Definitely overeating

[ScooterRenee2022]

I am having a real hard time with my buddy overeating. i Got Rex in October. The pet store did not know how old he was but I have read a lot of the posts and the typically say they are about 3 months when you purchase them. He was quite larger than the other ones in enclosure and there were 4 in a 20 gallon tank. So I am guessing that he is about 6 months. I am really having a hard time with him overeating it’s been happening since I got him. It almost seemed like they weren’t feeding them enough while he was there. Every morning he gets fed. I alternate mealworms, crickets and waxworms. He loves crickets but he also loves his waxworms. The pet store told me that they would alternate crickets and mealworms. So that is what I do and he loves it. I also give him a treat before his morning meal which I do 1 hornworm. once in a while I do it with one or two dubias. It is funny because he will even do things for his hornworms. I have him trained to come down a ramp or jump up on his tree. He loves his hornworms. But if I tried to give him his typical morning meal I have to monitor what I give him or he will overeat. I have tried to let him eat for 10 to 15 minutes and he will eat so fast that he makes himself sick. If I let him eat for 10 to 15 minutes he will eat over almost 30 large crickets in one feeding even with the hornworm or the dubia. This makes him not want his veggies at all. He has been doing this since I got him. Now his poop is great. It’s the right color and consistency. I started monitoring what he ate about a week or two after I got him. It was the only way to get him to eat his veggies. I’m still doing this with obviously increases what he eats because he grows, but is this normal? Am I going to have to do this for the rest of his life?

 

[Chris.]

Why do you think he is overeating? Does he throw up?

Typically you would feed him greens in the morning and bugs in the evening/afternoon more often than not they will not eat their greens after they have been fed bugs.

Carefull with the waxworms, I heard they can be addictive...

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

Why do you think he is overeating? Does he throw up?

Typically you would feed him greens in the morning and bugs in the evening/afternoon more often than not they will not eat their greens after they have been fed bugs.

Carefull with the waxworms, I heard they can be addictive...

Thank you so much I have been feeding him the bugs before. I guess listening to Petsmart should not be a good thing. He is my first beardie so I am trying so hard to do everything right. He is not throwing up but he gets I guess a tummy ache. He just gets very quiet and sits on his heating pad That I put under the tank.

 

[xp29]

Ok a few things. Does he have a basking light and what's the temp. What are you using for uvb? If you followed petsmarts advice they are probably wrong. As far as amount babies/juveniles eat alot of protein, they need to for growth. ( not saying make them obese) If he scarfs down his food, offer his bugs a few at a time to slow him down. Be sure to dust calcium once a day and a multivitamin 2 to 3 times per week.
It's better to feed babies and juveniles a couple times per day.
With the calcium, don't make the bugs look like a powdered donut. Just a lite dusting is ok.

 

[Chris.]

It is also normal for them to heat up after eating. They require external heat to diggest their food.

You want your heat to come from bulbs that also produce visible light though. So unless you have a specific reason, you should get rid of the heatpad!

You will need ether a solid all-in-one light bulb like a mvb (mercury vapor bulb) or even better a metal-halide-hid bulb, or you can use a uvb tube (arcadia or zoomed) in combination with an incandescent bulb.