Cilantro is a widespread herb that is probably present in your house right at this moment.The undeniable reason behind this is that it enhances the flavor of your food and benefits your health with all the nutrients it possesses. Bearded dragons are accustomed to eating herbivore food, especially the adult ones, as their diet is 80% comprised of plant produce.All of this will now raise the obvious question: if cilantro is healthy and beardies love herbivorous food, can you feed this green leafy veggie to your pet beardie, and is cilantro is safe for their consumption? Cilantro is filled with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, potassium, fiber, and calcium. A point that distinguishes cilantro leaves from all the other vegetables bearded dragons eat is that they can eat the entire cilantro plant. You can feed bearded dragons the stem, as well as the leaves of some fresh cilantro.Although there are specific reasons which do not allow cilantro to be a part of your bearded dragon’s staple food, you can feed cilantro to your beardie as an occasional treat in your bearded dragon’s diet. Over the years, most bearded dragons have responded positively to adding small amounts of herbs like cilantro to their salad bowls. However, irrespective of how high the nutritional value of cilantro is, keep in mind to feed your bearded dragon only a tiny amount of it and not more than once a week. The same is applied while feeding parsley to your beardies.If you enjoyed this article, why not also read about Can bearded dragons eat kale? and Can bearded dragons eat lettuce? here on Kidadl?Is cilantro safe for bearded dragons?Bearded dragons can eat cilantro, but how safe is it for them to consume it? The fact that your bearded dragon can eat cilantro isn’t enough information for you to start feeding your pet beardie with this herb. It would be best if you fed it in moderation, and even so, there are a lot of precautions to take and things to wonder about to make your pet beardie eat cilantro without any second thought or worry.Yes, it is safe for bearded dragons to eat cilantro, but it is one of those foods like cabbage or cantaloupe that they must eat only once in a while and not as a part of their staple food. Bearded dragons can consume even the stems of cilantro but not in high amounts. Specifically, it is the excess of a vitamin, vitamin A, which does not allow bearded dragons to consume cilantro in huge quantities and as a staple diet.Excess of vitamin A in the body of a beardie can lead to health issues, one of them being hypervitaminosis. You can identify this condition in your pet beardie if its skin looks dry or flaky. Apart from this, it is more or less safe for bearded dragons to eat cilantro. Focusing on the brighter side, vitamin A improves the vision of your bearded dragon along with supporting the development of your bearded dragon’s bone health and immune system.In addition to vitamin A, cilantro also contains vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Another important point that you must consider before giving any food to your bearded dragon is its calcium to phosphorus ratio. In the case of cilantro, this ratio of calcium to phosphorus is in ideal condition, with every 3.5 oz (100 g) of cilantro providing 0.0023 oz (67 mg) of calcium and 0.0016 oz (48 mg) of phosphorus.Researchers suggest that a bearded dragon must consume more calcium than phosphorus as it then prevents metabolic bone disease or MBD. The calcium to phosphorus ratio in cilantro is 1:0.39, which is within the ideal range of 2:1 to 1:1.How often can you feed bearded dragons cilantro?We all know how nutritional cilantro is as we use it daily in our lives, but can bearded dragons afford to eat it regularly with their delicate health system? Well, for starters, the researchers recommend feeding cilantro to bearded dragons as an occasional item in their staple diet; therefore, once or twice a week is the optimum frequency. You can also feed parsley with cilantro, but in regulation and not as a part of their staple diet.Sprinkling a bit of cilantro won’t harm your pets as usually, its pros outweigh its cons. Still, it is the owner’s responsibility to keep an eye on their bearded dragon once they introduce cilantro to their bearded dragon’s diet. If you notice that feeding cilantro to your bearded dragon has led to stomach issues in your pet beardie, do not feed your bearded dragon any of it. Sometimes excess consumption of cilantro has also led to diarrhea in bearded dragons due to its relatively high water content. The amount of water present in these herbs is more than what bearded dragons require.Additionally, even though we see positive calcium to phosphorus ratio in cilantro, the amount of calcium present is not enough; therefore, use these coriander leaves only as an occasional treat. Moreover, at times, bearded dragon owners have reported incidents where their pet hasn’t reciprocated the introduction of such herbs in its diet, which is an entirely normal phenomenon. Irrespective of the nutritional value of cilantro, often, beardies do not like the taste of it. Under such conditions, there are other greens you can feed your pets; some of them include alfalfa, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and many others.How much cilantro can bearded dragons eat?Bearded dragons should ideally be fed cilantro only as an occasional treat, or just a tiny amount of it can be sprinkled over their food a couple of times a week. Anything more than this can lead to harming your pet. To some extent, the reason behind this lies in the composition of cilantro leaves. Let us look at the breakup of 3.5 oz (100 g) of cilantro to understand its contents better and how they affect the bearded dragon.In 3.5 oz (100 g) of fresh cilantro leaves, there is about 3.25 oz (92 g) of water, 23 kcal, 0.098 oz (2.8 g) of dietary fiber, and 0.0306 oz (0.87 g) of sugar. This composition reflects a high water content and low amount of sugar in fresh cilantro leaves. The high water content keeps bearded dragons hydrated, but excess is pretty harmful as it can lead to diarrhea. The low sugar content is a big positive as it won’t lead to weight gain or obesity, which must be prevented at all costs to keep a bearded dragon healthy.Next, you can also find 0.075 oz (2.13 g) of protein, 0.0023 oz (67 mg) of calcium, 0.0016 oz (48 mg) of phosphorus, 0.018 oz (521 mg) of potassium, 0.0016 oz (46 mg) of sodium and 0.00091 oz (26 mg) of magnesium. Together, these nutrients make cilantro a food with high nutritional value and an occasional great addition to your bearded dragon’s diet.The vitamin content in 3.5 oz (100 g) of cilantro includes vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Therefore, if bearded dragons eat cilantro in small portions occasionally, it is healthy food and would greatly benefit their overall health. However, if consumed excessively, the repercussions can be terrible.How to prepare and serve cilantro for my bearded dragon?There are several ways you can prepare cilantro to feed your bearded dragon, but at the same time, there are certain styles of preparation that you must avoid. Even though they are pretty rich in nutrients, these herbs can still lead to health issues if not prepared correctly. Cilantro can be provided in various ways, including cooked cilantro, fresh cilantro, canned cilantro, and frozen cilantro. Let us get into the depths of how to prepare cilantro for your bearded dragons.Please do not serve cooked cilantro to your bearded dragons as once cooked, the nutritional value of the foods severely drops. It is more effective to feed your dragon fresh cilantro. There have been cases of diarrhea due to feeding cooked food. It is thus not suitable to feed cooked cilantro to your bearded dragons; instead, go for fresh greens.Just like cooked cilantro, you must also refrain from feeding canned cilantro to your bearded dragons. If bearded dragons eat cilantro, which has been stored in a container for months and contains chemicals. These chemicals often tend to harm the internal digestive system of a bearded dragon, for their stomachs are pretty sensitive. Moreover, when compared to a bunch of fresh cilantro, the canned ones do not offer the same nutritional value. A large number of nutrients and vitamins are lost in the process of preserving cilantro using chemicals. Therefore, it is better not to use canned cilantro instead of fresh ones as a part of your bearded dragon’s diet.Frozen cilantro does not contain the same nutrients as fresh ones and is too cold for your bearded dragon to consume. You can only feed frozen cilantro to your pets once they come down to room temperature. Still, the vitamins and minerals in it won’t be equivalent to those present in fresh cilantro compared to frozen.Therefore, the best method to feed cilantro to your bearded dragon is also perhaps the easiest one. All you need to do is go to the store and get some of these fresh greens and wash them thoroughly once you are home. Now cut them into tiny pieces so that your beardies can eat them without any issues. Once chopped, some researchers advise adding some calcium supplement to it as naturally, the calcium content in cilantro is insufficient, and a deficiency of calcium can have dangerous repercussions. All you need to do now is mix it with the staple food of your bearded dragon, and that’s about it. Now that you have reached the end of this article, you are now in a pole position to answer can bearded dragons eat cilantro!Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! 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Cilantro is a widespread herb that is probably present in your house right at this moment.
