AprilMayJune
Hatchling Member
We have had Lance for about 6 months. He is estimated to be 2 1/2 years old. We bought him and a female from someone off the kijiji site. Originally they were housed together but after some knowledge and advicefrom fellow bd.org members and some agression between the two we seperated them.
When they were housed together Lance ate about 15-20 crickets every other day and a bit of salad almost daily(collard greens, parsely, dandelion, bok choy, cilantro, fruits). The salad varied week to week as it does now.
Since seperating them we have changed thier diets. We cut out the noisy crickets and offered them superworms every other day until he wouldn't eat them. We then began leaving a dish of supers in with him daily making sure they were dusted. We would try to hand feed daily to no avail. We offered silkworms which he snubbed his nose at. We offered butterworms which he snubbed as well. We offered hornworms which he gobbled down quickly. We offered waxworms as well which he snubbed. We tried crickets again because he did eat them in the past. He snubbed those too. We tried different greens and he would basically throw it all over his tank.
Lance wasn't eating and all he wanted to do was sleep. We allowed him to go into brumation in February since he only wanted to sleep and figured he would wake up with a ravenous appetite.
Lance woke up about 3 1/2 weeks ago. He was placed in his new home. (we built a condo for our 3 - see the DIY section for pictures of the finished product) He was slow waking up. He has been active for the last couple of weeks but is still not eating. He has adjusted well in his condo and climbs everything and investigates everything. There are no stress marks on his belly.
Since waking up he has not eaten any of his greens. Sigh. He has eaten a couple of crickets but not enough to count on my one hand. He did eat some supers but that took a lot of coaxing. He was offered silkworms and snubbed them again. We started a dubia colony whilst he was brumating and he won't even eat those. Normally if we let the supers roam around in front of him (supervised) for long enough he would eat them. The most he has eaten since coming out of brumation is 7 at one time and that was 2 weeks ago. He will eat 1 or 2 superworms every couple of days.
We went to a reptile expo yesterday and was able to buy some pheonix worms finally. They are hard to buy here in Canada unless you have a large order but was talking to the gentleman from recorp and he says they don't enforce the minimum $ order any longer and said if we wanted to we can order smaller from him to get the pheonix worms. I was excited, but Lance wasn't. He ate 3 pw's yesterday and only 2 today. His appetite is almost non-existant but he will drink daily. I can't afford to feed him only hornworms at $2 each (he used to love them and haven't tried them since waking up).
I don't think he is eating enough. He has pooped twice since waking up, both in the bath. It looks normal. I am very concerned for him. His colour is normal, no black beard unless he's bobbing. He is just as active as he was before brumation. He isn't fat and he isn't skinny either. Is there anything I can do to stimulate his appetite or to get him to eat more than one or two worms a week? At first I wasn't really concerned because he had always been a picky eater but I have been worried a lot about him lately. Our female, Samantha, his old tank-mate has always had a hearty appetite. She is huuuuuuge. Probably too fat for her own good. She wobbles when she walks and her belly drags along the ground. She will eat anything you put in front of her. The difference between the two is astounding.
Please, if you could, offer advice or suggestions on what I can do to get this little guy to eat. I'm almost ready to do anything to get him eating regularly.
Thanks in advance,
April
When they were housed together Lance ate about 15-20 crickets every other day and a bit of salad almost daily(collard greens, parsely, dandelion, bok choy, cilantro, fruits). The salad varied week to week as it does now.
Since seperating them we have changed thier diets. We cut out the noisy crickets and offered them superworms every other day until he wouldn't eat them. We then began leaving a dish of supers in with him daily making sure they were dusted. We would try to hand feed daily to no avail. We offered silkworms which he snubbed his nose at. We offered butterworms which he snubbed as well. We offered hornworms which he gobbled down quickly. We offered waxworms as well which he snubbed. We tried crickets again because he did eat them in the past. He snubbed those too. We tried different greens and he would basically throw it all over his tank.
Lance wasn't eating and all he wanted to do was sleep. We allowed him to go into brumation in February since he only wanted to sleep and figured he would wake up with a ravenous appetite.
Lance woke up about 3 1/2 weeks ago. He was placed in his new home. (we built a condo for our 3 - see the DIY section for pictures of the finished product) He was slow waking up. He has been active for the last couple of weeks but is still not eating. He has adjusted well in his condo and climbs everything and investigates everything. There are no stress marks on his belly.
Since waking up he has not eaten any of his greens. Sigh. He has eaten a couple of crickets but not enough to count on my one hand. He did eat some supers but that took a lot of coaxing. He was offered silkworms and snubbed them again. We started a dubia colony whilst he was brumating and he won't even eat those. Normally if we let the supers roam around in front of him (supervised) for long enough he would eat them. The most he has eaten since coming out of brumation is 7 at one time and that was 2 weeks ago. He will eat 1 or 2 superworms every couple of days.
We went to a reptile expo yesterday and was able to buy some pheonix worms finally. They are hard to buy here in Canada unless you have a large order but was talking to the gentleman from recorp and he says they don't enforce the minimum $ order any longer and said if we wanted to we can order smaller from him to get the pheonix worms. I was excited, but Lance wasn't. He ate 3 pw's yesterday and only 2 today. His appetite is almost non-existant but he will drink daily. I can't afford to feed him only hornworms at $2 each (he used to love them and haven't tried them since waking up).
I don't think he is eating enough. He has pooped twice since waking up, both in the bath. It looks normal. I am very concerned for him. His colour is normal, no black beard unless he's bobbing. He is just as active as he was before brumation. He isn't fat and he isn't skinny either. Is there anything I can do to stimulate his appetite or to get him to eat more than one or two worms a week? At first I wasn't really concerned because he had always been a picky eater but I have been worried a lot about him lately. Our female, Samantha, his old tank-mate has always had a hearty appetite. She is huuuuuuge. Probably too fat for her own good. She wobbles when she walks and her belly drags along the ground. She will eat anything you put in front of her. The difference between the two is astounding.
Please, if you could, offer advice or suggestions on what I can do to get this little guy to eat. I'm almost ready to do anything to get him eating regularly.
Thanks in advance,
April