It’s quite normal for new owners to ask, “Can bearded dragons eat raspberries?” This tasty fruit is loved by many and conveniently found in many kitchens around the world.
So it would certainly be convenient if your bearded dragon could have them too!
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Read this guide to find out everything you need to know about including raspberries in their diet.
Can Bearded Dragons Eat Raspberries?
Bearded dragons are natural omnivores that do best on a varied diet filled with protein, greens, fruits, and vegetables.
Bearded dragons can eat raspberries and this fruit is a great option to include in their dietary mix. However, your beardie should only eat these sweet fruits in moderation.
The Benefits Of Feeding Them Raspberries
Now you know that pet bearded dragons can eat raspberries. This is a good thing, because they’re quite happy when eating them!
And who can blame them? They’re sweet, nutritious, and offer a vastly different flavor profile to what these lizards are used to eating.
When you look at the nutritional content of raspberries, you’ll see that these fruits are so much more than a tasty treat. They also provide a slew of micronutrients to support your bearded dragon’s health.
Raspberries have many of the core “lettered” vitamins. It has a decent amount of Vitamin C, which is crucial for tissue repair, reproduction, organ development, and overall health. There’s also Vitamins K and E. They are responsible for blood clotting and cellular health, respectively.
These fruits also contain several minerals. When your bearded dragon consumes raspberries, they’re absorbing manganese, magnesium, iron, and potassium.
The manganese helps with metabolism while the magnesium maintains blood sugar levels. Iron is responsible for oxygenating the organs and strengthening bones as potassium regulates nerve function and blood pressure.
As a whole, raspberries can do a lot to support your beardie’s health. The red berries even contain a good amount of fiber, carbohydrates, and water. The fiber can promote smooth digestion while the carbs offer up some much-needed energy.
Expert Tip: Raspberries are about 87 percent water, so they’re an excellent snack for hydrating your lizard.
On top of all that, many consider raspberries one of the healthiest fruits around. They’re nutritionally dense and are very high in antioxidants. The antioxidants help prevent cell oxidation and damage caused by free radicals.
There’s a lot to love about raspberries, so it’s no surprise that many people want to know if bearded dragons can eat them.
How Often Should Bearded Dragons Eat Raspberries?
These fruits may be chock-full of healthy stuff, but you can’t feel raspberries to your bearded dragon regularly. Despite all the good that these fruits have to offer, a bearded dragon diet is quite different from your own based on the different nutrients they require.
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It’s crucial to make raspberries an occasional treat rather than a diet staple. At most, bearded dragons can eat one or two raspberries every other week. Anything more than that, and your pet could encounter some severe health issues.
There are several potential issues with feeding your bearded dragon too many raspberries.
The first is the fruit’s oxalate content. Oxalates and oxalic acid bind with calcium to form calcium oxalate. The issue with that binding process is that your bearded dragon can’t absorb or utilize the calcium that interacts with oxalates.
As a result, your reptile could suffer from bone disorders like metabolic bone disease. Their bones can become fragile, making them prone to fractures and deformities.
The oxalate content in raspberries is pretty low. There are only about 48 milligrams in a cup of raspberries. So, these fruits are safe in moderation. It’s when you make them a regular part of your beardie’s diet when issues arise.
Another problem is phosphorus. Phosphorus is an essential mineral, but too much of it can cause bone disorders, too. Like oxalates, phosphorus binds with calcium and makes it impossible to absorb.
Expert Tip: The calcium to phosphorus ratio of raspberries is about 1:1.2. There’s more phosphorus than calcium, which can create a severe calcium deficit.
Finally, there’s the issue with sugar and water.
Water and hydration are always good, but bearded dragons can’t handle too much of it. Otherwise, they experience digestive troubles like diarrhea.
The same goes for sugars. The sugar content of raspberries is quite high, so if a bearded dragon eats too many raspberries it can result in unplanned weight gain and eventual obesity.
How To Feed Raspberries To Your Bearded Dragon
If you want to incorporate raspberries into your beardie’s diet, you must prepare the fruits accordingly. Luckily, that’s pretty easy with a bit of know-how.
Find Fresh Fruits
First things first, you’ll need to get your hands on some raspberries!
It’s always best for your bearded dragon to eat fresh, raw raspberries. Avoid anything that’s cooked or processed. Processing tends to decrease the nutritional value of the fruit.
You can utilize frozen raspberries as a last resort. However, make sure that you thaw them out completely. Frozen chunks could create a choking hazard.
Expert Tip: Whenever possible, go for fresh organic raspberries. Organic products lack chemical-based pesticides, fertilizers, and more. They’re much healthier for your bearded dragon (which will have a significant impact on their lifespan).
Cleaning & Preparation
Next, you’ll need to wash and prepare the fruit.
Inspect the fruits closely and ditch any that don’t look perfect. Toss over-ripe raspberries, tough berries, or those that look like they have bugs.
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Once you wash off all debris and residue, chop the raspberries up into bite-sized pieces. Try to keep the morsels small so that they’re easy for your lizard to swallow.
How you offer them up to your bearded dragon is up to you. Some owners like to incorporate the fruit into a mix of greens and vegetables. Others prefer to use them as special treats and provide them on their own.
Either way, make sure to watch for any adverse side effects. Keep an eye on your beardie’s stool in the coming days to ensure that they don’t suffer from diarrhea or other stomach upsets.
Can Bearded Dragons Have Raspberry Seeds?
Bearded dragons can have raspberry seeds without any issues.
The fruit seeds are incredibly tiny, so they usually pass right through your lizard’s system without any issues. Of course, you might encounter problems if you provide too many raspberries. But if they’re offered up as an occasional treat, seeds should not cause any trouble.
Raspberries develop seeds in those tiny juice pockets. If you look at these fruits closely, you’ll notice that they have several small globules. Each one of those little sections has a seed in it!
Expert Tip: A single raspberry can have up to 120 seeds. So even if you wanted to avoid the grain-like seeds, it’d be pretty much impossible with this fruit.
What About The Leaves?
Do you have a raspberry bush? If so, try offering up some of the plant’s leaves every once in a while!
Like the fruit itself, bearded dragons can safely eat raspberry leaves in moderation. You should never use them to replace standard greens, but you can incorporate the leaves into meals here and there.
Raspberry leaves are relatively soft, but fresh foliage can have a nice crunch that beardies will enjoy. Plus, the leaves are said to be full of nutrients.
The leaves have a long history of medicinal use. Even today, you can find people brewing dried raspberry leaves for teas and other drinks.
Can You Feed Your Bearded Dragon Raspberry Jam?
If you want your bearded dragons to eat some sweet raspberries, keep it simple. Never give your bearded dragon raspberry jam or preserves.
Most jams contain added sugar. These fruits are already sweet enough. Eating sugary jam will only put your lizard’s health at risk.
Furthermore, jams, preserves, and other cooked raspberry products lack the nutritional content of fresh fruits. Heat destroys essential vitamins and minerals. So, the jam would be useless from a health standpoint.
It’s much better to stick to fresh, natural raspberries!
Conclusion
Bearded dragons can eat raspberries, but you need to be measured when it comes to how much you decide to feed them. While tasty and nutritious, their health can be negatively impacted if you go overboard.
Simply follow the recommendations above, and your beardie should be just fine!
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