Hand feeding

[Mr.Monster]

Our beardie is about 2 and he refuses to eat unless he's hand feed or from the tongs, he doesn't have the best diet because I don't have time to hand feed each piece of lettuce or fruit. I'm loosing patience.

 

[KarrieRee]

Our beardie is about 2 and he refuses to eat unless he's hand feed or from the tongs, he doesn't have the best diet because I don't have time to hand feed each piece of lettuce or fruit. I'm loosing patience.

What is he eating for insects? Lettuce? Like ice berg? He should be eating fruit sparingly - occasionally-- Is your surface basking temps being taken w/ a digital probe thermometer? Your UVB is a coil?

 

[Nikki.D]

Our beardie is about 2 and he refuses to eat unless he's hand feed or from the tongs, he doesn't have the best diet because I don't have time to hand feed each piece of lettuce or fruit. I'm loosing patience.

Is your beardie’s food bowl on the hot side? As beardies prefer to have it near them as they love to bask. You could also try to give your beardie a range of greens and vegetables. Maybe you can try these things to get him eating on his own (displayed in the first photo).

 

[Chris.]

You do not want to feed lettuce as it contains almost no nutrients and is mainly made of water!
How are his overall activity levels? If he is also not moving much there could be a deeper problem.
If he's fine otherwise, try just not hand feeding him. When he's hungry enough he will eat on his own. Too much hand feeding could just make him lazy....
Btw a full grown dagon can go well over a week without eating. You'll want to get a weight on him regularly though.