Addicted to wax worms! HELP!

[phanatical92]

My beardie has been an adorable little pain the the butt recently He wasn't eating for a really long time, so out of desperation I tried giving him wax worms. They helped, but now they're the only thing he'll eat! I tried to feed him a super, but when he tasted it I got an irritated head shake and a major stinkeye. Is there any alternative besides starving him? He's not a fan of greens, either.

 

[Beardednoob]

I would recommend to play some hard ball with the dragon. If you let him have his way all the time then he owns you. Kind of like a cat. You never really own a cat, it is the cat which owns you. Dragons can be the same way but, slightly worse. Try not feeding him wax worms but, something different, leave the feeder in the enclosure with the dragon all day, take them out at night. When your dragon gets hungry he should give in. If he doesn't I would just make sure to dust with calcium (as wax worms are low in calcium) provide plenty of exercise (as wax worms are high in fat).

 

[keen77]

my buddy has a dragon that will only eat wax worms too! he will still eat greens but will close his eyes when you hold a super, dubia, or cricket in front of him. At one time he LOVED crickets now won't touch the stuff

 

[szubelak]

I'm surprised someone hasn't said this yet - but why did he stop eating to begin with??? Is he sick? Have a worm? did you ever consult a vet or take a fecal sample to a vet?

When I was having trouble getting my beardies to eat their veggies (were rescued - never had them before) - one thing my vet suggested was (prepare yourself - this is really gross) putting crickets (their fav) into a blender with the veggies... perhaps you can do that - the wax worms with veggies or crickets or something in a blender - buy a new blender just for your beardies - LOL - the idea was to gradually decrease the amount of the crickets so as to train them to eat just the veggies - I only started this right before brumation - so I don't have an answer for whether or not it was successful for me or not...

good luck!
Lesley

 

[Beardednoob]

I'm surprised someone hasn't said this yet - but why did he stop eating to begin with??? Is he sick? Have a worm? did you ever consult a vet or take a fecal sample to a vet?

When I was having trouble getting my beardies to eat their veggies (were rescued - never had them before) - one thing my vet suggested was (prepare yourself - this is really gross) putting crickets (their fav) into a blender with the veggies... perhaps you can do that - the wax worms with veggies or crickets or something in a blender - buy a new blender just for your beardies - LOL - the idea was to gradually decrease the amount of the crickets so as to train them to eat just the veggies - I only started this right before brumation - so I don't have an answer for whether or not it was successful for me or not...

good luck!
Lesley

Having 4 dragons myself, the first thing to come to mind when referring to a dragon that is eating but, not eating everything offered is, a picky dragon. This is just the way it is in dragons typically in or past puberty. Some just tend to get this mind set. I have a dragon named Des, he used to be a very good eater, eating anything I had to offer. Now he picks and chooses what he wants, so it is a guessing game for me, offer a reptiworm, no go, offer a wax worm, no go. Finally offer a super and he eats them. This isn't in my perspective a sick dragon, he is eating.

 

[valcash]

I'm surprised someone hasn't said this yet - but why did he stop eating to begin with??? Is he sick? Have a worm? did you ever consult a vet or take a fecal sample to a vet?

My thoughts exactly.
If he isn't eating anything but those worms and no greens he might need some supplementation to his "diet" as well.
Also you can spray a 100% fruit juice diluted on the veggies or dip the worms in some vegetable baby food with the calcium supplements.