Finicky eater

[ScooterRenee2022]

My beardie is really giving me a hard time eating and refuses to eat till I give him what he wants. First he wanted crickets and mealworms. I added wax worms so i could mix it up. He would get a treat that consisted of a hornworm or dubia once in a while. He used to be happy with that. Then little by little that changed. He started refusing to eat the crickets. So then I had waxworms and mealworm. I went and bought phoenix worms and tried the. He ate them for a couple days then I saw that he was leaving them in the bowl. He even went as far as separating them himself from the wax worm That were in the bowl. He has his salad but is even picky with that. I have given him all kinds of veggies and again he will eat them for one to two days then stop. He likes turnip greens. Why am I having such a hard time with him?

 

[xp29]

My beardie is really giving me a hard time eating and refuses to eat till I give him what he wants. First he wanted crickets and mealworms. I added wax worms so i could mix it up. He would get a treat that consisted of a hornworm or dubia once in a while. He used to be happy with that. Then little by little that changed. He started refusing to eat the crickets. So then I had waxworms and mealworm. I went and bought phoenix worms and tried the. He ate them for a couple days then I saw that he was leaving them in the bowl. He even went as far as separating them himself from the wax worm That were in the bowl. He has his salad but is even picky with that. I have given him all kinds of veggies and again he will eat them for one to two days then stop. He likes turnip greens. Why am I having such a hard time with him?

Because he is a bearded dragon lol. You pretty much described every beardie alive. We all go through it, you just have to be persistent.

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

So should I keep trying to give him what I’m giving him and leave it in his tank till he eats it or should I take it out and try giving it to him at another time

 

[xp29]

So should I keep trying to give him what I’m giving him and leave it in his tank till he eats it or should I take it out and try giving it to him at another time

I leave salad all day. I hand feed Ruby because she won't eat from a bowl. I try her in the morning, if she doesn't eat I try again in the evening. Sinatra I hand feed on the morning, if he don't eat I leave a few bugs, he may or may not eat them. Zsa Zsa I feed in a bowl twice per day, she eats with no problems, she only gets hand fed treats.
My adults I don't encourage to eat bugs, I offer every day, but I don't fret if they don't eat. Adults don't need protein every day. My baby eats very well so no fretting there either.
Ruby will eat a variety most times, Zsa Zsa will eat anything that moves, Sinatra is hard it's nearly impossible to get him to eat anything but hornworms.

 

[Chris.]

I agree. Be carefull with feeding waxworms, I've heard of dragons (mine also) that will stop eating everything else if fed those.

I'd say it also depends on the age of the dragon.
With my adult boy I'll play the "if you won't eat what I serve, you ain't hungry" game. Depending on if he eats his greens (or flowers, that I feed a lot) he gets bugs twice or once a week. They are smart, they recognize things like this. Sometimes he only eats his salads on days he is supposed to get bugs because he knows he won't get them otherwise.

With my girl it's a little bit different as she is only three months old. She will also play her favorites (she likes mealworms and locusts) but since I'm breeding my own dubias, I want her to primarily eat those. She's still small so it is very important for her to eat so she continuous growing. That's the reason that even if she refuses to eat dubias I will still give her what she wants but maybe in a little less quantity. Usually that does trick after a couple of days because again they recognize things like this....And if they are young, they are aaalways hungry even if they pretend not to be so we feed them treats

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

Then how many dubia do you feed yours? My male Rex is 19 1/2 inches im not sure on age. I got him at a pet store. He was the largest in the terrarium. They told me they typically get them at around 2 to 3 months. They must have had him for some time because he was double the size of the others. He likes wax worms, mealworm, dubia s and loves hornworms. I get nervous with hornworms because they get large. He ate one the other day that was a little more than 2 inches but he doesn’t seem to have a hard time. With dubia I always give him one or 2 with his waxworms. But how many should I give him if I wanted to give him just dubias? Because he loves them too. How did you get started with breeding dubia? Where do you get dubia roaches. Where you can get females and males. Because you can’t get the both sexes at a pet store. They don’t sell them like that and they don’t do that online either. I have checked multiple sites and called them and they just don’t do that. They don’t want you to be able to breed them.

 

[Chris.]

Personally I always look at the space between their eyes and use insects that are pretty much exactly that size. I give them three to four per serving. Obviously if the insects are smaller, they get a little bit more.

For my male for example that would be adult dubia roaches and probably closer to five as even they are smaller than his head. The girl gets the nymphs. She is also finally big enough that I can feed her outside of her tank and let the Roaches run freely in front of her. If she continues hunting the fourth one very furiously I'll give her a fifth one. They are both gaining good weight but still have enough appetite left to eat their salad.

At over 19 inches it would probably be appropriate to feed him around four to five times a week. At that size he's probably closer to 7-9 months (just my guess).

As for breeding Dubias, that is really simple. You would just buy like 50 or 100 pieces and usually they will be both genders even if not labeled so. They should start breeding by themselves as long as you keep them warm and cozy. Put them in a plastic box with egg crates and feed them salad daily. If your room gets cold you can put a cheap heat mat at one side of the box.
The males will be the ones with the big wings and the females will have basically no or really small wings. They don't lay eggs, so you want to use a different bin for the ones you'll feed to your dragon so you don't accidentally feed pregnant females.

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

Personally I always look at the space between their eyes and use insects that are pretty much exactly that size. I give them three to four per serving. Obviously if the insects are smaller, they get a little bit more.

For my male for example that would be adult dubia roaches and probably closer to five as even they are smaller than his head. The girl gets the nymphs. She is also finally big enough that I can feed her outside of her tank and let the Roaches run freely in front of her. If she continues hunting the fourth one very furiously I'll give her a fifth one. They are both gaining good weight but still have enough appetite left to eat their salad.

At over 19 inches it would probably be appropriate to feed him around four to five times a week. At that size he's probably closer to 7-9 months (just my guess).

As for breeding Dubias, that is really simple. You would just buy like 50 or 100 pieces and usually they will be both genders even if not labeled so. They should start breeding by themselves as long as you keep them warm and cozy. Put them in a plastic box with egg crates and feed them salad daily. If your room gets cold you can put a cheap heat mat at one side of the box.
The males will be the ones with the big wings and the females will have basically no or really small wings. They don't lay eggs, so you want to use a different bin for the ones you'll feed to your dragon so you don't accidentally feed pregnant females.

The problem is where do you purchase dubias from that will give you fertile male and females? The pet stores like Petsmart and Petco sell you infertile insects. This is from asking and I have bou insects from them and have tried to no success. As far as hornworms is it the width or the length. Because like I was saying I have given him hornworms that are the width of his head with success no matter how long they are he loves them. Is that ok because it doesnt seem to matter as long as the width of them fits between his head. Is that ok?

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

oh and how many male to female ratio do I need to get started?

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

He also likes when I mix his food up which is what confuses me because I don’t know what to do when that happens

 

[Chris.]

You should get them online, they are usually not infertile it just takes some time (like a month or two).
Maybe the us guys can advise a better place but I've heard good things about this: The #1 Source for Live Pet Food | Dubia.com

Lenght doesn't really matter for the most part. As mentioned, I breed and feed Dubias but every couple of weeks I'll buy something to mix it up, like mealworms/superworms or locusts (crickets if you can't get locusts).

1 male to 5 females would be perfect, you can just feed off the males that are too much. The males will fight if you have too many, look for bitemarks on the wings.

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

When you are feeding him dubias 4 or 5 times a week should you feed him something else on the other days or should it only be his veggies on the other days? I’m sorry I am asking a lot of questions but with his feedings I am all confused.

 

[Chris.]

No, when we are talking about feeding we are referring to bugs. Salads should be offered every day regardless of it also being a "bug day" or not.
So 4 -5 times a week bugs. Just watch his weight and lenght, if he isn't getting longer anymore, you can even drop it down to the adult diet (bugs once or twice a week).

Do you have a recent picture of him?

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

No, when we are talking about feeding we are referring to bugs. Salads should be offered every day regardless of it also being a "bug day" or not.
So 4 -5 times a week bugs. Just watch his weight and lenght, if he isn't getting longer anymore, you can even drop it down to the adult diet (bugs once or twice a week).

Do you have a recent picture of him?

 

[ScooterRenee2022]

This is his most recent pic and he hasn’t really grown much maybe a half in in about month and a half maybe two months. He does eat his salad everyday but he likes his staple too. I feel like I’m not giving him enough or he isn’t eating enough. He poops every other day. Not everyday like I thought he would have to. He also eats his salad only once a day then he basks for a while then goes to his shady spot. I told you he is really his own person. He picked this way of doing things and believe me does not want to change what he does I have even tried taking out something and tried to change it up for him and he kept pacing and pacing all over his tank. He started trying to jump up and down all over his tank like he was trying to get out. He was ripping up his carpet substrate. He went crazy. I had to put his tree back in and take his log out. Everything I try to buy him to change up his tank I have had to remove and leave the tank the way it has been since i first got him. He even tried eating the vine I bought him. He started pulling it apart. So he is only happy when i keep him on the same regiment and I don’t change anything. This is what I go through with him. And I have no choice but to do things a certain way. He really makes me angry at times. But I do love him.