Can Bearded Dragons Eat Turnip Greens?

Can bearded dragons eat Turnip Greens? Are turnip greens for bearded dragons OK?

Yes, bearded dragons can eat turnip leaves regularly. They can also eat the turnip root occasionally too, although not necessarily quite as often as the leaves since the root has more water and sugar content.

What Are Turnip Greens For Bearded Dragons?

Turnip greens are the dark leafy greens that grow atop turnips. They’re often discarded but they are edible and bearded dragons often love them. For humans they can often be used anywhere that you might use any other leafy green vegetable.

Turnip greens have a peppery punch to them and can be quite an acquired taste, but many bearded dragons like this peppery taste and often go for the more bitter tasting greens which might be rejected by humans.

They can be quite tough and stringy and humans would generally not eat them raw. Most bearded dragons of course wouldn’t have them cooked for them.

In the UK they may be called Turnip Tops. They do have a good Vitamin A content, a reasonable Calcium content but not a great Vitamin C content. The data we could find suggests they have a fairly low Oxalate content compared to Collard Greens. This puts the calcium to oxalate ratio to be better than that of Collards.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Turnip Greens?

Yes, bearded dragons can eat turnip greens as part of a staple, balanced diet. That is to say that turnip leaves can be eaten by bearded dragons every day, but should be mixed with other vegetables to provide a good balance and plenty of variety.

The rough fibrous nature means that turnip greens are best chopped from the stems so that only the softer leafy greens are given to your bearded dragon. This can result in a little bit of waste and more work to prepare.

Advantages Of Dandelion Greens For Bearded Dragons

Disadvantages Of Dandelion Greens For Bearded Dragons

How Should I Feed Turnip Greens To A Bearded Dragon

Turnip greens should be cut away from the fibrous stem and can be chopped and added to a mixed salad bowl. The fibrous stems should be discarded.

The turnip tops should be placed in a dish with a variety of other salad items to provide a balanced diet. The greens should be chopped up as mentioned above and should be sprinkled with calcium supplement twice a week. You can also sprinkle some drops of water on the salad mix to help keep it fresh.

It should be placed in the cool end to help keep it fresh longer.

How Much Turnip Green Should I Feed A Bearded Dragon?

You can feed as much turnip green leaves as your bearded dragon will eat. They’ll not over indulge on vegetables or leafy greens. Indeed, you’ll likely have the opposite problem whereby you can’t get them to eat enough.

You can feed turnip leafy greens every day as part of a mixed salad balanced diet.

If you can’t get your bearded dragon to eat turnip greens, or indeed any greens, then you can try sprinkling with a little bee pollen which seems to improve their appetite for greens.

Nutritional Data For Dandelion Greens For Bearded Dragons

Can I Grow My Own Turnip Greens?

Of course, in order to grow turnip greens you’re going to need to actually grow turnips. Fortunately turnips are a good vegetable for a hearty soup or even as part of a nice roast dinner, so the turnips won’t go to waste. Turnips indeed can be eaten by bearded dragons on occasion too so even if you don’t like turnips yourself they won’t go to waste either.

Turnip seeds are available in the US, Canada and the UK and are readily grown in any of these countries. They can be sown in the spring and the autumn (fall) so two crops can be readily had each year. The seeds can be planted outdoors directly where you want them to grow and no transplanting is necessary. They should be planted into finely prepared fertile soil and that soil should be watered before the seeds are planted.

Once germinated, which normally takes 14-21 the seedlings should be thinned out to about 4 inches apart and should continue to be well watered until the plants are well established. If you want to achieve a good steady supply, plant batches every two to three weeks.

Summary

So, can bearded dragons eat turnip greens and are turnip greens for bearded dragons OK? The answer is yes, as part of a mixed vegetable diet, turnip leaves are a good staple diet item. This means they can be fed in as large quantity as your bearded dragon wants, as often as they want. But remember to strip out that fibrous stem for them.

For more information on other vegetables that Bearded Dragons can eat, please see our larger overview post at ‘What Vegetables Can Bearded Dragons Eat?’

Frequency: STAPLE

References

1: US Department of Agriculture, fetched on 1st February 2021 from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/1151357/nutrients

2: Oxalate data sourced from St Josephs Healthcare, Hamilton, Canada fetched on 1st February 2021 from https://www.stjoes.ca/patients-visitors/patient-education/patient-education-k-o/pd-9447-oxalate-in-food.pdf

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