Feed inside the viv or out?!

Hi all, I've had my beardie 2 weeks now, I have completed a throughouh clean today, as I started of with sand (big mistake), so I have removed it all and put down sand mats which I hear are good to shave their nails down. I have not fed him in the viv since coming home as I then read all the horror stories of impaction usually caused by sand!! So we fed him in a sepearate tank. I have put some hoppers in his viv today and he is kind of hiding under a branch and does not seem interested at all! Is this because I've slightly changed his viv? How long do I leave the hoppers in for? Thanks any advice would be great ?

I would think that as long as they aren't bothering him and can't escape on their own, I would just leave them till he eats them (or take them out when he goes to bed).

NBGwen":16nufhy6 said:

I would think that as long as they aren't bothering him and can't escape on their own, I would just leave them till he eats them (or take them out when he goes to bed).

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There hiding from him, he's looking now so will hopefully eat them! They can't escape so I will do a check before bed. Also, he is very friendly and let's us pick him up, but every time we get him out he finds his way straight back to the viv, once incident of him trying to get through the glass!

I wouldn't worry about them then Sounds like they'll be snacks soon enough!

We take our beardie out of his enclosure and feed him in a big plastic storage tub where the bugs have no place to hide. We got it after the first few weeks of crickets hiding behind the cage furniture if he didn't catch them on the first try, and then coming out later and maybe even biting him while he was asleep (I've heard that crickets have been known to do that, although we never noticed any evidence of it). The plastic tub (with the lid off, of course) doubles as a place to keep the "Kricket Keepers" when it's not being used as a feeding pen.

We've found that this works best for us -- we don't have to worry about whether or not there are any leftover bugs in the viv at bedtime. However, when I feed him roaches, I do still try to make sure that there are no escapees crawling around on his underbelly before I put him back in his little home -- roaches do have a tendency to be sneaky that way. :roll:

SHBailey":1rw8mj0y said:

We take our beardie out of his enclosure and feed him in a big plastic storage tub where the bugs have no place to hide. We got it after the first few weeks of crickets hiding behind the cage furniture if he didn't catch them on the first try, and then coming out later and maybe even biting him while he was asleep (I've heard that crickets have been known to do that, although we never noticed any evidence of it). The plastic tub (with the lid off, of course) doubles as a place to keep the "Kricket Keepers" when it's not being used as a feeding pen.

We've found that this works best for us -- we don't have to worry about whether or not there are any leftover bugs in the viv at bedtime. However, when I feed him roaches, I do still try to make sure that there are no escapees crawling around on his underbelly before I put him back in his little home -- roaches do have a tendency to be sneaky that way. :roll:

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Thank you, think he's been a bit off today only ate 2 hoppers and a small amount of veggies, he likes to be hand fed, lazy bugger! I will try out of the viv in the morning, see if he takes them that way. He is 5 months old and does not really eat a lot of live food, he was at the same pet shop since he was a baby and they only fed him 4-5 hoppers per day until we bought him, do you think he's used to that amount? I've done lots of research and other beardies his age eat much more!!

I had a previous Beardie that was scared of hoppers, simply because they could get higher than her in the viv. When ever I released them she would hunker down and not move. I had to hand feed her them. I would not advise simply leaving them as they can nibble at a beardies scales and coarse small wounds. You may find that feeding hoppers one by one with tweasers is acceptable to your beardie this is what I did with mine and she loved me for it.

I did a bit of handfeeding (bonding) and gave the rest the bugs a few at time inside the rearing tub.

It's really up to you and what you feel comfortable with. Some lizards will refuse to eat outside the tank, too many interesting distractions.

I found if you leave the salad in the tank overnight , any crickets the lizard missed during the day will emerge not long after it's dark in the tank and will be drawn to the salad (greens / carrot etc). They''ll nibble the salad in preference to trying to nibble the soft areas of the hatchlings. (Never had any insect caused injuries on my hatchlings or skinks EvER.) My hatchlings didn't mind a late night nibble on the greens and salad either.

My hatchlings all discovered this and I'd frequently be sitting in lounge room internetting or watching TV or reading late at night (sometimes as late as 11pm, or even 1am) and I'd hear banging coming from a rearing tub or both the rearing tubs, hatchlings were up and hunting the rogue crickets who were raiding their salad.... my hatchlings all liked a regular midnight raid .... they see very well in lower light and were more active then I expected.
Result was I rarely recovered more than 2 or 3 rogue crickets from either rearing tub next morning.

Wow -- I guess little beardies are more likely to be up in the middle of the night than adult ones (a lot like humans). I always thought they were hard-core diurnal and would go right to sleep once the lights are out like mine does, but maybe that's the exception rather than the rule? :?

We always try to take the salad out at night and replace it with a fresh one the next morning, since we don't leave live bugs in his enclosure with him, and since our little guy doesn't seem to be into midnight snacking, at least not on veggies -- although if a live bug happened to wander up to him when he was sleeping, I wouldn't put it past him to wake up and scarf it. :mrgreen:

I do the same as kingofnobbys - I leave the salad in overnight and clean up in the morning Fresh salad, fresh water, fresh insects

For crickets, I personally feed outside. Then again, I have a 4x2x1.5 enclosure that they can hide in :lol:

lol yeah, I'm afraid poor Charlie has a few hidden treats roaming her enclosure - They like to hit the lower level where it's darker and she doesn't head there often... :shock: I should probably fix that somehow...

Her enclosure is 4' x 4' x 20" wide. - I added a level to it so it has a basking level and a cool level below it. LOTS of hiding places lol

Well.....he definitely does not like live food in his viv! I have fed him twice out of viv today and ate 5 hoppers each time! (Some hand fed) lazy bugger! Then tonight he has had some veggies ? A nice poop as well! He's just currently watching tv relaxing ?

Personal choice...either way works as long as your dragon accepts bugs they way they are offered.
I feed my baby beaded (not bearded!!) lizards in a seperate bin because I don't want aspen chips (totally accepted substrate for them) to get ingested. My adults eat in their enclosure because it's doubtful they would get impacted from the aspen.

Thanks for reminding us all of the bottom line, Rankins: "as long as your dragon accepts bugs (or any other kind of food, I'd add, for that matter) the way they are offered".

Then once that's established, the humans slaves get to decide whatever works best for them. :roll:

It should also be noted that most animals (humans included) are probably wired by evolution to be "lazy" because of the basic energy equation: Calories in - Calories out = energy saved (The reason some of us get fat if we don't have to work too hard for our food, but if you don't know where your next meal is coming from, it's a good survival strategy). That's probably why your beardie won't chase bugs if he can get his human slave to hand them to him. :wink: