Dill is one of the most common herbs when it comes to the kitchen of herb lovers. This one is used to cook fish, sandwiches, meat and many other dishes. Also, this can be given to soups as dressing and the soup will become more flavorful.
This herb, like other herbs, is given on the food after freshly cut. Now, this extraordinary item can be eaten by most humans, but that may not be the case with reptiles like bearded dragons. Let’s see why?
Can Bearded Dragons Eat Dill?
Basil is one of the most harmless and rather helpful herbs for bearded dragons. There are other herbs too like cilantro lavender, fennel, rosemary, chicory, thyme and parsley. These herbs do not contain any harmful objects that can damage the health of the bearded dragon.
Do not feed avocado, lettuce, beet tops, spinach, rhubarb to the bearded dragon. These items are not to be digested by bearded dragons due to some harmful components. Thus they can damage the intestine and overall health of the bearded dragon.
What are the compounds found in dill?
Dill is an acidic herb that also contains calcium, phosphorus, protein, fat, sugar, fibre and water. Most of these components are useful for bearded dragons. This plant also contains folate, riboflavin and manganese.
Calcium is one of the most needed components that build the bone structure and keeps them intact. Then there is phosphorus which is equally important an item for the health of bearded dragon.
Not so helpful components:
Fat and sugar are not so vital for the bearded dragons, but food that is high in water level is always good for the reptiles. So that makes dill one of the best choices in herbs for bearded dragons.
Fibre content also is good for the health of bearded dragon, though too much fibre makes the food less nutritious for them. The amount of fat, sugar and fibre makes dill not so kind to the bearded dragons.
But this is not the only reason to omit dill from the diet chart of your pet bearded dragon. the calcium-phosphorus ratio of any food decides if that is good food for the bearded dragon.
The ratio of calcium: phosphorus should be 1:1 or 2:1. But in dill, the ratio is not exactly so. This way it cannot be called the best food for the bearded dragon.
The improper ratio of calcium and phosphorus prohibits the absorption of vitamin D in the body of a bearded dragon. This vitamin allows calcium to be used properly in the internal system of the bearded dragon.
These aromatic fresh leaves, which is also a family of celery and parsley, is used widely in different cuisines. Along with other components mentioned above, this herb comes with a rich source of Vitamin A and C which are good for the bearded dragon’s health.
But as we have already mentioned, due to the uneven calcium-phosphorus ratio, you cannot offer dill to the bearded dragon on its regular meal.
However, bearded dragons have seen to mostly like the taste and flavour of this herb. So they will be much interested in having this herb as a part of their meal.
You can offer them this herb sparsely. This herb does not contain the right ratio of calcium and phosphorus, which can cause a problem in calcium absorption, and later it will cause weakening of the bone structure.
Vitamin A toxicity
This is another issue caused by dill among bearded dragons. This herb contains a good amount of vitamin A and that is what makes it really healthy herbs option for us. But for the bearded dragon, vitamin A consumption causes toxicity.
Hypervitaminosis A is caused by too much consumption of vitamin A among bearded dragons.
This actually happens when some pet owners unknowingly push vitamin A by injecting that into the body of the pet reptiles. But when a bearded dragon consumes a good amount of vitamin A daily on its diet, this same situation can take place.
The role of vitamin A
This is a much-needed vitamin for all living creatures. Normally it builds the skin tissues and also improves the vision. Also for the growth and reproduction of creatures, this vitamin plays a vital role. So following that, it seems vitamin A will be much beneficial for any living being.
For the herbivores like the bearded dragon, the situation is somehow different.
Though most of the vitamin A for us, humans is sourced from animal protein, for herbivores, synthesizing vitamin A is easy. Factors like beta carotene, lutein and canthaxanthin are present in leafy vegetables and other orange and yellow vegetables.
Also, various fruits contain this vitamin. So you can offer the safe items to the bearded excluding the ones that can cause any kind of toxicity in them.