ᐅ Can Bearded Dragons Eat Cilantro?

image of bearded dragon, cilantro and a text saying: can bearded dragon eat cilantro?

Can Your Bearded Dragon Go Mexican With Cilantro?

If you ever enjoyed the refreshing taste of this herb in your favorite Mexican or Indian dish, you might have thought to share some with your bearded dragon. The question pops up: “Can bearded dragons eat cilantro?”.

The short answer is: “Absolutely!” Cilantro is an excellent herb for bearded dragons.

This article will expose the nutritional values, benefits, risks, and more when giving cilantro to your bearded dragon.

Nutritional Value Of Cilantro

100 Grams of fresh raw cilantro leaves contains the following nutrients:

Nutrients in Cilantro	Amounts
Water	92%
Energy	23 Kcal
Vitamin A	6748 IU
Vitamin B6	0.149mg
Vitamin C	27mg/100g
Vitamin D (D2+3)	0ug
Vitamin E	2.5mg
Vitamin K	310ug
Calcium	67mg/100g
Sugars	0.87g/100g
Phosphorus	48mg/100g
Potassium	521mg
Protein	3g/100g
Ca:P Ratio	1.4:1
Beta Carotene	3930ug
Total Lipid (fat)	0.52g
Carbohydrates, by difference	3.67g
Fiber	2.8g
Iron	1.77mg
Sodium	46mg

Although we mentioned earlier in the post that cilantro is safe for your bearded dragon to consume, this does not mean it is safe as a staple part of their diet.

Benefits Of Feeding Bearded Dragons Cilantro

For the most part, cilantro offers some excellent health benefits to your bearded dragon. To find out more about these benefits, read on.

Low In Sugar

Like most herbs, cilantro is low in sugar, with only 0.87g of sugar per 100g. Offering your bearded dragon mostly a low-sugar diet is vital. Excess sugar can cause a whole host of health problems. These problems include tooth decay, obesity, and diarrhea which can affect your beardies food intake.

Calcium To Phosphorus Ratio

Another positive of feeding your bearded dragon cilantro is the balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio. It is widely accepted that for a food to be considered healthy; it ideally should have a ratio of 2:1 in favor of calcium.

The above table shows cilantro offering 67mg of calcium and 48mg of phosphorus per 100g. These amounts are well within the 1:1 or 2:1 recommended ratio.

The importance of this ratio is that phosphorus clings to calcium and prevents absorption into your bearded dragon’s bloodstream.

It is worth mentioning that if you consistently give your bearded dragon an unbalanced diet, it can lead to metabolic bone disease. Cilantro, however, gets the thumbs up when it comes to the calcium and phosphorus ratio.

Cilantro contains 67mg of calcium per 100g, which is moderate. While this is not a negative, it certainly isn’t enough to consider cilantro as a staple food in your bearded dragons diet. As well as adding some calcium-rich greens, we also recommend you add a calcium supplement to your beardie’s diet.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A promotes better eyesight and eye health, healthy skin, and a healthy immune system. It also helps to break down unwanted materials in the body.

However, too much vitamin A can lead to Vitamin A toxicity. Vitamin A toxicity can lead to bone pain and liver damage.

Keep into consideration the nutritional information about the food you serve your bearded dragon, and rest assured you’ll have a healthy bearded dragon.

Vitamin K

It’s essential for tissue and blood cell maintenance.

Potassium

Cilantro is high in potassium which helps regulate blood pressure and the nervous system and also helps keep your dragon’s muscles working and retain proper water retention.

Risks Of Feeding Cilantro To Your Bearded Dragon

Cilantro can not be considered a staple in your bearded dragon’s diet due to a couple of low or unbalanced nutrients. Let’s look at the negatives to understand why you should give cilantro in moderation.

How Much And How Often Can Bearded Dragons Eat Cilantro?

With all things considered, we recommend that if you want to add cilantro to your bearded dragon’s diet, then offering it once per week should be fine. However, this will depend on how often you feed your bearded dragon similar food to cilantro with similar nutritional profiles.

Knowing how much cilantro to feed your bearded dragon is just as important as knowing how often you can feed this herb to your beardie.

There is no good or wrong answer on how much cilantro to feed your bearded dragon. We recommend that five to eight cilantro leaves are ample. Remember, always add variety to your bearded dragon diet.

Again, the quantity you feed your bearded dragon fresh cilantro will depend on other fresh herbs you add to your beardie’s salad bowl.

Can A Baby Bearded Dragon Eat Cilantro?

Sometimes the food suitable for adult bearded dragons isn’t always the best for baby and juvenile bearded dragons.

The reason is that baby bearded dragons grow at such a ferocious pace that their nutritional needs differ from that of adults.

When it comes to cilantro, baby and juvenile bearded dragons can still eat the herb.

Be mindful that baby bearded dragons and juvenile dragons’ diets are even more on point to support their growth. It is therefore essential to concentrate on offering calcium-rich leafy greens first.

Baby and juvenile bearded dragons can eat cilantro in moderate amounts on occasion.

Preparing Cilantro For Your Bearded Dragon

Cilantro is a very simple and easy herb to prepare and serve to your bearded dragon. Take a look at these simple steps to follow.

Organic

We understand that buying organic greens and herbs is costly, but you must always try to offer your pet lizard food that is pesticide and herbicide-free.

Wash

The next step is to wash the cilantro thoroughly. Even if you bought organic cilantro, it remains vital to clean the herbs you feed your beardie.

Raw Cilantro versus Cooked Cilantro

It’s always better to feed your bearded dragon raw cilantro than cooked cilantro. The cooking process reduces many of the nutrients that make cilantro nutritional. Feed cilantro leaves raw to your bearded dragon to ensure a happy pet.

Serve

With only a few steps to follow, we can now look at items to add to your beardie’s salad bowl.

We recommend adding cilantro to a bowl with other high-quality greens full of calcium. These can include dandelions, collard greens, basil, and more.

Final Thought

The popular fresh leafy, green cilantro is one of the safest herbs to give a bearded dragon. Before you decide to add any new food to feed your bearded dragon, we recommend that you read about it first to make sure you offer your beardie a balanced diet.

Remember that even the safest food can have health risks applicable to your bearded dragon. If unsure, you can always consult your vet.

Continue to read our main article “What do Bearded Dragons Eat?” for all the ins and outs on general diet questions, and get a further detailed breakdown of other popular foods in the articles below: