How many insects to feed a chubby beardie?

Hey there everyone! Recently we found out that our Charle is on the overweight side. He is around a year and a half now. He has always given me a hard time with salad, he actually used to like it a lot more when he was younger than he does now. This is what lead to a lot of the problems. I've been following a lot of the advice I've been reading here about cutting down on the feeders completley until he begins eating lettuce again and the first week he was pretty stubborn but I stayed strong. By A few days into the second week he actually touched his lettuce again for the first time and every few days would eat some of it which was super exciting! Now I am on week three and wondering about getting feeders back into his diet...I am worried if I start incorporating them back he will stop on the salad again as he still won't eat it every day. I've been reading 2 times a week for an adult but wondering what your suggestions are for how many crickets to actually feed him in these feeding to help with him losing weight and not completely refusing to eat his salad again as well. I just don't want to reverse all the work cause there has definitely been some improvements. Thank you so much!

That's great that you were able to hold out long enough for him to start eating his salads
Is he eating a good amount of them now or is he still nibbling.

If he is eating a good amount of them, I'd say you can go to live insects 2 or 3 times a week. If not, you might want to hold out a bit longer, or only offer him a few insects and only once.

What does he weigh right now? Do you have a picture of him you could post?

What feeder insects do you plan on giving to him, and what has his daily salads been consisting of?

-Brandon

lettuce???? As in iceberg lettuce? When people say lettuce I am thinking iceberg-- what are you exactly feeding him ? A good balanced diet of greens worms and insects will cut down on the calories -- here is a website for nutrition http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html kale is a good staple feeder
Karrie

Claudiusx":1fd7az0v said:

That's great that you were able to hold out long enough for him to start eating his salads
Is he eating a good amount of them now or is he still nibbling.

If he is eating a good amount of them, I'd say you can go to live insects 2 or 3 times a week. If not, you might want to hold out a bit longer, or only offer him a few insects and only once.

What does he weigh right now? Do you have a picture of him you could post?

What feeder insects do you plan on giving to him, and what has his daily salads been consisting of?

-Brandon

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Thank you for the reply!
Sorry I tried to respond earlier but it didn't post..hoping this one will.

He has been nibbling most of the time, but every few days he will eat about maybe half. Though this is only if I hand feed them to him or directly put him infront of the salad bowl so thinking I should stick with it and only offer a few feeders. How long is it okay to continue doing that for?

I weighed him today and he was 620 grams which from reading some things is a lot I've noticed he has some of the fat pockets people talk about as well. (Going to try to post some photos but not 100% on if it will work!)

https://imgur.com/a/a8tSldO

For feeders I was planning on just offering him crickets, maybe silkworms when they become available again but the pet store I get them from isn't able to get any in with everything going on right now. I used to feed him crickets, silks, mealworms, and hornworms but I found out the the mealworms and hornworms weren't the best.
For his salads I like to mix it up but right now he's getting dandelion greens, kale, and carrot tops, and every few days I'll also add bok choy. Today I added some celery and their leaves. And Evey few days I'll add either strawberries or blueberries and sometimes mango to entice him to eat the salad.
Thank you again!

KarrieRee":2w7cr3wn said:

lettuce???? As in iceberg lettuce? When people say lettuce I am thinking iceberg-- what are you exactly feeding him ? A good balanced diet of greens worms and insects will cut down on the calories -- here is a website for nutrition http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html kale is a good staple feeder
Karrie

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Sorry! I shouldn't have said it like that I feed a mix of dandelion greens, kale, carrot tops, and bok choy!
Thank you!!

Oh boy he is a chubby dude!! Ok good no iceberg lettuce! He needs exercise --- let him out of his tank to run around your LR --- or take him outside w/ supervision and maybe on a harness and let him run the grass --- horn worms are a good hydrating worm but not sure about being fattening- meal worms either --- I know wax worms are fattening so I wouldnt feed any of those
Karrie

KarrieRee":226kvt2e said:

Oh boy he is a chubby dude!! Ok good no iceberg lettuce! He needs exercise --- let him out of his tank to run around your LR --- or take him outside w/ supervision and maybe on a harness and let him run the grass --- horn worms are a good hydrating worm but not sure about being fattening- meal worms either --- I know wax worms are fattening so I wouldnt feed any of those
Karrie

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Okay thank you so much!