Apologies for the rather rapid second post! I'm encountering a bit of a problem.
My 2 month old new beardie baby has started to regain her appetite, which is good, but she seems to be exclusively partial to mealworms- which is very, very poor in my eyes. I'm aware of all the health risks that come with them, including impaction due to their chitinous exoskeleton. I was explaining to my mother why we need to try and avoid these if possible, but she expressed to me that the beardies breeder would often feed her mealworms and would have no issue, and I'm worried for her.
At the time, mealworms were the only feeder in local stock, so we picked those up until our cricket order came in. Said order came in the next day, and she ate a few. The thing is is that she will consume a few crickets, generally about 3-5, but will shy away from them. All sizes. But mealworms? She sucks those buggers up like there's no tomorrow and shows incredible interest in them.
Thankfully I've been keeping a close eye on her, and she's been doing healthy poops. I also got her to eat two hornworms- one very small as a bit of a test, and one a respectable size for her (no bigger than she could eat, of course)- which tells me she's capable of trying out new things. We have yet to order dubias, but it's very high on our to-do list for her.
For clarification, I do not feed her mealworms if I can help it at all. I am trying to wean her off of them and onto crickets for the time being, until the dubias arrive.
Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could potentially encourage her to eat better feeders when all she wants to do is eat mealworms?
My 2 month old new beardie baby has started to regain her appetite, which is good, but she seems to be exclusively partial to mealworms- which is very, very poor in my eyes. I'm aware of all the health risks that come with them, including impaction due to their chitinous exoskeleton. I was explaining to my mother why we need to try and avoid these if possible, but she expressed to me that the beardies breeder would often feed her mealworms and would have no issue, and I'm worried for her.
At the time, mealworms were the only feeder in local stock, so we picked those up until our cricket order came in. Said order came in the next day, and she ate a few. The thing is is that she will consume a few crickets, generally about 3-5, but will shy away from them. All sizes. But mealworms? She sucks those buggers up like there's no tomorrow and shows incredible interest in them.
Thankfully I've been keeping a close eye on her, and she's been doing healthy poops. I also got her to eat two hornworms- one very small as a bit of a test, and one a respectable size for her (no bigger than she could eat, of course)- which tells me she's capable of trying out new things. We have yet to order dubias, but it's very high on our to-do list for her.
For clarification, I do not feed her mealworms if I can help it at all. I am trying to wean her off of them and onto crickets for the time being, until the dubias arrive.
Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could potentially encourage her to eat better feeders when all she wants to do is eat mealworms?