Weight gain

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We've had Thanos for just over 2 months now and he is around 7 to 8 months. After asking previous about lighting and temperature etc I'm now pretty confident these are good and he is growing well, putting on around 14g a week we have worked out!! He has gone from 22g to 110g which seems like an awful lot but he is still not interested in his greens even though I give them to him every morning with 3/4 mealworms and 6/8 calci worms about an hour after his lights come on. He always seems to manage to find the worms and maybe eats one or two tiny bits of rocket and sometimes a bit of apple. An hour later he will eat 5/6 small dubia and then around 10 s/m locusts. I leave the salad in but he never touches it during the day. In the evening he then has another 5/6 dubia and then sometimes another 10 locusts!
I think he had a pretty bad start with the shop we got him from only feeding 3 locusts morning and night so I wanted him to catch up in terms of nutrition and weight and health but now wonder if he is growing too fast. We generally feed the locusts until he refused and closes his eyes. He's also shedding at the moment but his appetite has not decreased!!
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

They all grow at different rates. Some seem to go through growth spurts while others are more slow and steady. I wouldn't worry too much about weight gain or size gains, as long as he's eating a healthy diet and acting healthy :)
I would try to encourage him to eat more of his salads though :) Sometimes it takes a day or 2 without bugs to get them to start eating salads regularly, but IMO the trade off of missing a couple meals is worth the reward of a life long salad eating habit.
This is what I do with all of my dragons, and every single one of them has eaten their whole salad ever since they were babies.

-Brandon
 

Linzloohoo

Hatchling Member
Sounds like you have a fast grower like me lol. My kai is gaining 40-50 grams a week. He’s 4-5 ish months old and 300 grams now. My nieces dragon is the same age but about half the size. They all grow different. Just wanted to let you know you’re not alone with having a dragon growing at an extreme rate.
 

theyellowlabrador

Member
Original Poster
Linzloohoo":3vtr0ng3 said:
Sounds like you have a fast grower like me lol. My kai is gaining 40-50 grams a week. He’s 4-5 ish months old and 300 grams now. My nieces dragon is the same age but about half the size. They all grow different. Just wanted to let you know you’re not alone with having a dragon growing at an extreme rate.

Wow 40-50grams a week and I thought 14grams a week was a lot!!!
Thanos was only 22g at 5/6months but def underfed, I think he is making up for it now but still only a third of the size of your baby :).
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
theyellowlabrador":3syb6ov1 said:
Linzloohoo":3syb6ov1 said:
Sounds like you have a fast grower like me lol. My kai is gaining 40-50 grams a week. He’s 4-5 ish months old and 300 grams now.

Wow 40-50grams a week and I thought 14grams a week was a lot!!!
Thanos was only 22g at 5/6months but def underfed, I think he is making up for it now but still only a third of the size of your baby :).
Hokey-smokes, Bullwinkle!
Zardoz (7 weeks, 7") just weighed in at 20g. total. He's put on 5 grams in the 2 weeks we've had him but his appetite is good (pooping twice/day regularly). Like yours though, he won't touch his salad--even with twickewey [sic].
 

Linzloohoo

Hatchling Member
Sorry probably more like 40-50 every couple weeks my bad, but yea def still a lot. I’m actually wondering if his situation is like yours where he was actually older than I thought he was when I got him but in bad conditions, and is now making up for it. Either that or he’s just gonna be huge lol. He’s not fat, is also gaining in length, not sure on his length since I haven’t measured him lately but I would guess around 14-15 inches. Kai isn’t to fond of the greens either. But I do catch him munching on them every once in a while. On my day off I gave him his salad, and waited for him to eat it until I gave him any live feeders, it worked as he ate the entire thing.
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
OK, you guys have convinced me. I'd tried not giving him any bugs until he ate some salad, but only for a meal or 2. Today's a good day for me to keep replacing fresh salad, and hold out for a day or 2 (until his bug order arrives).
 

theyellowlabrador

Member
Original Poster
MrSpectrum":nm7yguve said:
OK, you guys have convinced me. I'd tried not giving him any bugs until he ate some salad, but only for a meal or 2. Today's a good day for me to keep replacing fresh salad, and hold out for a day or 2 (until his bug order arrives).

Did it work? Did he eat his salad? i might have to resort to tough love too - although because i was late feeding bugs this morning he through the salad round the viv but im pretty sure he didnt eat any :lol:
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
theyellowlabrador":3f1r2u6q said:
Did it work? Did he eat his salad? i might have to resort to tough love too - although because i was late feeding bugs this morning he through the salad round the viv but im pretty sure he didnt eat any :lol:
YES, thank you for asking! :D I held out longer than he did. After one full day of "fasting", dirty looks, "the lizard eye" (kind of like getting the "horse eye") and doing laps of his enclosure (it was a scream), the next day he ate some salad, and started in on one of the live succulents we put in there (expecting he might eat or destroy them). He showed a marked preference for Jet Beads (sedeveria).

I have his "bug bowl" (feeding dish--an old bakelite(?) ashtray from the '50s) wedged between some slate blocks. He jumps in it sometimes, but he can't really throw anything out (he's tried). :D
One time he pooped in it. That was during his first week with us; we're still not really sure what to make of that.
 
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