Feeding advice

[Acolldragon]

Sonny my lovely dragon is 7 months old and she has never stuck to the advice I was given as a first time owner. I’ll post the advice I was given and what she actually eats and please give me some advice.

From 0-4 months feed her as many bugs as she can eat 4 times a day. Feeding time should be 10-15mins (30/50bugs daily)
At this age she’d eat around 10 bugs 2x daily. Any more and she’d just let them run off and live with her. I also offer her veggies which she never touched. At this point she would poo once / twice daily.

From 4-12+ feed her as many bugs as she can eat 3 times a day but slowly lower it to 2. Feeding time should still be 10-15 mins (20/30bugs)
Still offering her fresh veggies which I think I’ve witness her eat only twice in the past 3 weeks. She is only eat 5/8 bugs once a day. She is just not interested at all in anymore than that.
Now she is only pooing every other day.
I weighed her too and she’s 320grams and is 24 inches long so she’s a decent size I’ve been told.

I’ve checked the humidity and just recently replaced all the lighting and the temps seem to be right in the Viv.

I took her to an exotic vet who said she seems healthy and tested her poop just incase but all came back fine. She sheds well, loves a soak in the bath twice a week. Loves to explore with my kids for 1-2 hours daily. I just want some reassurance I’m doing okay as it’s my first time.

I’ve tried a few different things to make make her green more interesting to her but she is like hell no.

 

[AHBD]

Hmmm, that proposed feeding schedule is not really appropriate. Feeding too many insects aka " power feeding " is now recognized as something that can lead to very quick growth , causing more health problems especially later in life but also for young dragons. Babies eating 2 X a day about 6 insects per feeding is more realistic. Then they usually accept greens as a good filler and are more apt to eat them. Less insects after they get around 5 months . Some dragons are just more stubborn about eating their greens, what kind are you using ? Have you tried a little bit of bee pollen on the salad ?

BTW, 320 grams is pretty light for a 24" dragon, can you post pics of Sinny and her set up ?

 

[Chris.]

I agree that the advice you were given is quite a lot of insects. It's not surprising she wouldn't eat that many and ignore her salads all together.
Feeding too many insects can lead to high uric acid and many health problems with it later in their life.
It would be more healthy for her to grow a little slower, they don't need to be full grown at 7 months old in my opinion. They would not be in the wild anyway....

 

[Acolldragon]

Hmmm, that proposed feeding schedule is not really appropriate. Feeding too many insects aka " power feeding " is now recognized as something that can lead to very quick growth , causing more health problems especially later in life but also for young dragons. Babies eating 2 X a day about 6 insects per feeding is more realistic. Then they usually accept greens as a good filler and are more apt to eat them. Less insects after they get around 5 months . Some dragons are just more stubborn about eating their greens, what kind are you using ? Have you tried a little bit of bee pollen on the salad ?

BTW, 320 grams is pretty light for a 24" dragon, can you post pics of Sinny and her set up ?

Sorry 320grams was her weight when we went to the vets she weights more now.
I’ve tried pretty much every green she’s allowed and non of them she likes with it without the bee pollen.

 

[KarrieRee]

Sorry 320grams was her weight when we went to the vets she weights more now.
I’ve tried pretty much every green she’s allowed and non of them she likes with it without the bee pollen.

She looks really heavy in the pic --- please get some BSFL for her--- top her salads w/ those - around 20 of them if she eats them too fast they will come out undigested - use those as a salad lure www.symtonbsf.com order large - drop them on to the salads in front of her to lure her to that salad bowl - at one year she needs to go to insects 2-3 times per week- I would offer variety of insects like silk worms dubias and the BSFL - I dont like crickets too noisy stinky and a pain in the rear end --- here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale info its a good staple Nutrition Content