Bearded Dragon Really Bad at Hunting

[Semperfiniko]

When he was a baby lizard I always noticed when he strikes, his tongue goes out to the left or right, not straight. He also has a very small strike when he's trying to grab something. I literally have to pickup the crickets and injure them to allow my dragon, Tai, to catch it. For mealworms, he misses 6 or 7 times even if it's literally at his feet. If it gets away from him, he doesn't even chase it. How can I improve his hunting skills as it sort of worries me?

 

[brittani299]

Hello I would stop feeding mealwroms. They can cause impaction and arent very nutritious. I would also say that his hunting skills are lacking because he is a captive lizard that you have taught not to hunt. He knows that you will give him the food regardless of him hunting it or not. So he chooses not to hunt.

 

[Sauzo]

Harley is the same way. Half the time she misses dubia roaches and with butterworms, it sometimes takes 2 tries to pick it up off the floor. Your dragon might not be really hungry. Harley was handfed from 6 weeks old and is always fed something be it greens, squash, butterworms, dubias or whatever so I attribute it to a half hearted attempt since she isn't starving. Now when she is hungry, she will chase down a dubia and grab it so like I said, it might be your dragon just isn't starving if you keep him/her well fed and is more or less just snacking. This is assuming though you got the right setup and aren't using something like a compact fluorescent and your dragon's eyes are being damaged to the point he/she actually cant see the food.