ECarroll25
Member
So I have a new beardie. He is a baby, around 2.5 m/o, and he came from PetSmart, where I they only feed crickets (and some "lizard food" type stuff with some pretty sad looking sprouts and such that get left in there and barely ever look touched). I had done research before getting him and had decided I wanted to feed BSFL, not crickets, because they have more inherent nutrition, so I ordered some from Symton. Arrived all alive, ahead of when I'd get my lizard, all was well and good.
He ate them just fine for a short while and then one day he just...would barely eat any of them. This continued with him fully not eating ANY on one particular day. I was getting more and more worried, I even asked about it on here, thinking he MUST be somehow sick for a growing baby to not eat for five whole days. He literally was showing no other signs of illness, was active. He was pooping and still grazed his veggies but. .I was still so stressed.
Turns out.
The little bugger was just being stubborn! Even though I didn't particularly want to use them, I bought some crickets in the hopes that their increased movement might get him to eat. He DEVOURED them. Like I'm talking the SECOND he saw them he went scrambling all around the tank and ate them ALL in like five minutes. Then went and basked, fat and happy.
The problem is, he REALLY won't touch the BSFL now. And I have a lot of them left...not to mention I would really prefer he eat those in the long term both for the nutrition and admittedly the convenience (I am willing to do gut loading and dusting if I really HAVE to switch to crickets, but I don't think there's anything wrong with having a desire to use something more convenient, especially if it is also better for him, which is originally why I chose them). And also now that he's realized there's crickets available, he won't eat his veggies anymore.
Does anyone have suggestions for how to try and get him to eat other things? I know it will probably be difficult if he was used to eating pretty much the same thing until now, but I'd really like it if I could get him to eat more of the BSFL! Also I need to know how to deal with the fact that he's not eating the veggies now that he's been given crickets. I know I can gut load them, and I know as a baby they eat less greens anyway, but I'd still like him to eat SOME fresh veggies/greens.
I don't want to just try and make him get hungry enough to eat what I'm giving him - he's only 7 or 8 inches right now and he needs to be eating for all the growing! Now that I know what the problem was I can't in good conscience intentionally let him go five days barely eating again when I know how to fix that, but again, I would still like to get him to at least somewhat eat the BSFL. After all, he ate them just fine for a little while before he decided it was time for a hunger strike. But of course as soon as he got crickets he was SUPER excited, and now I have the additional problem of him not touching the greens.
He ate them just fine for a short while and then one day he just...would barely eat any of them. This continued with him fully not eating ANY on one particular day. I was getting more and more worried, I even asked about it on here, thinking he MUST be somehow sick for a growing baby to not eat for five whole days. He literally was showing no other signs of illness, was active. He was pooping and still grazed his veggies but. .I was still so stressed.
Turns out.
The little bugger was just being stubborn! Even though I didn't particularly want to use them, I bought some crickets in the hopes that their increased movement might get him to eat. He DEVOURED them. Like I'm talking the SECOND he saw them he went scrambling all around the tank and ate them ALL in like five minutes. Then went and basked, fat and happy.
The problem is, he REALLY won't touch the BSFL now. And I have a lot of them left...not to mention I would really prefer he eat those in the long term both for the nutrition and admittedly the convenience (I am willing to do gut loading and dusting if I really HAVE to switch to crickets, but I don't think there's anything wrong with having a desire to use something more convenient, especially if it is also better for him, which is originally why I chose them). And also now that he's realized there's crickets available, he won't eat his veggies anymore.
Does anyone have suggestions for how to try and get him to eat other things? I know it will probably be difficult if he was used to eating pretty much the same thing until now, but I'd really like it if I could get him to eat more of the BSFL! Also I need to know how to deal with the fact that he's not eating the veggies now that he's been given crickets. I know I can gut load them, and I know as a baby they eat less greens anyway, but I'd still like him to eat SOME fresh veggies/greens.
I don't want to just try and make him get hungry enough to eat what I'm giving him - he's only 7 or 8 inches right now and he needs to be eating for all the growing! Now that I know what the problem was I can't in good conscience intentionally let him go five days barely eating again when I know how to fix that, but again, I would still like to get him to at least somewhat eat the BSFL. After all, he ate them just fine for a little while before he decided it was time for a hunger strike. But of course as soon as he got crickets he was SUPER excited, and now I have the additional problem of him not touching the greens.
