If you hand feed them, regardless of the reason behind it, they tend to get spoiled rotten very quickly! LOL It doesn't take the little monsters long at all to learn how to train "Mommy" or "Daddy" to do exactly what they want us to do, if you allow it! And I am not kidding.....they are definitely intelligent enough to figure out how to get their own way.
One of my three was very sick when he was a juvenile, and I had to force feed him, by hand, for about a month in order to get any nourishment into him at all.
He dropped so much weight from his illness that I nearly lost him. After about six weeks, he began to eat again, on his own, but only when I hand fed him. This went on for months....if I didn't sit and hand feed him everything, he refused to eat.
Finally, one of the breeders on the forum clued me in as to why this was happening....the little stinker had figured out that if he refused to eat, "Mommy" would give him lots more attention.... and his advice was "stop hand feeding him", even if he wouldn't eat anything at all. He said that, while the hand feeding was necessary when he was sick, he wasn't sick anymore, and the little stinker was using my fear about his getting sick again to get me to do exactly what he wanted me to do, and it was working! :whip: :whip: :lol:
Chris explained that, contrary to what I feared, Charlie was now healthy, and a healthy beardie WILL NOT starve themselves to death. If I refused to hand feed him, and I didn't cave in and start it gain, eventually he WOULD eat. I think that out-stubborning him was the hardest thing that I ever had to do, but it was what was best for him. It took a good three weeks of his pouting and black-bearding me, but eventually he did eat on his own and he still does, although I do hand feed him occasionally, but I do it when I want to, not because he demands it!
Just an example of how intelligent these little guys are, and what little tyrants they can be, if you allow it! LOL
