Am I feeding her too much?

[kingofnobbys]

Im too nervous to hand feed incase i ger nipped ?

Itzybitzy hatchlings aren't so bad when they accidentially nip end of the thumb or the finger, bigger juveniles can do some damage (cut the skin and draw blood) , can't recall when I was last accidentially nipped by Puff when he was around or by Rex.

Same with the bluetongues (they have a very strong bite !!), have very powerful jaw muscles cf a bearded dragon.

My observation is that skinks and dragons very quickly get the hang of the handfeeding lark.

Usually when a nip happens they don't follow through (it was a total accident and they are just as shocked as I am) , usually my fault for not paying attention / being monentarily distracted and not getting the end of the finger or thumb out the way quick enough.
I tend to come from side of the front of the snout with handfeeding, even hand fed a huge semi-tame rescued eastern water dragon who was about a metre long (nose to tip of tail) and a very impressive lizard in anyone's language - showed the person who was caring for it how to handfeed it.

 

[Karenxx67]

Hes only a Rankins but im still nervous as ive never been bitten so dont know how it feels lol xx

 

[SBarney]

She just polished off 106 crickets in one meal. :roll:

At this rate, pretty soon I will need to set up a go fund me page for her. :shock:

 

[Gail]

A bit isn't that bad, a puppy or kitten can bit worse then a adult dragon. I've been nipped by hatchlings all the way up to a adult male and he didn't do it on accident, he meant business. I really wouldn't worry about a bit from a rankins, it will probably break skin but they are pretty good about not biting down hard if its accidental.

SBarney, can you post a pic of your dragon and the size of the cricket you are feeding? I'm really worried that her eating is getting out of control, the last thing you want is a obese dragon.

 

[SBarney]

SBarney, can you post a pic of your dragon and the size of the cricket you are feeding? I'm really worried that her eating is getting out of control, the last thing you want is a obese dragon.

 

[kingofnobbys]

those crickets are maybe 3mm long .... they are pinheads and way too small, no wonder he's eating such large numbers of them , you should upgrade to 8 to 12mm long crickets i think.

 

[kingofnobbys]

She just polished off 106 crickets in one meal. :roll:

At this rate, pretty soon I will need to set up a go fund me page for her. :shock:

106 pinhead crickets is approximately equivalent mass and protein wise to maybe 8 to 10 x 1/3 sized crickets ( I think he should be getting 1/3 size crickets at his size ).

He'd probably eat a petshop tub of 1/3 size crickets per day (about 40 to the tub , but may be different where you are, ie Biolabs put 45 small (1/3 size) crickets in a tub, and Piscus put about 30 of the same size in each (tub which is smaller in volume).

I'm using the following estimates - see https://caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V64/v64n2-Studier.pdf (fig 1)
double the cricket length --> 3 to 4 x the mass
and
thrice the cricket length --> 10 to 12 x the mass.
(There's an exponential relationship length to mass per cricket.)

 

[AHBD]

She can eat much larger crickets than that. They are not pinheads, they are what is sold in the U.S. as 1/4" crix. I was thinking from the start that the crix were going to be too small. Definitely order at least the 1/2" if not bigger crickets. You'll save money and your dragon will get filled up on half the amount of bugs, even less. And I almost thought that you said it was a Rankin's in one post, but it was another member [ Karen ? ] that posted about HER dragon.

 

[SBarney]

I bought her some larger crickets today. Makes much more sense, she was full after about 10 of them. Thats going to save me a lot of money. Now I have to deal with all the chirping....

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I bought her some larger crickets today. Makes much more sense, she was full after about 10 of them. Thats going to save me a lot of money. Now I have to deal with all the chirping....

Thanks for all the advice.

Only adult male crickets churp, suggest avoid buying LARGE = adult crickets unless you intend to set up a breeding colony of crickets .

Next size down will be quieter and will last several more days too if you buy them in bulk lots (or several tubs of them at a time).

 

[Elisa]

I feed my guy Dubai roaches. Once he started eating too many crickets and they were costing me too much money I switch to the roaches; they are much easier to keep, don't smell, don't jump and have a much better protein level than the crickets. I ordered them from Abdragons.com

 

[Elisa]

Haha just realized this thread was from September. Oh well: carry on ....??