Feeding Time - To Eat, or Not To Eat?

[ComicBookMama]

I've mentioned before that Figment is fairly apathetic to his greens... but lately, it seems that the only way he'll even consider eating them is if I pick him up and plunk him down right in front of the dish. Leave the dish without moving the dragon, and the salads go untouched. No, I don't get the same reaction with bugs... THOSE apparently are worth moving for!

My question... is Figment not eating his salads because he's not hungry? Should I not move him, assuming that if he is hungry and wants food, he'll get up and eat?

Tied to this question is the bugs question- I don't give Figment his bugs until after he's eaten at least some of his salad. I generally wait for him to walk away from the salad, then get out the roaches. If he doesn't eat his salad, he gets no bugs that night. Is this a reasonable feeding plan?

Please advise. I think I just have a very picky dragon. He's approaching his one-year mark; I got him in August 2019, so he's at least 9 months old right now... probably closer to 10. I've noticed that when he's gone a day or two without bugs, his droppings normalize to the "logs" most people consider typical rather than the "piles" I get when he's full of dubias. Not sure if that's important to note.

I just wish I could get a handle on the feeding puzzle myself!

 

[KarrieRee]

You and me both --- Blaze is doing the same thing yours is doing -- he wont go to the bowl like he used to and eat and if he does he only goes for the worms now and before he was eating some of his salad - he is 10 months old as well -- I dont know what gives w/ this but I am not offering dubias till afternoon and he will eat them ----some days I wont feed dubias and the next day he still wont go for the salad -- maybe some others on here have some ideas as to why or what --- his poops have been spaced out w/ a few days in between but today and yesterday he pooped --- and there was alot of excess water so I know hes hydrated --- same w/ my older one he wont touch greens either -- once in awhile he will eat from our hand if we hand feed the greens - and when he does poop his is like mush and lots of water that I am assuming is from all the silk worms hes eating along w/ the horn worms -- today Hiccup gobbled down dubias a lot of them so ---- he is eating just not exactly what we want
Karrie

 

[MrSpectrum]

I don't give Figment his bugs until after he's eaten at least some of his salad. I generally wait for him to walk away from the salad, then get out the roaches. If he doesn't eat his salad, he gets no bugs that night. Is this a reasonable feeding plan?

Sounds reasonable to me. Lately I've been losing the battle of wills; ZARDOZ not only won't eat his greens/veggies, now he won't eat his num-numz either, and the past couple days, he's even turning down supers wiggled in front of his face. He lost 10 grams this week. First time, and it has me concerned. He shed this week, but it's never affected his appetite before.

 

[ComicBookMama]

Lately I've been losing the battle of wills; ZARDOZ not only won't eat his greens/veggies, now he won't eat his num-numz either, and the past couple days, he's even turning down supers wiggled in front of his face. He lost 10 grams this week. First time, and it has me concerned. He shed this week, but it's never affected his appetite before.

That would worry me, too... at least I know that Figment loves his bugs, though I'm cutting him back to 10-15 large dubias a night to try to spark his appetite for salads. He keeps picking out the parts he likes (squash, usually... though I gave him grated carrot tonight, which he loved) and leaving the rest.

I wonder what's put your Z-man off his feed, though? It's got to be something, and shedding sounds possible; don't they sometimes get tetchy around shed time? And there's a first time for everything... but I sure hope he's back to his num-nums sooner rather than later!

 

[ComicBookMama]

You and me both --- Blaze is doing the same thing yours is doing -- he wont go to the bowl like he used to and eat and if he does he only goes for the worms now and before he was eating some of his salad - he is 10 months old as well -- I dont know what gives w/ this but I am not offering dubias till afternoon and he will eat them ----some days I wont feed dubias and the next day he still wont go for the salad -- maybe some others on here have some ideas as to why or what --- his poops have been spaced out w/ a few days in between but today and yesterday he pooped --- and there was alot of excess water so I know hes hydrated --- same w/ my older one he wont touch greens either -- once in awhile he will eat from our hand if we hand feed the greens - and when he does poop his is like mush and lots of water that I am assuming is from all the silk worms hes eating along w/ the horn worms -- today Hiccup gobbled down dubias a lot of them so ---- he is eating just not exactly what we want

That's pretty much how I feel; at least he's eating something. And if you're having a similar problem, at least Figment and I are in good company! I keep wondering if it's a matter of portion size; am I offering too much salad and too many dubias? How big are dragon tummies, anyway? I'm going to try offering fewer dubias to try to spark up his appetite saladwise.

And the poos are usually the same as yours... piles of stinky mush with a lot of liquid pooled around, though with Figment I'd guess it's the grated squash I've been giving him, since I don't have silkies or hornworms at the moment.

I guess we continue to experiment until we find a balance that works!

 

[KarrieRee]

IAM still offering his salads in the morning - this morning he went to the food bowl and ate a little salad not much he picked out one super- this afternoon he ate 4-5 dubias not many different sizes- I am now feeding out of my aquarium and his stash of his dubia containers is gone- he is in shed and looks miserable- he's going into full body
Karrie

 

[MrSpectrum]

How big are dragon tummies, anyway?

Bigger than you might think, and like most tummies, capable of expanding/stretching.
In the wild, BDs are opportunity hunters; they may go several days (sometimes longer) without a meal, so if/when they find one, they may gorge themselves, which means a pretty good size stomach. They're also capable of vomiting, so if they were to overindulge they could purge (not that they necessarily would--there are plenty of fat/overweight dragons like any pets).

In captivity, we can control their food intake more easily/reasonably (hence the "as much as they'll eat in 15 min." guideline for babies).

I've been surprised a couple of times at how much Z was able to pack away in num-numz and/or supers. By watching him, I've gotten a "feel" for his tummy size (which of course grows along with him) but I don't think I could accurately put it in terms of another body part or something. Maybe someone else can(?)