she's eating me out of house and home!

Ok, i really need some advice because im worried shes just a pig and batting those pretty little eyes making me think shes starved.

Basically my dragon is over 2 years old now (time flies) and shes picky about veg, she likes blueberries as a rare little treat and when i mean rare i mean rare because even if i gave them to her everyday she has to be in the mood to eat them (i dont give them to her everyday, once in a blue moon)

She semi eats rocket, someone has suggested spring greens which i believe is the UK version of collard greens so ill try them next.

shes spoilt and doesnt seem to like veg, she'll eat bugs quite a lot and ive tried to down it to 3 times a week because i think shes becoming a little porker. she has her dust etc on the bugs when i feed her.

my concern is though is that she looks like shes getting fat but when i pull a hopper out she literally runs to front of the viv and literally hangs out trying to get it, i cant even put them down to the time people suggest for her to hunt. she has literally eaten a tub of 50 dubias in less then 10 mins, all i could do was sit there and feel horrifed that shes become a eating machine!

Is this normal, is she eating too much? I want to try the worms in the veg to get her to eat but i dont want to use mealworms, im so reluctant to use wax worms cause theyre fatty even if they are gods gift to her, she wasnt a fan of calci worms or silkies(hated keeping silkies) so im a little lost on what to do.


this is her chilling, can try to get a pic of her stand if you guys want

Join the club …. all my lizardy children are much like her.

All very pampered and spoilt.

I think so long as you are gut loading insects with the leafy green stuff and veg that you wish she's eat , she'll get it without knowing she is eating it....

I try to follow this guide
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=236074
- I think it's the best guide around and unlike other guides is actually based on REAL SCIENCE rather than "tradition" and "keeper culture".

My staple feeders for my beardies for several years have been crickets and silkworms (I breed my own silkworms - have to buy fresh mulberry leaves when the mulberry trees are active , and chow when I can't get fresh mulberry leaves (ie July, August and September here in Australia).

Silkworms are lot easier to farm than you think …. eggs are available year round, and the hatching worms can be started off on chow or fresh mulberry leaves , and each female silkworm moth will lay about 400 eggs.... very easy to end up with thousands of eggs (in ziplock bags or little glass bottles in the fridge that will stay viable for over 2 years).

BTW : she looks fine to me.

My big girl Peppa is nearly 3 years old , 25 inches long and just under 800g , she gets 2 large silkworms + 8 to 10 medium - large gutloaded crickets per day + choi greens (she has to be in the mood to eat it , some types of choi are immediately spat out (even if I hand feed it to her inbetween crickets).

Hi there.

I think she is hungry because she is not eating enough greens. A few thing you could try that have help me with my new rescue boy.

You can feed bugs only once or twice a week for now see if she will eat more salad when very hungry.

Try zucchini or green beans, mine love those.

Cut a blueberry in small pieces in the salad. Mix it well because they are really good at eating only the part they like lol.

Hand feed the salad, move the pieces around in the bowl, make it seems like bugs. My Hutchi eat twice as much veggies when I help him out.

Add worms to the salad or pallets (never tried the pallet myself).

I don't have much experience but IMO, she doesnt look overweight on that pic.

You should weight her weekly to see if she is putting on weight or stable.

She is cute that's for sure.

Hi there, 50 dubias in a sitting is waaaaay too much ! Unless they are the size of a dime. The dragon will definitely become overweight and the sad thing is that because there are SO many overweight dragons on the forums, the owners think that the new fat look is a healthy dragon. All of that protein can lead to gout , problems with kidney, liver and even heart failure. A fat dragon will become a lazy dragon, not healthy and not able to climb + jump, esp. as it gets in to the middle years, or even age 3-4.

Your dragon is not eating vegg. because it doesn't have to or want to. Restrict the live feeders to [ depending on size ] 3-4 large 2-3 times a week, 5-6 medium [ or a few more ] also 3-4 times a week. Offer greens like collard, turnip, mustard, kale [ yes kale is fine , but no to spinach ] dandelion, endive. Some types of beans are fine as well [ green beans snap peas , all fresh but chopped ]


Your dragon does look good, but her metabolism is going to slow down now, so the number of insects must be reduced quite a bit.