Beardie refusing insects

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allysky2

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My beardie is almost a year old now. I’ve had him since April of last year and he used to love his bugs. In November he was treated for pinworms and since then he has wanted nothing to do with his bugs. I’m not sure if it’s related. I did a probiotic during treatment. I took him to the vet again the week before last, did an x ray and she said he was impacted so we did soaks every day and he’s been pooping every other day now. They’re a good shape, color consistency etc. He eats his veggies but will not eat bugs. I’ve tried a bowl next to him, a flat container on the floor of his cage, a bin outside of his cage, letting them run free, hand feeding, feeding with tongs by his mouth..

I know adults will want less bugs, but no bugs since November seems a little extreme. I have a dubia roach colony, and a bin of superworms.

He lives in a 120gal with basking temps ranging from 103-108. Cool side is a little over room temp (70s). Middle is about 80-85. I check them with a digital probe and I have a temp gun. Humidity is at 35%. Arcadia 12% mounted inside the cage with a reflector (the cage is tall). He’s on the zenhabitats mat as substrate (and their enclosure). He has lots of entertainment and is active, wakes up and basks and moves around all day. I don’t believe it’s brumation due to his activity levels

Are there any other staple feeders anyone can recommend? I wonder if it’s a dubia strike, but he doesn’t chew his food enough for superworms. Even just a few and his poops are awful. I believe they were the cause of his previous impaction because I had been giving them in November
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
He's tired of dubias--- they will keep- is he not eating the superworms either? I would get him some crickets see if he will eat them you can try bsfl-- good staple feeder and you don't need to dust- order large if you order them-- I would get him some butterworms- some hornworms order small amount of those- they grow fast- silk worms another good staple worm
but they are hard to find and expensive- meal worms you can try those- horn worms butter worms can be ordered from here www.dubiaroaches.com-- bsfl from here www.symtonbsf.com-- silk worms from here www.rainbowmealworms.com
Karrie
 

allysky2

Member
Original Poster
Thank u so much for the quick reply.
The vet had advised me to stay away from the supers since they impacted him, I did the bsfl when he was younger and he got sick of them and crickets he usually gets scared of them if they jump too crazy. I got some from rainbowmealworms before and couldn’t get him to eat a single one. He would black beard and run. He does like the butterworms so I’ll have to get more of those too!

I just ordered silkworms from mulberryfarms. I got them some chow too. I’m hoping he will eat them, Do u have any idea how many he should be eating when they arrive?

I think I need to work on a better variety rather than doing one staple at a time because he has gotten sick of so many things. I’m hoping he’ll eat the silkworms then I can rotate between those and dubia, with butters/hornworms and superworms as occasional treats

Thanks,
Alyssa
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
My 2 yo is very picky- he won't eat supers or wax worms very little meal worms - he will eat butter worms and he loves silk and horn worms- you can use silk as a staple- as far as how many I really don't know- mine is on dubias as well and he eats them not very often - he ate 4 large ones the other day-- won't touch veggies- I have tried everything- is your eating vegies? As far as crickets you can disable them so they don't jump- yep try rotating giving the variety he may go back to eating the dubias again
Karrie
 

allysky2

Member
Original Poster
Yes he eats all his veggies every day, although it requires a lot of hand feeding. Loves mustard & turnip greens, and I do dandelion/collards/squash with some others as treats. His vet recommended disabling the insects too, I will do that if he doesn’t eat the silkworms.

Just to test his appetite after reading your posts, I offered a superworm, he ate it right away. I only did one but he chewed it way better than he used to. He used to eat so fast he wasn’t fully chewing them and it caused the poop problems. But you are right he is just sick of dubia. I’m confident he will eat his silkworms and then I’ll add in variety as I keep ordering. His dubia roach colony is huge now with him not eating them much. I will have to sell some locally

Thank u for ur help. If ur picky eater loves the silkworms hopefully mine will too. He has always been so picky, took forever to get him to even look at a veggie, now it’s a lot of hand feeding but I’d prefer that over not eating them at all. I’ll order hornworms and more butterworms since he is almost out of those

Alyssa
 
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