ᐅ Can Bearded Dragons Eat Plums?

image of bearded dragon, plums and a text saying can bearded dragons eat plums?

The Truth Behind Plums And Bearded Dragons

Plums are cute and small-sized balls with a mixture of sweet and sour tastes. While eating this juicy fruit, you must have asked the question – Can Bearded dragons eat plums? The short answer is yes, they can eat plums but only occasionally.

This article will explore the positives and negatives of plums in a bearded dragon diet.

Nutritional Information Of Plums In A Bearded Dragon’s Diet

We will look at the nutritional data and find out more about plums in a bearded dragon diet.

Nutritional Value Of Plums Per 100 Grams.

Nutrient Name	Amounts
Sodium	0 mg
Carbohydrates	7.5 g
Fiber	0.9 g
Sugar	6.6 g
Protein	0.5 g
Calcium	43 mg
Phosphorus	16 mg
Energy	192 kJ (46 kcal)
Fat	0.28 g
Vitamin B6	(2%) 0.029 mg
Folate (B9)	(1%) 5 μg
Vitamin C	(11%) 9.5 mg
Vitamin E	(2%) 0.26 mg
Vitamin K	(6%) 6.4 μg
Iron	(1%) 0.17 mg
Magnesium	(2 %) 7 mg
Manganese	(2 %) 0.052 mg
Potassium	(3%) 157 mg

Benefits Of Including Plums In Your Beardie’s Diet?

As a bearded dragon owner, we are sure you have asked yourself – Is there any benefits when feeding plums to keep your adult beardie? Let’s find out.

Antioxidants

Plums contain antioxidants that strengthen your bearded dragon’s immune system and digestive systems.

Vitamin K

The Vitamin K in plums is essential for tissue and blood cell maintenance.

Vitamin B-6

Plums contain vitamin B6, which boosts energy and helps maintain the nervous system.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Plums? Risk Factors

Although plums work well for humans, for bearded dragons, they don’t. Bearded dragons have a sensitive stomach that can’t take an overload.

Overdose Of Plum

Avoid feeding too much plum to your bearded dragon. It can result in health issues or even an overdose. An overdose of plums may disturb your beardie’s stomach maintenance and digestive system.

Hard To Chew

Some bearded dragons may find dried plums hard to eat. It’s because they may have difficulty chewing the fruit.

Many adult bearded dragons have broken or weak teeth, and they certainly cannot nibble on a dried plum. Think about this before you feed your bearded dragon’s dried plum.

The Calcium To Phosphorus Ratio Explained

Why Do Bearded Dragons Need Calcium?

Bearded dragons need calcium for the following reasons:

Bone development
Muscle contractions

Proper egg development & good reproductive health in females.

Calcium And Phosphorus Ratio

For a bearded dragon, a calcium-phosphorus ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 is absolute.

Plums have an inappropriate proportion of calcium and phosphorus. It makes plums a little acidic, which is unsafe for bearded dragons.

In plums, calcium and phosphorus have an indirect relation. It may negatively affect your pet lizard’s health and cause metabolic bone disease.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Dried Plums?

Most bearded dragons prefer plums to dried prunes. They like fresh food and therefore are less likely to eat prunes. However, this choice will depend on your bearded dragon. You may find a bearded dragon who enjoys colorful food. Thus, they will eat either plums or prunes.

What Is Prunes?

Prunes are just dried plums. However, they do come from different plants. It’s not from a plum tree. Therefore prunes and plums do have some slight differences in their nutrition.

A green salad bowl can be pretty dull, even for a bearded dragon. Here you can add a few chopped plums to it.

It can attract your bearded dragon to its food because of the bright colors. It will then start eating the vegetables alongside enjoying the sweet and sour taste.

How Often Can Your Bearded Dragon Eat Plums?

In the wild, bearded dragons enjoy spending time on plum trees. It doesn’t mean that you can offer your bearded pet dragon plums daily.

Do not offer plums as a staple because of their unbalanced ratio of calcium and phosphorus.

Occasionally, you can provide plums to your bearded dragon once or twice a month.

Plums are not a treat you can dish out all the time, but you should not be too afraid to feed it either.

How To Prepare Plums For Your Bearded Dragon

Sometimes, when your bearded dragon’s green salad bowl looks dull, you can add chopped plums into it. The bright color of plums will attract your beardie, and it’ll start eating green veggies with a sweet and sour taste. Follow the next few steps to prepare plum for your bearded dragon.

Wash the plums thoroughly
Cut them into bite-size pieces.
You can also add its juice to the food bowl.

Add other safe fruits and greens
Serve

To Conclude

So, to conclude, the choice remains up to you.

You can feed your bearded dragons plums, but it should be limited to an occasional treat now and then. They are both sweet and sour and excellent to add to a green salad if you want to encourage your bearded dragons to eat their vegetables.

We suggest other fruits such as cantaloupe, blackberries, pineapples, mango, and more.

Remember to do proper research about any new food you wish to add to your beardie’s diet. Even food that seems the healthiest can have some disadvantages to your bearded dragon’s health. If you remain unsure, you can turn to your vet for advice.

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: