Eating greens at bedtime

[scm133]

Hugo has a habit of eating a few bites of greens right before the lights go out. He will bask, and then run over, and grab a few bites before getting on the cool side. Should I be removing these an hour before bedtime, also? I have always removed his bugs. Just wondering if going to sleep, with a tummy of greens is ok. :roll:

 

[RainMaiden]

I've read that you want to stop feeding around 2 hours before lights out, otherwise the food could rot in the stomach.

 

[scm133]

I took his greens away tonight at 6:00, since his lights go off at 8:00. He is not too happy. I think he was enjoying is before bed snack...

 

[Paradon]

If it gets too cold at night, the food may rot inside the stomach, like the other poster have mentioned. I usually feed them salad early in the morning or early afternoon. This way they have all day to bask and digest their food properly, getting the nutrients that they need. Salad is a bit difficult to digest compared to live prey items and it takes all day to digest them properly. Plant have what you called cellulose for cell walls to protect them from predators that might eat them. Plant eaters have microbes inside their stomach to help them breakdown plant tough cell walls so the digestive juices can get in their and digest it; however, to digest them properly they need good amount of heat because the microbes function better at certain temperature. If it gets too cold, it may not be able to properly breakdown the plant matters.

 

[scm133]

He did much better today. You know, they are not dumb creatures.
He gobbled two bowls of greens today! I guess he figured that he need to get his quota of greens in before I took the bowl away, early...LOL!!