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Do Bearded dragons eat banana?

If you are a bearded dragon fan and you want to make sure you do things right (click here for my best guide for bearded dragons) you may be wondering if they can eat a banana. Let me explain…

Do bearded dragons eat bananas? Yes, bearded dragons do eat a banana. However, you need to make sure that you give them bananas sparingly. This is because the nutritional value of the banana is not perfect for them (more on this later).

Now that you know that they can eat bananas, I will now go on to explain why they shouldn’t eat so much (similar to mint leaves, it should be served sparingly), exactly what is in a banana to raise these concerns, what the ideal food mix is for your beardie, and more…

Why should you not feed your bearded dragon too much banana?

In the last section, I explained that bearded dragons can eat bananas but I cautioned you not to do it regularly. In this section, I’m going to give you a couple of reasons why you should limit the amount of banana you feed to your bearded dragon.

Too much sugar.

One of the biggest concerns with bananas is the number of carbs it has (more on this later). Secondly, the other big issue with bananas is the amount of phosphorus it has in ratio to the calcium it has.

Phosphorus is a binding material for calcium. there is a certain phosphorus to calcium ratio that bearded dragons should consume to keep them safe. However, the phosphorus levels in bananas is far greater than thy need.

The problem with this is if you feed your bearded dragon a lot of bananas you could be making it calcium deficient. Which, in the long term, could lead to deficiencies such as Metabolic Bone Disorder or MBD as it is more commonly known as.

What is a banana?

 

So far we have learned why your bearded dragon should not be eating too many bananas and the reasons for this. However, I do not want to assume you fully understand exactly what a banana is. And, for this reason in this section, I will explain exactly what it is.

A banana is an edible fruit that is popular in many countries. Stereotypically it is known to be a yellow elongated fruit with a hard outer skin and a soft white flesh in the middle.

However, you can get bananas that are not always yellow. In fact, before they are ripe, they are green. You can also get plantain. Plaintain is typically used for cooking rather than a dessert banana. It is usually sold while it is green.

Can a bearded dragon live on bananas alone?

Earlier I explain exactly what a banana is and the reasons why you need to limit the amount you give to your beardie. However, there are some people that still ask if it’s possible to feed their bearded dragon bananas exclusively.

For that reason, I’m going to give you some reasons why this is not a good idea and an idea of what they should be eating.

Omnivores

Bearded dragons are omnivores. this basically means that they eat a combination of meat (insects) as well as vegetables and fruit.

This means that they have the best of both worlds. They can eat vegetables as well as meat. But they still need to have a balanced diet, meaning the combination of these food types, are you with me?

Therefore, no bearded dragons should not be eating bananas exclusively. They should be eating insects (Click here to see why moths are not a good idea) as well as vegetables and fruit.

Later on, in this article, I will explain some of the best ratios of meat to vegetables that your typical bearded dragon should be eating. I will also explain how this ratio will change with old age.

What are the benefits of bananas?

So far we have learned what you should or should not be allowing your bearded dragon to consume, when it comes to bananas and combining this with vegetables, etc. But, what are the advantages of bananas for us as well as bearded dragons?

Bananas are often loved for their convenience because they are easily picked up in supermarkets and easily served.

Even though we talked about some of the concerns, such as the amount of sugar/carbs, they still have a good source of fiber.

For humans, we love bananas because they are a sweet snack that can be picked up on the go, especially during lunchtime.

Are bananas filled with sugar?

I explained earlier that bananas are filled with sugar but why is this exactly? In this section, I will explore some of these reasons.

According to this site, 93% of bananas are from carbs. Right now this may not mean much to you at the minute but I will explain how this is relevant to sugar in a second.

Carbs have a massive impact on your blood sugar levels. They are a big concern for diabetics and they need to be monitored for this reason.

Therefore for a bearded dragon, it is important to control the number of carbs they are consuming. Because there is only so many carbs and sugar that their body should be consuming on a daily basis.

Carbs effectively raise the blood sugar level more than any other nutrient and this is one of the reasons why they have to be controlled.

What is so bad about bananas?

One of the biggest concerns with bananas is they are not great for humans that are on a low-carb diet. For a bearded dragon there is a certain nutritional balance that they need to maintain and therefore bananas are great but need to be consumed in small doses.

And, as I mentioned briefly earlier for diabetics that are controlling their carbs and sugar intake they are a bit concerned because they can spike insulin levels.

Related Questions:

In this section, I am going to answer some questions related to bananas & bearded dragons. If you have some extra questions that you need answering, please feel free to drop a comment below.

Q: Do bananas have seeds?

No, most commercially sold bananas do not have seeds. Some bearded dragon owners have concerns about seeds in certain fruits and how it may affect their pet.

In the commercial market, you’ll be very hard-pressed to find seeds in bananas. If you happend to notice some black speckled dots within the banana there is a good chance that these are immature seeds which will not actually develop and reproduce.

Meaning they are harmless seeds that are not the same as the original wild grown bananas that you would find in tropical countries such as Jamaica.

But why is this?

The main reason for this is due to commercial objectives and profit. Meaning it is a way to control the reproduction and supply of bananas to entice their buyers to continually buy from one supplier.

Q: Can you feed bananas along with insects and water?

Yes you can serve them bananas along with insects and water. But, when you are serving up bananas or any fruit for that matter along with insects you need to be careful when you combine them with water.

This is because there is a chance that the insect can actually fall into the water and drown. This is not ideal because the dead insects are not good for your bearded dragon. Therefore you need to discard these insects as soon as possible.

Q: Do bearded dragons need a different diet as they get older?

Yes, as bearded dragons gets older you need to adjust their diet. Especially in the domestic market. But why is this? Because, as a bearded dragon gets older it inevitably becomes less active.

This means that the beardie stands the chance of becoming obese if you do not control its diet correctly. It is a good idea to reduce the amount of meat they consume in a day when they get older to cut down the chances of them becoming too obese.

Q: Should you feed baby bearded dragons vegetables?

Yes, you should feed baby beardies vegetables, some even recommend dandelion leaves for Beardies (Click here for the full article). in fact, they should be consuming at least 20% of vegetables and 80% meat. This is the kind of percentage you will need for a hatchling and a juvenile bearded dragon. As discussed earlier, as they get older this ratio will change.

Q: Should you feed bearded dragons onions?

No, you should not feed bearded dragons onions (Click here to see why Bearded Dragons should not eat onions).