Feed inside the viv or out?!

[Steviex]

Hehe I am a human slave! Today he caught 2 hoppers then the other 4 I had to hand feed! That's the most he eats in one day?! ? He loves veggies! How can I help him eat more as I am sure he should be having more live food! The bugs are no bigger than the width between his eyes and I dust them! Btw he is approx 5 months old, temps r fine, poops every other day usually. I am getting an Arcadia 12% uvb delivered tomorrow, hoping this helps him

 

[SHBailey]

I've never raised a little one from less than a year old, so I hope that others can give you a better idea of how much he should be eating and/or how fast he should be growing at his age. But one thing I can say is you're lucky he already likes veggies.

Otherwise, all I can say is don't try to push him to eat more than he wants and don't stress out over it as long as he's still growing fairly steadily and not losing weight. You could also try some other types of insects (if you can get them) such as roaches or silkworms (for example) to see if there's anything he likes better.

Instead of telling me how many bugs my beardie should be eating per meal in terms of numbers, my reptile vet makes a little circle with her fingers over his body and tells me this is about where his stomach is and about how big it is, so I have to imagine how many chewed up crickets it would take to make a wad about that big.

Better UV lighting should help. Otherwise, I hope others will chime in about the best feeding schedule for a 5 month old. :?

 

[Cinnasticks]

I had a previous Beardie that was scared of hoppers, simply because they could get higher than her in the viv. When ever I released them she would hunker down and not move. I had to hand feed her them. I would not advise simply leaving them as they can nibble at a beardies scales and coarse small wounds. You may find that feeding hoppers one by one with tweasers is acceptable to your beardie this is what I did with mine and she loved me for it.

I'm glad Roddy posted this, 'cause that's what I was going to say! I read a similar comment he made on another thread, and realized that one of my little beardies wasn't hunting as voraciously when there were too many crickets in the feeder tub! Little guy didn't like all the activity and being out numbered. :lol:

It might take them a couple feedings to get used to being in a different tub for food. But they'll catch on. Just make it a quiet place with little distractions until they get the hang of it!

 

[charmander16]

I know this thread is a little old, but is I'll say that I always feed inside the viv, for convenience if nothing else, but have a great system for it. Check out my thread here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=231135

Basically I use a large escape-proof dish that the lizard can crawl in and out of on their own. My guy loves it and it makes feeding really simple and also fun and less invasive. You don't have to take them in and out. You don't have to worry if you need to feed them before you leave and they aren't really ready yet and the dish is big enough that they get to do a little "hunting", not just eating from a tiny dish.

Can't use crickets very well with this, but it works great for dubias, and various worms and of course veggies. I just dump it all in.