Help - Switching Feeders

[KRayne]

Hi CooperDragon,
So I had a small success with her veggies the other day...Yay! I put a cricket in her food bowl and when she went to eat it she totally missed and snagged a mouthful of veggies that she promptly ate. But then she went back to hunting the cricket, or so I thought. When she was about to reach her tongue out for it she turned her head completely to the other side of the dish (the cricket hadn't moved) and took another big bite of veggies! After that she'd had enough and only ate crickets from the tongs. She also only ate five crickets that day and 1 in the five days previous. She doesn't appear to be losing weight so maybe she's just not hungry? Today and yesterday I made the same salad, but she wouldn't eat any. I noticed that although she doesn't like eating hard veggies she likes licking mushy fruit off my fingers Today I bought her some canned pumpkin and she licked about 1/2 tsp off the spoon Sadly, wouldn't touch it if it was on any other veggies. I'm worried she's not getting enough vitamins and was wondering if it would be okay to turn her salad into a thick baby food like mixture for her to eat/lick? She sure is a fussy eater

 

[CooperDragon]

It's good that she dug into the salad a little bit. It takes trial and error to find what they like. Different kinds of squash are usually soft enough to go over well. You can blend up the salad and offer it that way but I'd do that as a last resort. I fed Dundee that way but it was only because he wouldn't eat on his own at all. If her weight is fairly stable, I'd just keep offering different combinations of salad and try to train her to eat it that way.

 

[KRayne]

Okay. She seems to enjoy the pea sprouts so I will keep trying different salad combos with some in there. Thank you for all your help

 

[KRayne]

Hi CooperDragon,
I was wondering if my beardies weight is okay. She is 454g and 17 and 3/4 inches. The reason I'm wondering is because I haven't been feeding her everyday because she still won't eat any veggies. If she is under weight should I feed her more often even if it means her not learning to eat veggies? One last thing, I have to leave for 5 days and was wondering if she'd be okay without any crickets for that length of time.
Thanks so much for all your help.
KRayne

 

[CooperDragon]

Thats as big as either of my boys ever were. Pay more attention to the trends than the actual numbers. going away for a while is fine for an older dragon. Just provide fresh salads every few days and no big deal.

 

[KRayne]

Okay. Thank you so much for your help I read that if you can feel your beardies hips they are too skinny. Is this true? I can feel Lily's hips but can't see them.
Thank you again