Feeling Defeated - Not interested in salad

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
Hi,

I've posted about this a couple of times, but am looking for more advice.

I have a hatchling that's now 6 weeks old - and it still refuses to eat salad - I've tried everything;

- Putting small feeder insects in to entice feeding response from salad moving - just picked the insects out.
- Moving and prompting in front of face
- Withholding insects until about midday-early afternoon
- Leaving in during the day and night - changed every morning - nothing
- Different greens - spinach, kale, rocket as well as carrot.

I know that hatchlings need more protein than salad - especially this young - but at what point does getting no salad become nutritionally dangerous?

I have only had him a week and per the advice received on this forum have completely reduced if not stopped handling and baths - so is it still an acclimation issue?

I have been offering crickets and woodies (wood roaches) and he'll readily eat both - is it true that woodies nutritionally wise should assist in hydration? I know that they're cleaner and more nutritious overall than crickets - but if I can't get him to drink from his bath, eat greens or drink water dripped on nose - are the insects enough?

I know that with dragons you have to start salad young as adults can be a pain to switch over to it - but I feel defeated.

If I offer salad when I wake up - late morning / midday (till I start training at my new job) doing everything above - I'll normally just leave the dragon alone and leave the bowl in and wait for an hour or two and then offer insects (so it eats something) and it'll eat them no problem.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Hi,

I've posted about this a couple of times, but am looking for more advice.

I have a hatchling that's now 6 weeks old - and it still refuses to eat salad - I've tried everything;

- Putting small feeder insects in to entice feeding response from salad moving - just picked the insects out.
- Moving and prompting in front of face
- Withholding insects until about midday-early afternoon
- Leaving in during the day and night - changed every morning - nothing
- Different greens - spinach, kale, rocket as well as carrot.

I know that hatchlings need more protein than salad - especially this young - but at what point does getting no salad become nutritionally dangerous?

I have only had him a week and per the advice received on this forum have completely reduced if not stopped handling and baths - so is it still an acclimation issue?

I have been offering crickets and woodies (wood roaches) and he'll readily eat both - is it true that woodies nutritionally wise should assist in hydration? I know that they're cleaner and more nutritious overall than crickets - but if I can't get him to drink from his bath, eat greens or drink water dripped on nose - are the insects enough?

I know that with dragons you have to start salad young as adults can be a pain to switch over to it - but I feel defeated.

If I offer salad when I wake up - late morning / midday (till I start training at my new job) doing everything above - I'll normally just leave the dragon alone and leave the bowl in and wait for an hour or two and then offer insects (so it eats something) and it'll eat them no problem.
Have you tried bsfl?
 

xp29

BD.org Addict
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Zen , Ruby ,Snicker Doodles, Sweet Pea, Sinatra
My big male was four at x-mas, he had salad nearly everyday of his life, he eats it about once a month. Sometimes he'll eat it for a couple weeks, but it's super rare. Babies can be even harder to get to eat it.
Your not doing anything wrong, you just have to keep offering it.
I do not recommend withholding insects from babies, they need protein 2 to 3 times per day, it's way more important they eat the protein than the salad as babies. They are growing the fastest they ever will and need the protein to promote that growth.
 

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
My big male was four at x-mas, he had salad nearly everyday of his life, he eats it about once a month. Sometimes he'll eat it for a couple weeks, but it's super rare. Babies can be even harder to get to eat it.
Your not doing anything wrong, you just have to keep offering it.
I do not recommend withholding insects from babies, they need protein 2 to 3 times per day, it's way more important they eat the protein than the salad as babies. They are growing the fastest they ever will and need the protein to promote that growth.
Oh yeah 100%, I don't withhold them, I misspoke - I more offer them later in the day to promote some hunger from overnight to try to encourage salad.

I'll just keep changing it daily (I'm not putting much in the bowl as to reduce waste - cause it's just going bad) - removing it at night - sometimes I feed it to the insects, sometimes I just throw it out - depends.

I'll alternate between BSFL, Silkworms, Woodies and Crickets and create a schedule to feed a variety of insects each week, so that even if it is more protein than anything else, it's variety nonetheless - and should offer hydration too.

I'll stick with the carrot/kale/spinach/rocket until it's a bit older.

Very reassuring to know I'm not doing anything wrong. As we all do, I just want the little guy to live a healthy, long and prosperous life.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Oh yeah 100%, I don't withhold them, I misspoke - I more offer them later in the day to promote some hunger from overnight to try to encourage salad.

I'll just keep changing it daily (I'm not putting much in the bowl as to reduce waste - cause it's just going bad) - removing it at night - sometimes I feed it to the insects, sometimes I just throw it out - depends.

I'll alternate between BSFL, Silkworms, Woodies and Crickets and create a schedule to feed a variety of insects each week, so that even if it is more protein than anything else, it's variety nonetheless - and should offer hydration too.

I'll stick with the carrot/kale/spinach/rocket until it's a bit older.

Very reassuring to know I'm not doing anything wrong. As we all do, I just want the little guy to live a healthy, long and prosperous life.
Please no spinach- I will post a website for nutrition in the morning--
 

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
I can’t get it to eat anything that isn’t an insect atm. I’ll swap out the spinach for rocket and kale - keeping the carrot in there for colour - but with the insects I have - what’s a good ratio to feed them?

I have; woodies, crickets, BSFL and soon will have silkworms on their way.

Is it okay to feed one a couple of days and then swap to another and so on?

At the moment I’ve been offering the three every day.
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
the nothing but insect thing is pretty normal for that age. it is more important to make sure a salad is offered daily even if they don't eat it right away. thinking back i'm going to say that sir henry was almost 2 before he started eating them consistently. and then one day it was just NOM SALAD!!!!

at the end of the day, any salad that is left in his enclosure gets fed to the roaches so he gets the nutrients either way. be careful of doing that if you are feeding the carrots though. too much vitamin A if both the dragon and the bugs get carrots. we usually rotate between dandelion greens (FAVORITE!!!), kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and water cress. then toppers we rotate through yellow squash, various colored bell peppers, and sweet potato. occasionally, because they are high in sugars, he gets fruit and that's usually raspberries or blueberries. we top salads with bee pollen, but we do granules instead of powder cause he hates powders. (we also do liquid calcium and vitamins for the same reason, which also helps with hydration.)

i don't think there's any hard fast rotation schedule for the bug part. we started on crickets cause that's what he had when we rescued him, but very quickly stopped buying them. he didn't like them too much, and they're noisy and stink. just nasty little critters in my opinion. his main protein is dubia roaches. we've tried BSFL and he doesn't like them. silks or hornworms he'll eat like crazy, but they are expensive and grow very quickly. mealworms or superworms he gets occasionally, but that's more like going to a fast food restaurant for a treat. sir henry's almost 3 though, so he really only gets bugs 2x a week unless he decides he doesn't even want that much. i see no reason you couldn't rotate between the bugs you mentioned on a schedule, or just based on what your dragon will eat. i can't think of a reason not to offer all 3 in a single day.
 

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
the nothing but insect thing is pretty normal for that age. it is more important to make sure a salad is offered daily even if they don't eat it right away. thinking back i'm going to say that sir henry was almost 2 before he started eating them consistently. and then one day it was just NOM SALAD!!!!

at the end of the day, any salad that is left in his enclosure gets fed to the roaches so he gets the nutrients either way. be careful of doing that if you are feeding the carrots though. too much vitamin A if both the dragon and the bugs get carrots. we usually rotate between dandelion greens (FAVORITE!!!), kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and water cress. then toppers we rotate through yellow squash, various colored bell peppers, and sweet potato. occasionally, because they are high in sugars, he gets fruit and that's usually raspberries or blueberries. we top salads with bee pollen, but we do granules instead of powder cause he hates powders. (we also do liquid calcium and vitamins for the same reason, which also helps with hydration.)

i don't think there's any hard fast rotation schedule for the bug part. we started on crickets cause that's what he had when we rescued him, but very quickly stopped buying them. he didn't like them too much, and they're noisy and stink. just nasty little critters in my opinion. his main protein is dubia roaches. we've tried BSFL and he doesn't like them. silks or hornworms he'll eat like crazy, but they are expensive and grow very quickly. mealworms or superworms he gets occasionally, but that's more like going to a fast food restaurant for a treat. sir henry's almost 3 though, so he really only gets bugs 2x a week unless he decides he doesn't even want that much. i see no reason you couldn't rotate between the bugs you mentioned on a schedule, or just based on what your dragon will eat. i can't think of a reason not to offer all 3 in a single day.

Thanks for the advice; carrot is something I've always got on hand which is why I started offering it, because my partner goes through them like a rabbit.

I found my first lot of crickets grew far too quickly, to the point of being inedible, so I offer it sparingly.

I will substitute it out regularly and rotate between a variety of greens.

I'm trying not to put what he doesn't eat (which is everything I offer salad wise) in to the insect tubs/buckets because that seemed to stink them out after less than a week and I can't imagine is too healthy for the little guy.

Not sure of the best way to do it yet - or how to gutload them so that they're actually good for him.
 

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the advice; carrot is something I've always got on hand which is why I started offering it, because my partner goes through them like a rabbit.

I found my first lot of crickets grew far too quickly, to the point of being inedible, so I offer it sparingly.

I will substitute it out regularly and rotate between a variety of greens.

I'm trying not to put what he doesn't eat (which is everything I offer salad wise) in to the insect tubs/buckets because that seemed to stink them out after less than a week and I can't imagine is too healthy for the little guy.

Not sure of the best way to do it yet - or how to gutload them so that they're actually good for him.

Sorry I should clarify - I don't offer crickets sparingly - I give them the leftover salad/salad sparingly - he doesn't eat the salad at all - just looks at it - so i'd hardly call it leftovers hahaha
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
the carrots are fine if they are only given to the dragons, or only the bugs. it is the overlap feeding to both that can cause problems.

we give salads to the bugs every night, and what is left gets removed every morning. once a week the bug tub gets an entire clean out. in my mind, that helps spread out the cost of the salads because more critters are eating it. we haven't ever had an issue with smell once we stopped buying crickets, so they could be part of the smell problem you're having.

what type of containers are you housing your bugs in? we keep our roaches in one of these with a couple flats of egg crates, the salad dish, and water crystals. the only time the roaches get roach chow is on the days sir henry eats the entire salad and there is nothing left to give the roaches. i know a lot of people use 10 gallon aquariums though.
https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-L...5&sprefix=clear+30+gallon+tote,aps,235&sr=8-5
 

SenditJase

Member
Original Poster
the carrots are fine if they are only given to the dragons, or only the bugs. it is the overlap feeding to both that can cause problems.

we give salads to the bugs every night, and what is left gets removed every morning. once a week the bug tub gets an entire clean out. in my mind, that helps spread out the cost of the salads because more critters are eating it. we haven't ever had an issue with smell once we stopped buying crickets, so they could be part of the smell problem you're having.

what type of containers are you housing your bugs in? we keep our roaches in one of these with a couple flats of egg crates, the salad dish, and water crystals. the only time the roaches get roach chow is on the days sir henry eats the entire salad and there is nothing left to give the roaches. i know a lot of people use 10 gallon aquariums though.
https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Latching-Storage-Container-FG3Q2500CLMCB/dp/B002EGNTP6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1I2DFERXR90LX&keywords=clear+30+gallon+tote&qid=1678422675&sprefix=clear+30+gallon+tote,aps,235&sr=8-5

Yeah, well, because he won't touch the salad, it's only going to the insects.

The crickets I'm not even bothering trying to breed or grow in numbers - so they're still in the store bought little plastic containers.

I've got a colony of woodies I'm trying to start, currently in a bucket type thing. Came with ~300 from a store - I then bought a couple of large and smaller containers and dumped them in too with the egg cartons tilted vertically.

This is only to get it going - I've pretty much left the bucket alone since yesterday afternoon, with a piece of paper over the mesh (but enough that air can still get in and out) and have just left them. I put some veggie scraps in there last night - but they probably won't get anything else for about a week (apparently neglect is key to breeding).

The woodies I'm feeding the dragon are in another plastic store bought container that they come in.

I'm going to move them to a larger tote/tub in the next few weeks. Just waiting on fluon and some other supplies.
 

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,903
Messages
1,255,717
Members
75,967
Latest member
Newbeardiemom09
Top Bottom