what to feed here] and [gut loading here].

You should prioritise salad over insects as they age. Generally 2 years onwards bugs should only be used as a treat and salad as the staple diet.

Here is a list of salads I recommend to feed to your Bearded Dragon:

• Chicory
• Raddicchio lettuce
• Rocket
• Watercress
• Frisee lettuce
• Pea shoots
• Lambs lettuce
• Chard
• Soft Herbs such as parsley, coriander and others available in mixed leaf bagged salads except ..

Bearded Dragons should NOT eat:

• Kale
• Spinach
• Iceberg lettuce

Both kale & spinach are calcium-binding, meaning they prevent the correct metabolism of calcium, which may hinder growth, particularly in young lizards. Iceberg lettuce is not harmful per se, but has zero nutritional benefit, containing mostly water, so may result in runny diarrhea!

These are many safe wild plants and weeds. Pretty much all those safe for tortoises are also safe for bearded dragons. Below are some common safe wild plants.

Bearded Dragons can eat these wild weeds and flowers:

• Plantain
• Dandelion (leaves & especially flowers)
• Cats tongue
• Dead nettle (white & purple variety)
• Milk thistle
• Geranium
• Hawksbeard
• Knapweed
• Pansy flowers
• Marigold flowers
• Viola flowers

There are loads more, I recommend The Tortoise Table App which has a list of plants and their safety. What is safe for tortoises, will be safe for other vegetarian lizards such as beardies.

Bearded Dragons should NOT eat:

• Borage
• Dock leaves
• Bramble
• Daisies
• Water plants such as iris or lillies
• Mushrooms

Try to avoid fruit such as blueberries, grapes raspberries etc although not strictly harmful, it's not a natural food source and contains too much sugar. Dark leafy greens are a much healthier alternative.