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.
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, 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.
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.
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.)
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.
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....
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....
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