Belly of the Beast

[GoneForLunch]

Here are two pictures of Levi and his belly

My thing is, he eats crickets every day but never his salad. He use to pick at it here and there but lately, nothing. Not even if I try to hand feed. I use collard greens and add in random things like carrots, cabbage, kale, and I've even tried strawberries. Alternating them around as none are staple greens but the collards. Can I get him to want salads more some how? I guess I posted pictures to see if he is healthy weight? Maybe at a weight where I can withhold crickets for a day or two and see if he'll go for the salad? I don't want to starve him or anything, I just want him to eat more salads. I do feed his crickets the salad, I put in some every morning as well i have those little cricket quenchers from flukers (the yellow jelly like cubes). Should I even be worried about it that he just wants more crickets and not so much salad? He is a year and a half old from my understanding. (But I've only had him for 3 weeks)

 

[kingofnobbys]

How many crickets ? how often ? what size ?

18 months old , he's not full grown yet, so I woundn't be too worried if he pigs out on gut loaded crickets who have been well dusted.

Just gut the crickets with Ca rich greens and other veg and he'll be getting the vitamins and greens via the insects.

I think he'll eventually start eating his greens and salad and veg of his own accord if they are always offered.
If you have another lizard or dragon you could let him watch it eating the greens and veg and salad and he'll learn these are actually food by observation. Or maybe you can nibble a bit with him watching and "share" it with him.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Maybe at a weight where I can withhold crickets for a day or two and see if he'll go for the salad? I don't want to starve him or anything, I just want him to eat more salads.

I would let him keep on eating all the crickets he wants , he needs the insect protein to grow and develop.

I do feed his crickets the salad, I put in some every morning as well i have those little cricket quenchers from flukers (the yellow jelly like cubes).

I wouldn't use those Flukers cubes - I'd be very worried that the long chain polymer in them that holds water by hydrogen bonding will be getting into your beardie's gut and accumulating and may be very toxic or lead to cancer in his gut.
Carrot and calcium rich greens are more than adequate .

Should I even be worried about it that he just wants more crickets and not so much salad? He is a year and a half old from my understanding. (But I've only had him for 3 weeks)

3 weeks isn't long to establish a feeding routine, so I wouldn't worry since he's still growing and will be for another 12 months if he is 18 months old.
See my other post.

 

[GoneForLunch]

He is fed calcium dusted crickets every night at around 7:30 (3 hours before lights out) and he usually eats anywhere from 5 or 6, up to 13. It really just depends on the day. They're medium/large crickets. Mostly mediums since they live longer. I offer as many as he wants and only stop if he's done and walks away. I wil cut out the cubes and stick to just wet greens and carrots. He gets a salad every morning right after I shower (So around 6:30 am). The salad stays there and gets replaced or soaked after school (so around 3) to keep it fresher through the day and have water. It sits on the cool side of the tank near his hide.

 

[kingofnobbys]

He is fed calcium dusted crickets every night at around 7:30 (3 hours before lights out) and he usually eats anywhere from 5 or 6, up to 13. It really just depends on the day. They're medium/large crickets. Mostly mediums since they live longer. I offer as many as he wants and only stop if he's done and walks away. I wil cut out the cubes and stick to just wet greens and carrots. He gets a salad every morning right after I shower (So around 6:30 am). The salad stays there and gets replaced or soaked after school (so around 3) to keep it fresher through the day and have water. It sits on the cool side of the tank near his hide.

Everything sounds OK to me. But I'm not an expert , only had beardies for about 3.5 yrs , BTS for 5 years and water skinks for about 7 years.

I suspect your boy is filling up on greens and veg (which are harder to digest than insects , hence his paunch).

I suggest offering him his insects in the am , follow up with greens and salad once he's had his fill of insects.

Also suggest if he's eating mostly greens and salad, daily dusting these with Calcium powder and with mixed vits and Calcium powder 2 or 3 days a week.
I give my bluetongues and beardies veg in the afternoon (about 4pm) their lights go off 9:30pm.
The two 5.5 month old hatchlings get a smaller second feed of insects with their greens and salad in the pm.

 

[GoneForLunch]

I go to school by 6:40 every morning. Soon I will have Dubia roaches mating and hopefully have a good colony going. Once I have those I can pour out some roaches in the morning and give him salads when I get home? But I'm not exactly sure I want to leave crickets in there whilst I can't watch them. Since im worried about them escaping.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I go to school by 6:40 every morning. Soon I will have Dubia roaches mating and hopefully have a good colony going. Once I have those I can pour out some roaches in the morning and give him salads when I get home? But I'm not exactly sure I want to leave crickets in there whilst I can't watch them. Since im worried about them escaping.

Escape from the enclosure ? only if you have sliding glass doors on the front and the gap is large enough for the squeeze through .... Adhesive Foam Door And Window Seal will solve that problem if attached to in inner sliding glass door so when the doors are closed the foam blocks the gap..

The crickets will be fine left in the enclosure while you are at school. (If you are worried they might bite beardie, leave some salad and green leafy salad (buk choi/ puk choi, kale) in the tub , they'll nibble this instead and the beardie will quickly learn the crickets go there and will take advantage of the situation and might even eat some salad too.

I suggest maybe changing lights on at 4am if you want to give beardie a couple of hours to warm up and get hungry before feeding time (prior to your leaving for school), and then simply changing the lightsout time so you give 15 - 16 hours per day with the lights on.
I know of keepers here (Australia) who leave for long commutes (in Sydney, Newcastle, Gosford, Woolongong, Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, Surfers who have to be out of the house by 5am to be at work 7:30am who , have their reptiles UV and basking timed to come on at 3am. The reptiles adapt to this quite quickly, so long as you keep a routine.

Alternatively drop a couple of crickets at a time in when beardie is warm and hungry at brecky time until beardie is full and no longer shows interest in catching and eating them.

Of cause your beardie might like my Rex, who likes her crickets given to her by hand, yes she's VERY PAMPERED, or like my little Toothless who likes to wait for the crickets to blunder close enough to him so he just grabs them as they crawl by close enough for him get them with MINIMUM EFFORT on her part, he's a very lazy lizard who loves basking all day.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, just curious but are you positive that Levi is a male ? The amount of crix he eats doesn't seem to line up with the big hanging belly. Unless he were eating 13 large ones every night, that would be a bit high but you say it's between 6+ 13 medium which seems about right. But yes, it is a good time to cut back on feeder insects. The old thought of power feeding [ all they can eat ] until 2 years old is really not accurate and has lead to obesity and or very picky eaters in beardies. Their growth slows down considerably after a year,even before, so with holding some protein should cause them to develop interest in the greens while still providing enough protein. I'm not sure why his belly is so heavy,[ although some dragons are just chunkier naturally ] it may have something to do with the late feeding or if he's possibly a female developing eggs. But if he's eating large amounts of salad, that's good as long as they are primarily greens and not high sugar fruits + such.

 

[GoneForLunch]

I never thought about it like that. I should really check and see if maybe it's not a boy after all. Boy that would be some news haha. If I can't determine I will upload a picture this afternoon for some help determining. On the safe side I want to ask, how do I help pass the eggs if that's what it ends up being? And as far as the late feedings go, that's when he wants it. I tried for days to feed Levi at around 4-5 pm. I would try every hour and he never ate until 7 or 8. I tried for 4 or 5 days and he kept only wanting them later on. So I just started to only offer them at 7:30-8

 

[AHBD]

O.K., as long as he has time to digest them and it works for you. Here's a foolproof way to determine gender.:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=209431
If you're still unsure, just arch his tail up high while he's flat on a table and snap a few pics to post here, I can tell you then.

 

[GoneForLunch]

O.K., as long as he has time to digest them and it works for you. Here's a foolproof way to determine gender.:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=209431
If you're still unsure, just arch his tail up high while he's flat on a table and snap a few pics to post here, I can tell you then.

I did my best with the flashlight and lifting the tail. I'm still have some issues to be honest and I can't be sure these pictures are good enough to tell. But any help would be nice. I think he's male, I feel like I saw more male looking parts than female (though again, i had a hard time seeing). I tried to take a picture using the flashlight, but I was one hand short so i may have to try again later with help if these don't help you determine it. And I felt his belly, which I dunno if you would feel the eggs or not, but it doesn't feel like there was any type of bumps in various places, or egg shapes. It all was smooth and uniform as far as shape. So this all makes me think its male.

and he honestly didn't mind too too much, but he was somewhat bothered by me lifting his tail. So i didn't want to keep trying and pestering him. But if these don't help, I will try again tomorrow with better pictures.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Looks like a he to me.

 

[GoneForLunch]

That's what i'm thinking. Which is nice, because I wasn't gonna change his name from Leviathan, even if it was a girl.

 

[kingofnobbys]

That's what i'm thinking. Which is nice, because I wasn't gonna change his name from Leviathan, even if it was a girl.

I was unsure with my Rex, though she was a he until our big boy Puff took a fancy to her and decided the matter by wanting to have his wicked way with her (wasn't allowed to do it), and she armwaved at him and teased him from her enclosure while he was on the floor and doing naughty things to the carpet , shoes, rug edge, the metal strip that holds the carpet and lino edge down).
Rex is now short for Rexanna, rather than just Rex.

We didn't care either way, got Puff and Rex as sibling hatchlings at 6 weeks old and was hard to tell gender at the time and we had no plans of letting them breed, being companion pets.

 

[AHBD]

I agree, probable male but the stress lines are blurring the definition. Another pic when the stress marks are gone and with the tail arched a bit higher + to the side [ as well as a pic taken from a slight side angle ] would be helpful. But I do think it's a male.