Bearded dragons can eat a variety of flowers. And I guess you already know it. However, not all flowers or even petals are safe for bearded dragons.
So, can bearded dragons eat rose petals?
Well, bearded dragons can eat rose petals as long as they are clean and free from parasites and pesticides. Parasites and chemicals are harmful to bearded dragons.
Rose petals are not poisonous to beardies unlike other greens. However, the reason why most bearded dragon owners don’t feed rose petals to their beardies is because of the pesticides and parasites that might come with the petals.
If you want to feed your beardy with rose petals, that would be fine as long as you are sure that the petals are clean and safe.
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What Nutritional Benefits Do Rose Petals Have?
Obviously, rose petals are part of the rose plant, a perennial plant that grows mostly in Asia.
It is a member of the Genus, Rosa, and has a family name of Rosaceae. Although it is commonly found in Asia, it can also be found in Europe.
Because of its amazing features, rose flowers are usually associated with love and affection. The demand for this flower is high especially during Valentine’s day.
This makes this flower more popular than others.
But what nutritional benefits do rose petals have?
Rose petals or flowers have been used for cooking and medicine in Chinese culture. So one might wonder what we can get from rose petals.
Well, in reality, rose petals offer limited nutritional content. This might also the reason why rose petals are not popular recipe ingredients.
A limited number of the study suggests that rose petals contain about 95% water and a little bit of vitamin A and C, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and potassium.
As you can see, rose petals do not contain harmful substances that can negatively affect bearded dragons. This means that bearded dragons can eat rose petals as long as they are free from pesticides and parasites.
Rose petals are safe for humans too. These flowers are used in cooking by professional chefs. But again, the usage is not that popular compared to other flowers.
As mentioned, rose petals are also used in Chinese medicine to improve digestive issues as well as a pain treatment.
However, I don’t recommend feeding your beardy with rose petals on a regular basis. As mentioned, these petals contain low nutritional values for bearded dragons.
And one more thing, do not feed your beardies with flowers you picked in the wild. You don’t know what’s in them. There could be parasites or the flowers are exposed to chemical treatments such as herbicides and pesticides.
Possible Dangers when Bearded Dragons Eat Flowers
Although rose petals are not poisonous and do not contain any harmful substances, they can be dangerous sometimes.
In this section, I will share with you why bearded dragons are way better off not eating flowers.
Flowers Might Have Harmful Chemicals in Them
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, rose petals are not poisonous to bearded dragons. And they don’t contain harmful chemicals either.
The only reason why most bearded dragon owners don’t recommend rose petals for bearded dragons is that these petals or flowers might have pesticides and parasites in them.
These chemicals are used to eliminate or control rats, mice, and other pests that could ruin the whole plant.
Sometimes, fertilizers are used too to make the rose grow faster. This adds to the problem.
But the petals alone are safe for beardies. You can feed them to your beardies as long as you are 100% sure that they are clean and safe.
If you are growing your own rose plants with the purpose of feeding them to your bearded dragons, then you need to make it safe.
You can simply avoid using chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides in them.
In my case, as long as possible, I grow veggies and flowers in my backyard for my bearded dragons. The best thing about growing your own food supply is that you will be certain that everything is safe.
Besides, growing veggies, greens, fruits, and flowers are pretty easy. It is relaxing too. So if you have vacant spaces in your backyard, I suggest that you do the same.
Can Bearded Dragons Eat Flowers?
Yes. Along with other greens and vegetables, bearded dragons can eat a variety of flowers too. One common example of a flower is dandelion.
Again, whenever you feed your beardies with flowers, make sure that they are safe. I don’t recommend feeding those commercial flowers that you can buy from flower shops. Those flowers may have pesticides and insecticides in them.
As mentioned, it is better to grow your own flowers to make that they are safe to feed to your bearded dragons.
However, flowers are good on an occasional basis. Do not feed them as staple foods. Bearded dragons are better off consuming veggies, greens, fruits, and insects. The right combination of these foods makes a balanced diet.
What Is a Balanced Diet for Bearded Dragons?
The balanced diet does not only pertain to the right combination of greens and insects. It also pertains to how much a bearded dragon eats according to their age.
For baby and juvenile bearded dragons, for instance, they eat more insects and other protein sources than their adult counterparts. The reason is that they need more protein than nutrients from greens and fruits.
Adult bearded dragons, on the other hand, eat more greens than protein-rich foods such as insects and worms. This is because they don’t need many proteins as they used to.
Therefore, feeding young versus adult beardies may need two different food servings. One is protein loaded for young beardies, while the other serving should be rich in nutrients for adult bearded dragons.
For baby and juvenile beardies, the diet should compose of about 70-80% proteins (insects and worms) and 20-30% greens and fruits.
While for adult bearded dragons’ diet should compose of about 70-80% fruits and vegetables and 20-30% insects and worms.
And one more thing. When preparing the food for bearded dragons, you should make sure that the ingredients are finely chopped. The perfect size will be small bite-size pieces. This will allow the beardies to eat the food without having digestive troubles.
Always remember the importance of food size especially when feeding small bearded dragons. As a rule of thumb, do not feed food bigger than the beardy’ mouth size to avoid choking.
The safest way to make sure that you are feeding the correct food sizes is to take the distance between the two eyes into consideration.
The distance between the two eyes reflects the size of food that beardies can take without having digestive problems.
Final Thoughts On Can Bearded Dragons Eat Rose Petals
Rose petals are not poisonous to bearded dragons. Therefore, beardies can eat rose petals. The only reason why most bearded dragon owners don’t recommend rose petals to beardies is that they potentially carry pesticides and other chemicals in them that could potentially harm bearded dragons.
But as long as rose petals are free from any type of chemicals, they can be fed to bearded dragons.
However, rose petals and even other flowers are not a good staple food for bearded dragons. If you feed flowers to your beardies, make sure that it is only on an occasional basis.
It is important to remember that bearded dragons need a balanced diet. This involves the combination of greens, fruits, vegetables, and live insects. Make sure that your reptile pet gets the correct combination.
I hope this helps. If you want to learn more about bearded dragons, feel free to visit my guide here.
