Can Bearded Dragons Eat Zucchini? Benefits, Risks & Tips

Salads are vital for freshness in summer. Zucchini is one of the best options for a healthy diet with complete hydration. Zucchini is botanically a fruit. But often the food needs to be clarified with vegetables.

Zucchini, also known for summer squash has some beneficial nutrients with a high amount of water.

Zucchini is good for humans. But is it safe for bearded dragons? The lizards have susceptible body functions and must stick to a healthy diet. Can bearded dragons eat Zucchini? Here you will get all your queries cleared with justification. So, without further delay, let’s scroll down!

Table of Contents

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Zucchini?

Yes, bearded dragons can eat Zucchini with proper guidelines. The fruit is safe for the lizards if you feed it correctly.

Originally, the green vertical food was a seeded fruit belonging to the same family of cucumbers and watermelons.

Dark green fruit contains vitamins like A, C, and K and minerals like manganese, magnesium, potassium, etc. But the fruit’s calcium and phosphorus ratio are improper. So, it is better to feed the food to beardies in small quantities.

How Often Can Bearded Dragons Eat Zucchini?

Zucchini is undoubtedly safe for beardies, but its nutritional value is unsuitable. The fruit has a minimal amount of vitamins and minerals with less variety, so that the little lizards could suffer from vitamin deficiency for regular consumption.

So, feeding zucchini to your beardie once a month is a good choice. If the lizard pet consumes the fruit regularly, it will only be filled with that fruit. Due to fewer nutrients and high phosphorus, beardies might face several diseases.

8 Benefits of Zucchini for Bearded Dragons

Though Zucchini contains a shallow variety of vitamins and minerals, the fruit is beneficial with its existing nutrients.

1: Antioxidants Combat Free Radical Effects

Zucchinis are full of antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin. Antioxidants work against the adverse effects of free radicals. Free radicals cause heart disease, cancer, etc. Antioxidants combat the effects and also prevent inflammation.

2: Vitamin A Strengthens Vision

Zucchini has a good amount of vitamin A. Vitamin A is a crucial compound for healthy eyesight. The vitamin helps promote vision and helps to get a healthy immune system, reproduction, and organ and tissue maintenance and repair.

3: Vitamin C Improves Immune System

Zucchini contains enough vitamin C. Like oranges, apples, etc., Zucchini also helps enhance the immune system. Moreover, vitamin C is an excellent antioxidant that also combats the effects of free radicals.

4: Vitamin K Clots Blood

The vitamin K in Zucchini helps clot blood while your beardie, unfortunately, gets a cut. Vitamin K stops the blood flow after an injury. Furthermore, vitamin K also aids in bone and overall health.

5: Vitamin B6 & Folate Make Your Beardie Energetic

Zucchini has other beneficial compounds, vitamin B6 and folate, and these two vitamins provide energy for your pet to roam around lively. Moreover, vitamins also promote the nervous system, and nervous well-being is crucial for little beardies.

6: Fibre Helps in Getting Smooth Digestion

The summer squash and Zucchini have the fiber content necessary to get a healthy, loose stool. Beardies often get constipated due to consuming the hard shells of insects, and they need fiber to get a loose stool. Zucchini could improve your beardie’s digestive system.

7: The Low Calorie Prevent Obesity

Zucchini is a low-calorie fruit which is a great advantage. The fruit will not contribute to your bearded dragon becoming overweight. Although, you must feed the food to them monthly. But it will never be obese the lizard.

8: Other Benefits of Eating Zucchini

Zucchini consists of thiamin. The compound works in maintaining nervous tissue health.
Manganese works with your beardie’s metabolism.
Magnesium enhances brain and muscle health.
Potassium aids in regulating blood pressure and nerve function.

3 Risks of feeding Zucchini to Bearded Dragons

The main concern of feeding Zucchini to beardies is its low nutritional value and the ratio of calcium and phosphorus. Apart from those issues, the fruit is acceptable for the lizard if they eat within the limit.

1: The Smaller Variety of Nutrients Could Cause Diseases

Zucchini contains a smaller variety and a low amount of vitamins and minerals. The existing nutrients are beneficial for bearded dragons, but that is not adequate. If they consume the fruit excessively, they will get filled and deny eating other beneficial foods. It could lead to several health issues, like vitamin deficiency.

Furthermore, baby beardies need more protein for their overall growth. As Zucchini has no protein and is inadequate in nutrition, it will not suit them.

2: Improper Ratio of Calcium & Phosphorus May Lead to MBD

The ideal ratio of calcium and phosphorus is 2:1 to 1:1. Zucchini is relatively low in calcium and high in phosphorus. 100 gm of Zucchini is filled with 16 mg calcium. The ratio of calcium and phosphorus in Zucchini is 1:4.4. The amount of phosphorus is four times higher than calcium.

Excessive phosphorus binds with calcium and stops it from being absorbed into bone. Also, the extra phosphorus absorbs the existing calcium from the bones. Moreover, bearded dragons don’t have access to UV light, which they need to synthesize and absorb calcium efficiently.

Due to the improper ratio of those two compounds, bearded dragons could get into metabolic bone disease. The disease makes the bone and skeleton weaker and even leads to paralysis. So, it is better to feed Zucchini once a month with calcium-rich fruits like grapes.

3: High Water Content May Cause Diarrhea

Zucchini contains a very high amount of water. One cup of fruit has around 90% to 95% of water in it. The excessive amount of water could lead beardies to diarrhea. Fruit is a suitable medication for constipation. But excessive consumption will result adversely.

How to Prepare Zucchini for Your Bearded Dragons?

Purchase Organic Fresh Zucchini

It would help if you remembered that beardies never tolerate pesticides or processed food, and you always need to feed them organic and fresh foods. So, buy fresh organic Zucchini from the market, or you can get it from your garden if you have the plant.

Wash The Fruit Thoroughly

After selecting the fresh and organic fruit, wash it well with clean water. Make sure there is no dirt in the fruit. You can use lukewarm water for better cleansing.

Remove The Seeds & Cut them into Tiny Pieces.

You do not need to peel off the fruit as the skin contains many nutrients. After washing well, cut the whole fruit and remove the seeds. The seeds could cause choking issues to your beardie. So, it is better to feed them the flesh. You must cut the fruit into small pieces so the little pet cannot get choked.

Notably, you can also feed cooked zucchini to your pet. But after cooking, the nutrient gets reduced.

Conclusion

So, a monthly consumption is fine is the proper answer to the question, can bearded dragons eat Zucchini? People often mix fruit with veggies. But it is a salad of fruit or summer squash with water. You can feed the fruit to your beardie in a minimal quantity. After all, there are a variety of food options for your pet. You can mix some pieces of Zucchini with other valuable foods, enhancing the taste and the nutritional benefits.

The younger beardies need to feed more insects than fruits or veggies. As they grow, they require more protein for healthy development.