Can Bearded Dragons Eat Pumpkin? 5 Benefits | Full Guide

Fruits and veggies are beneficial for humans and animals, and no processed food could beat the nutritional benefits extracted from those raw foods. Protein, fiber, calcium, iron, etc., are crucial for humans and animals. 

The lizard creature, like a bearded dragon, has sensitive organs. So, choosing foods for your beardie is challenging. 

Pumpkin is an excellent fruit with several nutritious compounds. Humans eat bright orange fruit full of fun. But what about the beardies? Are pumpkins safe for a bearded dragon? Can bearded dragons eat pumpkins? Let’s get into depth and understand the benefits and risks of providing pumpkins to bearded dragons. 

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Pumpkins?

Yes, bearded dragons can eat pumpkins; it is a safe fruit for your lizard friend! Pumpkins contain a good amount of vitamins and minerals. The orange fruit consists of vitamin A, calcium, water, and Vitamin C. 

Overall, a pumpkin could be a good option for an occasional treat to your lizard pet. Although, the seeds and skin are unsuitable for beardies. So, serving them the flesh only would be an intelligent decision. 

How often Can Bearded Dragons Eat Pumpkins?

Pumpkins are safe and not harmful until your beardie eats them excessively. Feeding pumpkins once or twice a month to your beardie is lovely. 

You can serve a couple of pieces to your lizard and let them enjoy the treat. But never give an excessive amount of pumpkin to the little pet. Due to the high amount of water, an improper ratio of calcium and phosphorus could cause numerous health issues. 

5 Benefits of Pumpkin for Bearded Dragons

In shorter words, pumpkins are a great source of numerous vitamins and minerals. The chubby orange fruit could serve necessary nutrients to your beardie. But, you must maintain the feeding amount; otherwise, it could affect them adversely. So, what could your beardie expect from the fruit? 

1: Vitamin A Improves the Eyesight of Your Beardie 

Pumpkins contain a high amount of vitamin A. Vitamin helps improve beardie’s eyesight, and vitamin A works positively with vision. Also, the Vitamin enhances the skin texture. After consuming pumpkins, your beardie will benefit from both sides, skin and vision. Furthermore, vitamin A works in beardies’ reproduction, growth, and development. 

2: Vitamin C Keeps Away Beardies from Diseases

Vitamin C is another crucial agent for humans and animals. Pumpkins have enough quantity of vitamin C. The Vitamin enhances the immune system, and vitamin C boosts the beardie’s immune system and keeps them away from infections and diseases. Alongside this, the Vitamin is also suitable for treating skin texture. 

3: High Amount of Water Keeps Your Beardie Hydrated

Water is an inevitable compound for every living being. Beardies also need an adequate amount of water for a healthy lifestyle. Pumpkins contain a high quantity of water. If you can feed the fruit moderately, your beardie will stay hydrated the whole day. After all, some beardies refuse to drink water from a water pot. So, pumpkins could fill the gap. Also, cucumber is another great fruit to hydrate your lizard friend! 

4: Fibre Aids in Digestion 

The digestive system plays a crucial role in getting stable health. Beardies, too, need healthy digestion for a healthy and lively lifestyle. Mostly, lizards like to eat several kinds of insects. Now, insects’ skeletons are sometimes hard to digest for little creatures. So, fiber helps to get smooth digestion. 

Pumpkins are filled with fiber, which helps break down the hard or solid foods beardies naturally eat. Not only in digestion but also in regular bowel movements, fiber plays an active role.  To avoid boredom, you can switch to other vegetables like turnip greens and broccoli, which are also fiber-rich.

5: Calcium Takes Care of Bones 

Although, the calcium and phosphorus ratio in pumpkins is a big concern. But moderate feeding could provide an appropriate benefit to your beardie. An occasional feeding of pumpkin serves a reasonable amount of calcium to your pet’s body, and it participates in the well-being of his skeleton structure. 

4 Risks of pumpkin for Bearded Dragons

Pumpkin is a safe fruit for bearded dragons. But if they consume a high amount of fruits, it causes adverse effects. So, moderate feeding is necessary not to get affected negatively.  

1: Improper Ratio of Calcium & Phosphorus 

Calcium is one of the crucial components for healthy bones or skeletons. Now calcium and phosphorus are correlated with each other, and these two compounds’ ratio is a vital thing to consider. But the ratio of calcium and phosphorus in pumpkins is unsuitable. 

Naturally, the ideal ratio of these two compounds is 2:1. Whereas a cup of cooked pumpkin contains around 73mg of phosphorus and only approximately 36 mg of calcium. It is two times more calcium than phosphorus. This ratio is unsuitable for your beardies. 

Though, moderate feeding would not harm your pet. But if it exceeds the limit, it may cause metabolic bone disease. The extra amount of phosphorus resists calcium from being absorbed into the body. 

So, for safety, you have to feed your beardie a little amount of pumpkin, and also, you can add calcium supplements with their meal. Contextually, fruits like peaches, strawberries, etc., are full of calcium, and you can feed it to your lizard safely. 

2: Excessive Water Causes Diarrhea 

Water is necessary for hydration and healthy life. But, nothing is better if it exceeds. Like spinach, pumpkin is also rich in water content. Pumpkin contains 90% of its nutritional value, and 100 gm of pumpkin is filled with 92 gm water. 

This high amount of water causes diarrhea if your. Furthermore, diarrhea leads to dehydration. 

3: High Sugar Leads to Obesity 

Processed sugar is only a harmful compound. But natural sugar is comparatively safe. However, even excessive raw sugar could cause obesity. 100 gm of pumpkin has 2.76 gm of sugar in it, and this extra amount of sugar could lead your beardie to obesity.

4: Vitamin A Toxicity May Occur 

Pumpkins are full of vitamin A. Vitamin is undoubtedly beneficial for vision, growth, development, etc. But high consumption of vitamin A may cause Vitamin A toxicity. If your bearded dragon eats a large amount of pumpkin, he could face drowsiness, irritability, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, etc., due to Vitamin A toxicity. 

4 Ways to Prepare Pumpkin for Your Bearded Dragons?

Both cooked and raw pumpkin is a good treat for your beardie. However, raw pumpkin has the most nutritional value, providing more benefits to your lizard pet. 

Get Fresh & Organic Pumpkin 

As beardies have sensitive organs, they always need fresh and organic foods. So, you have first to select the fresh raw pumpkin. You can purchase it from the market or can get it from your garden. 

Wash Thoroughly with Clean Water

After getting the fresh pumpkin, you must clean it carefully. No dirt or pesticides should be there, as beardies cannot tolerate poisonous things. 

Peel It and Remove the Seeds

You can cut the whole pumpkin into some sections to make it easy. Then you can peel it easily. The pumpkin’s skin is unsuitable for beardies, and they cannot digest the skin. 

When you cut the fruit in some sections, you must remove the seeds well. The seeds are hard to digest the lizards, and they should not consume pumpkin seeds. 

Cut into Small Pieces

After peeling the skin and removing the seeds, cut the raw pumpkin into small pieces. Small pieces are easy to chew and digest for the little pet. So, you have to be very careful about the size of the details. 

You can only serve the raw pumpkin pieces or mix them with other fruits to enhance their nutritional value.

Conclusion 

So, from now on, you will not be stuck with the question, can bearded dragons eat pumpkins? The answer is yes until you exceed the limit. Pumpkin has many necessary vitamins and minerals, and occasional feeding suits your pet’s health. Notably, raw pumpkin is preferred as it has more nutrition. Otherwise, putting the orange fruit with other fruits is perfectly fine. 

Moreover, the seeds and skin could bother your beardie. So, giving them the pumpkin flesh only is the best choice. However, your pet’s personal preferences and choices are other considerable things. You must avoid the veggie if they are not interested in eating pumpkin. 

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