Beardie wont eat Crickets anymore

DoughtyDragon · Jan 23, 2011

We've been feeding our dragon crickets primarily since we got him. Lately, he wont eat them anymore. He'll eat like one or two, then go back to basking. We've tried leaving the crickets in the tank with him all day and he wont eat them (maybe he enjoys their company).

I tried feeding him MealWorms, which he'll readily accept. I'm concerned about the nutritional value/digestability of these worms vs. the crickets. He's not eating any greens/vegetables yet either (he's still very young).

I'm thinking he's just tired of chasing the crickets (his tank is big, and they hide). Any ideas?

Thanks guys

BeardieGrandma · Jan 23, 2011

Couple ideas - you mentioned he's pretty young, so I'm picturing that you have a baby on your hands

Try feeding him outside his viv in a separate feeding bin. How big are the crickets? Sometimes large crickets can intimidate the baby and he won't eat. Also, too many crickets unleashed within vicinity of baby can scare them and they won't eat. If you try feeding in separate bin, try smaller crickets and put them in one or two at a time so he can dominate :blob8:

Keep offering salads daily. As babies they sometimes won't even look at it, but eventually they recognize it as food. Also, offer salad before anything else and see if he can at least get a few nibbles in. Entice with different colors - using greens as base (like mustard or collard) and top off with butternut squash, blueberries, or peaches...mine loves blueberries, mango, and peaches...

Ok all else fails, try a different feeder. You are correct, mealworms are troublesome with high chitin and low nutritional value - they can impact your baby pretty easily, I'd ditch them altogether. Instead, try reptiworms or phoenix worms as a staple feeder or dubia roaches. Sometimes a little variety helps get them motivated to eat...

DoughtyDragon · Jan 23, 2011

BeardieGrandma":2bw5u6m2 said:
Couple ideas - you mentioned he's pretty young, so I'm picturing that you have a baby on your hands

Try feeding him outside his viv in a separate feeding bin. How big are the crickets? Sometimes large crickets can intimidate the baby and he won't eat. Also, too many crickets unleashed within vicinity of baby can scare them and they won't eat. If you try feeding in separate bin, try smaller crickets and put them in one or two at a time so he can dominate

Keep offering salads daily. As babies they sometimes won't even look at it, but eventually they recognize it as food. Also, offer salad before anything else and see if he can at least get a few nibbles in. Entice with different colors - using greens as base (like mustard or collard) and top off with butternut squash, blueberries, or peaches...mine loves blueberries, mango, and peaches...

Ok all else fails, try a different feeder. You are correct, mealworms are troublesome with high chitin and low nutritional value - they can impact your baby pretty easily, I'd ditch them altogether. Instead, try reptiworms or phoenix worms as a staple feeder or dubia roaches. Sometimes a little variety helps get them motivated to eat...

Thanks for the Reply.

We have tried feeding him in a separate tank- he just tries to get out of the tank. We bought the crickets "small" from the petstore, but they came rather big, so maybe you're right that they're scaring him. I did dump in a bunch at once to try and entice him. Next time I will try feeding him one or two.

We put some artificial leaves in his tank and he tried to eat them. I think I've done him a disservice by doing this because now I think that he thinks that every leaf is fake and unedible.

I'll try your suggestion, and try mixing up his food/feeders. I'm worried because I understand that he is supposed to be eating a lot at this point in his young life. He's as small as they get...

thanks again

BeardieGrandma · Jan 24, 2011

Well all the posts I read on here, you want him eating a lot, but each dragon can be unique in personality and quirks and such, so just keep at it.

Joga is such a pig usually - when we first got her as a baby she didn't eat for 4 days and I was out of my mind. Now she eats so much except for when she's got a big shed going on her back, then she's picky grumpy pants, like right now. Yesterday i took her out to feed her in her 'bin' and she just looked at the crickets and then wanted to climb out. I gave her a superworm and that seemed like a better idea and she ate it. Then I thought, oh no, now you are going to hold out for the superworm goodies and snub the crickets so I got her to eat 3 crickets and then she got another worm...Usually she eats 45 crickets and then gets a few worms...so I put her back in her tank and tried again 20 mins later. She promptly ate 35 crickets this time and got her last worm out of me...she did it again tonite, so I know she's trying to hypnotize us into doing it her way... :shock:

Beardie wont eat Crickets anymore

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