Overfeeding? Worried about her becoming overweight.

Caitlinp99 · Nov 19, 2017

Hi everyone. I have a 6 month old beardie named Cleo. She has a huge appetite and she is handfed about 20-25 crickets each feeding, and I have just cut her down to 2 feedings a day instead of 3. And she also eats all of her salad, which is mostly spring greens. However, she would eat more if I gave it to her. She is quite plump and I really don't want her to become overweight. Is this okay as she's still growing and she will just grow into her weight? I can provide pics later if needed.
Thanks!

phobosdthorga · Nov 19, 2017

Pictures would be most helpful, thank you

But my 6-month old Iggy weighs nearly 200 grams and eats up to twelve or more large Woodies each feeding of which I provide once daily, given he has eaten a sufficient amount the first time. A single Woodie is equivalent to multiple crickets and they themselves form an immense mass within the dusting container relative to Iggy's own size. As one forum member here said, Beardies have quite the `efficient compression algorithm`! Just how big are the crickets you are feeding to Cleo? It's good that she is eating all of her salad too, but just try to remember that juveniles require a far higher ratio of protein to salad, so do try to keep that balance until she's a little older

Caitlinp99 · Nov 19, 2017

Thanks for replying! I'll post some photos tomorrow.
I'm feeding her 3rd crickets, and she also has some 3rd hoppers, so small-medium size.
I don't fill her bowl to the top with salad, she has only been interested in it for about 2 weeks and now she can't get enough of it haha.
Now that I've cut her down to 2 feedings a day, she is having 40-50 crickets a day instead of 60-70, so hopefully this will be okay for her.

phobosdthorga · Nov 19, 2017

Caitlinp99":2lgvcw36 said:
Thanks for replying! I'll post some photos tomorrow.
I'm feeding her 3rd crickets, and she also has some 3rd hoppers, so small-medium size.
I don't fill her bowl to the top with salad, she has only been interested in it for about 2 weeks and now she can't get enough of it haha.
Now that I've cut her down to 2 feedings a day, she is having 40-50 crickets a day instead of 60-70, so hopefully this will be okay for her.

When I did feed crickets of that size one time, my Iggy did eat up to 40 of them in one go so yes, I would assume that would be a normal amount of crickets for a Beardie of that age to eat given such a insect size. It is unusual that Cleo likes her salad so much at this age but then again, my Iggy does love his salad too depending on what I put in it. What is her salad made of, usually?

How much to feed in one day to a 6-month old Beardie? I'm still debating such myself, so it might be better if someone else posts an answer with regard to that.

AHBD · Nov 19, 2017

Hi there, at 6 months old if she's a decent size you may just need to increase the size of the insects to fill her up more quickly. Keep feeding her greens + veg., that's one of the best things you can feed a fast growing dragon along with the insects of course.

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

phobosdthorga":35lyrlq6 said:
Caitlinp99":35lyrlq6 said:

Thanks for replying! I'll post some photos tomorrow.
I'm feeding her 3rd crickets, and she also has some 3rd hoppers, so small-medium size.
I don't fill her bowl to the top with salad, she has only been interested in it for about 2 weeks and now she can't get enough of it haha.
Now that I've cut her down to 2 feedings a day, she is having 40-50 crickets a day instead of 60-70, so hopefully this will be okay for her.

Click to expand...

When I did feed crickets of that size one time, my Iggy did eat up to 40 of them in one go so yes, I would assume that would be a normal amount of crickets for a Beardie of that age to eat given such a insect size. It is unusual that Cleo likes her salad so much at this age but then again, my Iggy does love his salad too depending on what I put in it. What is her salad made of, usually?

How much to feed in one day to a 6-month old Beardie? I'm still debating such myself, so it might be better if someone else posts an answer with regard to that.

Her salad usually has collard greens as a staple, bell peppers, and sometimes she has butternut squash and some fruit like grapes as a treat. She only started eating her salad at around Halloween when she had pumpkin for the first time, and she's eaten it ever since.

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

AHBD":1dgnq4xy said:
Hi there, at 6 months old if she's a decent size you may just need to increase the size of the insects to fill her up more quickly. Keep feeding her greens + veg., that's one of the best things you can feed a fast growing dragon along with the insects of course.

Hey! Yeah, I'm definitely gonna look at doing that, I'll just have to check the size of the crickets as sometimes her 3rd's are pretty big.
I'm hoping she'll just grow into her size as she gets older

PodunkKhaleesi · Nov 20, 2017

That’s great that your little girl has a zest for salads at this age. As long as it’s in conjunction with (and not in place of) a healthy appetite for insects then it just means you’ll have a blissfully smooth transition when it’s time to flip the protein/salad ratio as she enters adulthood. Many of my beardie youngsters would tap out after around fifty insects per day (some would eat more, some less). I haven’t encountered/heard of many obese baby dragons; the majority of beardies with serious weight issues are adults whose owners continue to feed them behemoth amounts of protein (the baby diet) and choose high fat feeders like wax worms and super worms as staples. At 6 months she sounds like a normal growing juvenile with a healthy appetite. Just keep mixing up her protein with high quality feeders like BSFL, dubias, silkworms, hornworms, and appropriately sized crickets and she’ll grow to be a healthy adult (and bonus: already a salad lover!).

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

PodunkKhaleesi":3fqr0sli said:
That’s great that your little girl has a zest for salads at this age. As long as it’s in conjunction with (and not in place of) a healthy appetite for insects then it just means you’ll have a blissfully smooth transition when it’s time to flip the protein/salad ratio as she enters adulthood. Many of my beardie youngsters would tap out after around fifty insects per day (some would eat more, some less). I haven’t encountered/heard of many obese baby dragons; the majority of beardies with serious weight issues are adults whose owners continue to feed them behemoth amounts of protein (the baby diet) and choose high fat feeders like wax worms and super worms as staples. At 6 months she sounds like a normal growing juvenile with a healthy appetite. Just keep mixing up her protein with high quality feeders like BSFL, dubias, silkworms, hornworms, and appropriately sized crickets and she’ll grow to be a healthy adult (and bonus: already a salad lover!).

Here are some photos of her!

I think certain angles make her look bigger, like sometimes I'll look at her and she looks a normal size, then she looks like a pancake :lol:

phobosdthorga · Nov 20, 2017

She's a beautiful 'ness and those colours! But to me, your Cleo appears perfectly healthy

Is she a Central by chance?

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

phobosdthorga":tf6wepjk said:
She's a beautiful 'ness and those colours! But to me, your Cleo appears perfectly healthy

Is she a Leatherback by chance?

Thank you! I love her colours. And no, she's not a leatherback,

phobosdthorga · Nov 20, 2017

Caitlinp99":1je28omt said:
Thank you! I love her colours. And no, she's not a leatherback,

I edited what I said to Central just after posting XD I only woke up a few minutes ago x_x

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

phobosdthorga":2p3cq1cu said:
Caitlinp99":2p3cq1cu said:

Thank you! I love her colours. And no, she's not a leatherback,

Click to expand...

I edited what I said to Central just after posting XD I only woke up a few minutes ago x_x

I'm not really sure but I think she is.

AHBD · Nov 20, 2017

I agree, she is beautiful....love the colors with the bold stripe down the middle.

Not a leatherback, but is a central. Just to clarify, almost all beardies owned in the U.S. [ aside from what is called the " dwarf" aka Rankin's dragon which reaches no more than 12" and another dragon, the very, very rare Eastern Pogona Barbata , almost never seen] are central b.d.'s. It's not really a term we use because it's just assumed that that's what they are. Only a few owners from Australia , like phobosthorga, at times wonder about the type of beardie, but you can just assume that 100% of the beardies of that size + color are a central, or Pogona Vitticeps.

And yes, she can eat large crickets easily and is definitely not overweight.

Caitlinp99 · Nov 20, 2017

AHBD":3iaconnt said:
I agree, she is beautiful....love the colors with the bold stripe down the middle. Not a leatherback, but is a central. Just to clarify, almost all beardies owned in the U.S. [ aside from what is called the " dwarf" aka Rankin's dragon which reaches no more than 12" and another dragon, the very, very rare Eastern Pogona Barbata , almost never seen] are central b.d.'s. It's not really a term we use because it's just assumed that that's what they are. Only a few owners from Australia , like phobosthorga, at times wonder about the type of beardie, but you can just assume that 100% of the beardies of that size + color are a central, or Pogona Vitticeps.

And yes, she can eat large crickets easily and is definitely not overweight.

Ah, thank you

That's good to hear, I worry too much haha.

Overfeeding? Worried about her becoming overweight.

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