It’s no secret chocolate is a wonderful snack. However, many bearded dragon owners want to know if they can feed it to their dragon. The answer is: No. You should never feed your bearded dragon chocolate under any circumstances.
Chocolate is poisonous to bearded dragons. Chocolate contains theobromine, which is toxic to animals in general, but it can be especially harmful to your bearded dragon. The higher the cocoa content of the chocolate, the worse it will be for your pet.
Bearded dragons are omnivores so they eat both plants and meat, but you should always avoid feeding them chocolate or any other sweet foods because they cannot digest enough of it to make it worthwhile.
Also, when a bearded dragon eats too much sugar at once, it inhibits their ability to absorb vital nutrients over time. If you feed your bearded dragon chocolate on occasion with no adverse reaction, then there’s no harm in doing so. However, that doesn’t mean that it won’t harm them in the future. Just like with humans, it’s necessary to keep your bearded dragon away from chocolate because they can easily get addicted to it.
What are the Nutritional Components of Chocolate
In small doses, chocolate can be good for you, but it’s never good for your bearded dragon. These animals, from being in the wild, never developed the needed enzymes to break down chocolate.
The caloric content of chocolate is high because it contains lots of sugar and fat. Importantly, this diet would provide insufficient vitamins and minerals that are necessary to maintain a healthy body condition. As mentioned above, bearded dragons need many nutrients found in vegetables rather than sugars from candy or other sweets.
Bearded Dragons Are Not the Only Animal That Should Avoid Chocolate
Many animals cannot properly digest chocolate because they lack the enzymes needed to break down cocoa solids found in chocolate. This means that dogs should never eat chocolate too because these compounds could make them sick too.
Chocolate is poisonous to pets, so you should never feed your pet chocolate under any circumstances.
Benefits of Feeding My Bearded Dragon Chocolate
There are no real benefits of feeding your bearded dragon chocolate. Some might argue that one benefit of dark chocolate is that it’s high in magnesium, which you probably know by now is an essential mineral for your bearded dragon. It contains much more magnesium than milk chocolate and white chocolate.
Importantly, this doesn’t mean that feeding your pet dark chocolate will provide sufficient amounts of this nutrient to keep them healthy. The amount of chocolate they can eat and digest is not enough to replace the vitamins and nutrients found in vegetables.
Can Bearded Dragons Consume These Foods?
Disadvantages of Feeding My Bearded Dragon Chocolate
Many of the disadvantages that come with feeding your bearded dragon chocolate are obvious. The calories found in dark chocolate or other types of chocolate, like milk or white chocolate, contain more sugars than they do nutrients.
Even though dark chocolate contains less sugar than milk and white chocolate, feeding too much of it can make it harder for them to digest vegetables because their bodies will not be able to absorb enough vitamins and essential minerals from these foods if you feed them too many carbs at once.
Another disadvantage is that giving your pet too much sugar affects their behavior. Bearded dragons sometimes act out when they consume too much sugar, which means they might become aggressive towards owners or other animals in the home. This aggression may lead to scratching or biting owners while they sleep, which is not only painful but also dangerous to the owner’s health.
If you’re going to feed your pet chocolate anyway, then it should be a very small amount of dark chocolate that contains 70% cocoa or more. This type of chocolate tastes bitter enough that you can’t give too much of it to your bearded dragon without them spitting it out.
What Types of Chocolate Can You Feed Your Bearded Dragon?
It’s best to avoid feeding your pet any kind of chocolate unless you want to risk making them sick. Many owners feel that they should give their pet something sweet for good behavior, but this can backfire when it comes to bearded dragons who devour sugary food too quickly.
This might cause them to become obese and develop illnesses related to obesity very early in life because their metabolisms cannot process sugars.
Alternative Foods For Bearded Dragons
There are a plethora of alternative foods for bearded dragons that are far more healthy and beneficial to your bearded dragons. Here is a list:
- Dark leafy greens, like spinach, kale, and collard greens, are high in calcium that bearded dragons need to maintain bone health.
- Pumpkins contain carotenoids that promote healthy eyesight. They also contain vitamin A which treats many of the illnesses related to poor eyesight.
- Dried rose hips provide your pet with more vitamin C than they can find in dark chocolate.
- Insects such as crickets and superworms provide a great source of protein for bearded dragons because they have a very high digestibility rate compared to other meats.
- If you do want to feed them meat from mammals, then it should be small amounts of lean ground beef or venison without any added fats or sugars.
Can Bearded Dragons Eat Chocolate? – The Conclusion!
NO, but yes, bearded dragons can technically eat chocolate, but it’s not advisable because of the very high amount of sugar in all types of chocolate. Because bearded dragons are omnivores, they get their nutrients from both plants and animals. Chocolate provides them with no known nutritional value and can make them very sick.
Plant matter is typically more nutritious for them than meat though, which makes dark leafy greens a better alternative to feeding your pet fruits or insects. If your bearded dragon has an illness that causes poor eyesight, then you might also want to give them dried rose hips or pumpkins to improve their vision without adding too much sugar at once.
Thank you for reading and be sure to check out our other articles on “What Bearded Dragons Can Eat!”