Can he eat the dandilions?

[skeetersmom]

I see on the caresheet / foods to eat that dandilion greens are yummies - but nothing about the flowers/heads.

My hermies love the flowers, and would like to give to Skeeter if they are alright for him to have (frequently or as a treat)

Thanks

[amcurls]

Mine will sometimes eat them and other times trample them into the substrate. They are alright to feed as are wood violets (mine love these).

[Linnea]

T___T wood violets are a rare plant

[amcurls]

Not in North America. Our yard is full of them. They are viola genus don't know specie. Could be different than European wood violet.

[skeetersmom]

hmmm...thinking maybe since it is the flowering season - if we could get a list of those flowers our beardies can eat?

[skeetersmom]

Dandilion update: I gave Skeeter a dandilion, and you would think he was going after the most vicious, ferocious, dangerous form of food he ever encountered!

He snatched it from my hand, and proceeded to head shake this poor defensless plant like I have never seen him do before (and I have fed him tomato worms that he shook for 10 minutes before eating!) Skeeter dove his head into his shredded paper bedding and SHOOK his head - then went to his basking rock and used that to beat the poor dandilion sensless...

After about 15 minutes of this - Skeeter was victorious!....and walked away from the now very much deat dandilion

[Lauriek]

dandies.png

Dandelions, pictured here, are what we used to tell the time, walking home from school on hot afternoons. We would blow at the seed head and see how many times it took to clear all of the seeds. Normally it was about 3 and a bit so that made it about 3:30pm which was correct as we got out of school about then. Hmmm .... not too sure what we thought if it was morning !! Anyway, dandelions are botanically known as Taraxacum officinale; genus Taraxacum, family Asteraceae, order Asterales. Violets are genus Viola, family Violaceae and order Malpighiales.

I'm not sure what plant amcurls is referring to when they say >>Not in North America. Our yard is full of them. They are viola genus don't know specie. Could be different than European wood violet<<.

A pic would be nice !

My shingles love dandelion flowers. Blotchies aren't that keen but I use the green leaves for all their 'greens'. You can also eat dandelion leaves too. Wash well before putting in the salad !

[amcurls]

The violet I am refering to is Viola sororia. It is a common plant in eastern and midwestern North America. Some consider it a weed but I find it nice break from monotomous green lawns. I feed it to all my omnivarious and herbivarious reptiles.

[skeetersmom]

do you feed just the flower - or are the leaves ok also?

[amcurls]

do you feed just the flower - or are the leaves ok also?

If you are refering to violets; I feed the whole plant including roots (though with Meraukes you have to disguish greens). You also can feed the entire dandilion plant.

[skeetersmom]

Awsome! Guess I will have to cultivate the violets along with the danilions! My neighbors are gonna love me. The violet is the Wisconsin state flower - guess I will have to do with in secret

[Scotts1au]

I have a patch of dandelions growing in a large outdoor enclosure. The blueys eat them pretty much as poverty food, when they get really hungry between feedings. Out of 9 blueys I only have three or four that browse on them as far as i can tell. Comes down to hunger, and the individual animal.

[Richard.C]

thats been my finding with my lot to scott,the cunningham skinks hook into the,flowers leaves and stems though,stumpies love them,beardies to,my waterdragons shun them,even if u make them move,it elicits a bite,but then a fast spitting out,lol then a look of disgust

[El Lobo]

All parts of dandelions are edible: flower, leaves, stalk as well as root. They have been used as herbal medicine for hundreds of years. One point to note though, it is a powerful diuretic known for most of that time as "wet-the-bed".

[skeetersmom]

El Lobo - did you train your bluey to pose that way? Very nice

[El Lobo]

No training, she does it naturally. She has always shown interest in anything overhead be it insects, birds or even small planes and that is her observing pose.

[Kbell31]

My husband hates dandelions and I always have an argument with him every summer about using that *darn Round Up crap. I always win (: Today I took two from the yard, rinsed them and set them on my skinks rock. After a bit I checked on her and they were gone. Guess she liked them! Now I can just tell my husband not to worry, Ill just let the skink outside to eat them lol!

[Spindown]

my Indo has that observing pose too...although he'll manage to get straight up...makes it hard to get tongue shots when i distract him X_X

"
Dandilion update: I gave Skeeter a dandilion, and you would think he was going after the most vicious, ferocious, dangerous form of food he ever encountered!

He snatched it from my hand, and proceeded to head shake this poor defensless plant like I have never seen him do before (and I have fed him tomato worms that he shook for 10 minutes before eating!) Skeeter dove his head into his shredded paper bedding and SHOOK his head - then went to his basking rock and used that to beat the poor dandilion sensless...

After about 15 minutes of this - Skeeter was victorious!....and walked away from the now very much deat dandilion"

haha my merauke will do this many times when i put her food bowl in her cage...she has to "kill" it dead before she can eat out of it...either that or it offends her, not sure which

[skeetersmom]

Skeeter will head shake the roaches and worms - but never his "dead" food - and definately not as comical as that was

[Spindown]

btw to anyone feeding dandelions...DO NOT lick your hands or eat after you have touched dandelion sap...most people are like me and trust me, if you are...that stuff TASTES SO GROSS!!!! I hear its not bad when cooked, and although lizards like it...most humans do not when its raw. It wont hurt you, but you will probably never do it again...I did it when i was eight...now i'm 25 and have ALWAYS remembered X_X