Extremely frustrated with my picky eater

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karlys

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My 9-10 month old will only eat supers and wax worms at this point. He will occasionally eat his greens, 4x a week max but usually more like 2x. His main staple used to be dubias but now he won't eat them. He used to also LOVE hornworms and get super excited at the sight of the container, as it seems most beardies do, but he won't touch them and just stares disinterested as they crawl away. I've also tried crickets, Phoenix worms, and spikes. I've even tried Grub Pie but he won't eat it as a gel, only if I feed it to him like baby food on his snout. This problem has been slowly growing over the past few months. His hot side is 95-98 and he has a basking spot that gets to 105.

It's been about 6 months since I got his UVB (T5 HO) bulb, so I have a new bulb coming on Tuesday. I'm getting so frustrated and figured it wouldn't hurt (except monetarily, I suppose) to try a new light.

He's eating supers everyday and I'll give him a couple wax worms every few days but I worry he'll stop eating altogether or get fatty liver disease or something.
 

KeyBlu422

Juvie Member
The best thing you can do is not give him supers or waxies. Beardies will be picky but, when they start to get hungry, they'll take what you offer. Supers can be really addicting to dragons and they may or may not go on a feeding strike, yours did. As you said, you don't want him to be overweight or to get fatty liver disease. You can use supers as a staple twice a week when he reaches full adulthood but it'd still be best to supplement with other feeders since I imagine, while the dragon may like eating them, it must be hard for their digestive system to constantly have to deal with the hard chitin of the supers. Crickets, silkworms, phoenix/reptiworms, and dubia are your best bet right now, try to also get him to start eating more veggies. He's not far off from needing to eat far more salad than insects
 

karlys

Member
Original Poster
I've tried withholding food before, when he wouldn't eat his dusted dubias, but it was going on for two weeks and he still hadn't eaten. I've also tried for shorter amounts of time (2-3 days) but I just don't think it's a good method for him, he doesn't care, and starts to get really dehydrated. Plus, he's growing still so I would rather him eat something than nothing. Force feeding stresses us both out but I've done it a couple times with the dubias and greens, hoping to trigger a feeding response. He just eats what I manage to get in his mouth and won't eat anymore. I've really tried everything I can think of at this point.
 

KeyBlu422

Juvie Member
karlys":103jvg2o said:
I've tried withholding food before, when he wouldn't eat his dusted dubias, but it was going on for two weeks and he still hadn't eaten. I've also tried for shorter amounts of time (2-3 days) but I just don't think it's a good method for him, he doesn't care, and starts to get really dehydrated. Plus, he's growing still so I would rather him eat something than nothing. Force feeding stresses us both out but I've done it a couple times with the dubias and greens, hoping to trigger a feeding response. He just eats what I manage to get in his mouth and won't eat anymore. I've really tried everything I can think of at this point.


Perhaps mixing in the supers and dubias in the same salad. Unless you already tried that of course. I understand that you don't want to stunt his growth, I'm gonna try and look around and come back.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That can be very aggravating I know! LOL
I agree, try mixing a variety of insects in with the greens & veggies. Have you tried any
butterworms for him?
You can also try brightly colored pieces of fruit or bell peppers in with the greens to see
if that interests him.
Don't give up, just keep trying & eventually he will go back to some of his regular eating.

Tracie
 

karlys

Member
Original Poster
Hi Tracie,

I haven't tried butterworms because they're expensive and I'm afraid he'll like them but I won't be able to buy enough to keep him happy. I've tried bell peppers, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries but he won't try any of them.

The good news is that I got him to eat spikes by tossing them in dry Grub Pie today. He must really like the smell so I am going to attempt this method on other bugs tomorrow.
 

mommy4302

New member
I see several replies that say to mix bug with veggies to get them to eat the veggies. guess what? Mine digs out the bugs and leaves the veggies. lol. I stopped with the bugs (horn worms) and just feed her greens and if she get hungry enough she will eat them. This works for mine, not saying it works for everyone as every birdie is different.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
The only place I have found Butter worms is thru Dubiaroaches.com-- they are not that expensive but you haft to pay shipping -- visit their website and there are other things that they offer for beardies - shipping is 2-3 days and they send tracking info

Karrie
 
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