Hand feeding

[dragonowner2598]

Is it OK to hand feed your beardie crickets and stuff?





THXS!!!! :!:

 

[NavyxWife]

Yep. I used to when he was a baby along with his kale... It helps them gain trust, I would say.
If you have cricket tongs, it makes it a lot easier. But if he doesn't want it, don't force him. Sometimes it takes a few tries for them to start eating out of your hand but eventually, they will.

 

[EShell]

I hand feed mine and often debate the wisdom. In the end, I think it helps with bonding and is good, but it can create some risk because they cannot always distinguish where the food stops and fingers start.

My "baby", an 18" juvenile male at 7-8 months, is extremely gentle. I have hand fed him from the beginning and now he just very lightly flicks his tongue to take roaches from my fingers. I also feed him veggies and fruit from my fingers, which can be harder to "grab" with his tongue. He occasionally gets frustrated and bites at the pieces of fruit and may get a pinch of finger by accident. If he does, it's not a hard bite and he immediately lets go, I reposition the tidbit, and we try again.

My second BD, a male rescue I got at 6 YO, was not well socialized, passed around some, and can be very hostile. He's just not used to being nice or cuddly, and one person I discussed him with suggested the use of leather gloves (I don't). It took a long time to gain his trust, and even at that, on his very best days, he figures I'm just not worth biting....not that he doesn't want to. Even though he hates me and everybody else, I handle him at least once a day and feed him by hand when he'll accept it. He finally associates me with food from being hand fed and has become much less defensive, so he'll take some items from me if they're tempting enough. He sometimes overshoots, and at a husky 19-1/2", he'll definitely tear skin. Needless to say, I am very careful with him and try to position my fingers in such a way as to have his jaws slide down my fingernails if he goes too far. A malicious bite from this guy could be pretty serious, and even a food-associated bite might leave a mark.

The third BD is a juvenile male, another adoption/rescue, and maybe 9-10 months. I may have created a monster with hand feeding him. He has not been well socialized either and was extremely fearful. He also acts as if he isn't used to eating regularly and frantically goes after food as if it's the last morsel he'll ever see. He has now lost his fear of my hands and will charge me at full speed if he thinks I am handing him something. I have to be extremely careful, because he is so exited, he will bite me trying to gobble whatever it is he's sure I have. At 15", he is getting big enough that his bite can tear tender skin, such as that at the root of the nail. Unless I really want to be bitten, I have to drop food in front of him until he gets about half full and calms down slightly, and only then will he take food from my fingers without trying to get my finger into his mouth up to the elbow. Just over excited and seemingly famished, even though he eats his fill every day at least twice. If I carelessly put my bare hand into his cage right now, I KNOW I would receive a good bite meant for a food item. He's still relatively new around here and he is quite spindly compared to my other two larger guys, so he may have been on one of those "pet store diets" of three crickets a week. I think he will calm down if/when he realizes he's not going to starve here and should learn to be gentle.

Finally, I have a female (?) 6" baby my niece got at a pet store which wouldn't eat for her. They have a very busy household and she has a very busy schedule, and they haven't been able to get on any kind of eating or handling schedule. I offered to try to get her eating and temporarily have her here with the rest of them. I started hand feeding her when she tried to bite me, LOL. As a result of not handling her regularly, she is quite shy and defensive. When I put my hand near her, she will puff up and gape at me, so I just pop a bug into her mouth, done deal. Every time she tried act tough, I just shoved something into her mouth and she ate it. She acted surprised for the longest time, but has now become used to eating from my hand and instead of automatically gaping defensively, she now examines the food item first to make sure it's something she likes. I think she will also learn to very gently take food at some point and will be fine to hand feed.

 

[Livey]

I would try not to hand feed babies , it becomes habit and they can often become lazy.
Mine are all over a year old and became lazy on there own so i have to hand feed,
It does gain you trust but can also make the super lazy , i would try to leave it off if you can...