How big was/is your 8 month old beardie?

[AHBD]

That's a good habit that your beardie developed on his own and it should be encouraged.

The thing about babies, contrary to the new " findings " is they especially need a decent amount of food when they are in that vulnerable stage between hatching and about 2-3 months. They need tiny insects after hatching, not a ton like some people think but more than 4 or 5 . Then of course the insect size is increased as the baby grows but the number of insects decreases as they hit the 4-5 month age. You really do want to feed them more greens even then. Adults can do with 3 5 or so bugs a day if they want but should be eating greens.

 

[J4ckdaw-]

If my beardies are hungry they will have food. Period. I don't over feed but I do keep a salad for them the entire time lights are on. I offer insects daily. Some days they eat them, some days they don't. I don't try to encourage them to eat insects, and I don't leave them all day like the salads, but I do offer them every day. In my opinion when you see a full grown beardie going crazy for food, it's because they are friggen hungry, if they are that hungry then they aren't being fed enough. I'm not saying to gorge your beardies into obesity. But for christ sake feed them enough to NOT BE HUNGRY all the time.
I grew up dirt floor poor, and I spent a lot of time being hungry, I know first hand how that feels, I'll de damned if I'll do that to my pets. I don't give two rips what some doctor says.

I wholeheartedly agree, it’s cruel to let any animal go to bed hungry. As long as they don’t become obese, they should honestly be fine. But, if your beardie does have a small appetite AND that low appetite isn’t cause for concern I see no issue with feeding 5+ crickets to a baby. But I’m not disrespecting anyone’s opinions, to each their own.

 

[AHBD]

Yeah the problem comes when people start making it the norm to only give a growing baby 3-5 insects a day. That's not a balanced feeding for a baby, not enough protein.

 

[SkittlesK]

456 Grams
1 Yr 2 mos.
He's not lost much since the start of his Hibernation cycle.

I think that's fairly normal
For him at that age.

 

[xp29]

I wholeheartedly agree, it’s cruel to let any animal go to bed hungry. As long as they don’t become obese, they should honestly be fine. But, if your beardie does have a small appetite AND that low appetite isn’t cause for concern I see no issue with feeding 5+ crickets to a baby. But I’m not disrespecting anyone’s opinions, to each their own.

Honestly if a baby has low appetite or no appetite something is off. It's either stressed, sick, or the setup is wrong. Either way the problem needs to be identified and corrected. They can grow as fast as they do because it gives an advantage, in the wild babies are easy prey, the faster they can grow the more likely they will reach maturity and procreate.