Can Bearded Dragons Eat Strawberries? (What You Must Know)

Strawberries must be one of the tastiest natural treats on planet earth! And every bearded dragon owner loves to give their beardie a well-deserved treat from time to time!

But can bearded dragons eat strawberries? Or should you be keeping your beardie well away from this fruit at all costs?

This post will give you all the information you need as we take a look at the views of top nutritionists and vets so you can have full confidence in your decision before giving your bearded dragon strawberries.

So can bearded dragons eat strawberries? Bearded dragons can actually eat strawberries. Fruit is considered nutritionally poor when compared to the majority of greens so it’s best to provide strawberries as a treat from time to time and in small portions.

Now that you’ve learned that your bearded dragon can eat strawberries it’s now vital to understand the next steps.

Read on to discover…

• Strawberries (Nutrition Guide)
• Benefits Of Eating Strawberries
• Concerns Of Eating Strawberries
• How Often You Should Feed Your Bearded Dragons Strawberries
• 4 Other Great Fruit Option For Bearded Dragons

Strawberries – Nutritional Guide (For Bearded Dragons)

As we mentioned above, strawberries make a tasty treat, however, the nutritional needs for a bearded dragon are vastly different to those of human or other animals.

Bearded dragons need high amounts of calcium and low amounts of phosphorus in their diet as a general rule to avoid painful illnesses such as metabolic bone disease. 

For this reason, it’s important that you always look at the nutritional information of the food you are wanting to feed your beardie so you can make an educated decision to whether it’s a good fit for their nutritional need or not.

It’s always good to consider a number of other factors too such as the levels of protein, sugars, fat and sodium as too much or too little of these can have an effect on your bearded dragon’s health.

(Looking at the table below provided by the USDA, you will notice that strawberries have more phosphorus than calcium per 100g and this is one of the main reasons why they should be fed occasionally)

Are There Benefits to Feeding Your Bearded Dragon Strawberries?

Fruit is generally considered nutritionally poor for bearded dragons and shouldn’t make up a large portion of their diet, however, when you do feed your beardie fruit, strawberries are one of the best fruit options out there.

This is backed up by the veterinary experts at VCA-Hospitals who have added strawberries into their list of 5 top fruits to feed bearded dragons.

This is largely due to their vast vitamin and mineral profile as well as their ease of consumption.

Because bearded dragons generally love strawberries and fruit in general due to its sweet taste, they can be used as a salad topper to encourage a beardie who isn’t eating well or who doesn’t eat many veggies to wonder over to the salad bowl and have a nibble.

This tactic should only be used once in a while as overfeeding fruit isn’t a great option.

If your bearded dragon isn’t eating or they are losing their appetite then you can check out the 9 reasons why bearded dragons won’t eat in a detailed post right here.

Remember that greens and veggies should make up the vast majority of your dragon’s diet but strawberries make a nice treat from time to time.

Are There Any Concerns Of Feeding Bearded Dragons Strawberries?

Even though strawberries are considered one of the best fruits to feed a bearded dragon by VCA-Hospitals, they still should only be fed on a rare occasion as we mentioned above.

This is due to many factors that may affect their health if fed on a daily or regular basis.

Let’s take a look at the concerns of feeding strawberries to your bearded dragon too regularly.

Calcium to Phosphorus Ratio

If you look at the table above, strawberries have higher phosphorus to calcium ratio.

As a general rule, bearded dragons need to consume more calcium than phosphorus in their daily diet and failure to do so over a long period of time can result in your bearded dragon suffering from painful illnesses like metabolic bone disease or MBD.

Again, VCA-Hospitals state the calcium to phosphorus ratio as vital to a bearded dragon’s health, especially for young growing dragons.

Even though it’s vital that you provide your beardie with a calcium-rich diet, the experts at Vet-Med recommend it’s also just as important to provide your beardie with calcium supplementation to ensure that your beardie is getting the right amount of calcium it needs daily.

You should always try and provide your bearded dragons with the highest quality calcium supplement possible as calcium is so important to them.

We recommend that you check out this post where we have researched and listed the best calcium and vitamin option for your bearded dragon.

Too Much Sugar

Like most fruits, strawberries contain high amounts of sugar and these can be harmful to your bearded dragon if consumed in high amounts or on a regular basis.

If a bearded dragon consumes too much sugar at once it can cause digestion problems in the gut which can then lead to diarrhoea which in turn can lead to dehydration issues.

Feeding too much sugar on a regular basis can also lead to obesity and this can lead to more long term health issues for your bearded dragon.

Last but not least, sugar has a negative effect on your beardies teeth just like it does for us humans.

Too much sugar will almost certainly lead to tooth decay or even tooth loss.

We have recently written a great post that explains everything you need to about your bearded dragons teeth.

The post even shows you ways that you can easily clean your bearded dragons teeth to keep them in excellent condition.

You can see the post on bearded dragons teeth right here…

Other Concerns For Bearded Dragons Eating Strawberries

The only other real concern with overfeeding strawberries to your bearded dragon is that fruit is generally nutritionally poor compared to greens and veggies.

Bearded dragons have very small stomachs and filling them up on foods that don’t offer the best nutrients isn’t always the best option when you do it too often.

This is especially important for baby and juvenile bearded dragons that are still growing at a ferocious pace and every meal counts and contributes to making them as big and healthy as possible for their adult years.

Here’s a detailed post that shares exactly how fast bearded dragons grow at different stages of their life.

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Strawberries Every Day?

By now, you’ve probably realised that it’s not recommended to feed bearded dragons strawberries on a daily basis.

Don’t let this put you off feeding them to your bearded dragon as a treat though. Remember that VCA-Hospitals listed strawberries in their top 5 fruits list.

But like any fruit, there is a limit to many often you should feed it to your bearded dragon due to the concerns we mentioned above. Having said this, strawberries are still a good option to feed to your beardie around once a month.

The portion size should be small or even consider using strawberries as a salad topper over healthy greens and veggies.

So to summarize, we recommend feeding strawberries…

• Once a month maximum
• Portion size should be small or salad topper

Can Bearded Dragons Eat Strawberries Seeds?

The seeds of strawberries are actually edible for bearded dragons so you don’t need to sit and pick them out of the fruit individually.

The seeds aren’t big enough to get stuck or cause a problem to their windpipe and don’t cause digestion problems if fed in the correct amounts.

If you feed your dragon large amounts of strawberries or feed them daily then the seeds can cause problems with your beardies digestion.

The good news is that because you will only be feeding strawberries on the odd occasion and in small amounts as we mentioned in the previous section so the seeds won’t be a problem.

How to Prepare Strawberries For Bearded Dragons

It’s always important to prepare the fruits and greens you offer to your beardie in the best way possible.

The same goes for strawberries. This includes providing an organic option whenever possible and thoroughly washing the strawberries as best you can. 

Pet-Md says you should always ensure they are pesticide and herbicide-free in a recent article they wrote.

A good thing about strawberries is that they are soft, juicy and easy to eat. It’s always a good idea to quarter the strawberries, this way your dragon will be able to consume them much easier.

The last thing you need to do is to make sure you offer them in a bowl that is easy for your bearded dragon to eat from.

A lot of bowls make it hard for bearded dragons to eat the bottom half of the food on offer so having a good quality bowl is important to make sure they are getting the nutrients they require.

We’ve created a post that lists the bowls we recommend you use at feeding times. You can see our recommended selection of bowls here.

4 Other Fruits to Feed Your Bearded Dragon Instead of Strawberries

Ok, so we’ve established that strawberries are safe to feed to your bearded dragon if they are offered in the correct portion size and not overfed.

According to VCA-Hospitals, your bearded dragon’s diet should be 80-90% veggies and flowers and only 10% fruit, however, it’s important to know what fruits to feed your bearded dragon even if it’s only a small portion of their diet.

Again, we have taken the list of top 5 fruits that VCA-Hospitals recommends and included a handy table so you can see the nutrients that each fruit offers.

VCA-Hospitals highly recommend figs from the list as they are high in calcium.

It’s important to remember that veggies and greens will have a much better nutrient profile compared to fruit but these fruits are considered great options as far as fruits go.

The top 5 fruits that made the list are strawberries, figs, dates, raspberries and apricots.

We have included the most relevant nutritional information from all 5 fruits so you can compare each side by side.

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