Letting her decide when she's finished?

[Jamiedog]

So, after almost a week, Wave is eating pretty well, all things considered. She just ate 7 dubias, yay!

What I'm curious about is how long I should force her to stay in her feeding container. I know the general consensus is as much as she can eat in 10-15 minutes. But in her case, after about 5 minutes - sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less - she starts to scrabble at the sides to get out. I left her in there for an entire 10 minutes yesterday, but she didn't eat any more after that point, and continues to scratch and scrabble to come out.

Should I leave her in for the entire 10-15 minutes, try to teach her to eat a little bit more, or take her out when she's clearly trying to tell me she's done and wants to go off to digest and relax? She's done this every time I've taken her out to feed her. She's eaten up to 23 crickets, and up to 10 dubia, before doing this, so it's not like she's only eating one or two before the scrabbling starts (though that has happened, as well - since she's only been here a few days, she's been pretty inconsistent in what she wants to eat thus far).

Just trying to do what's best for her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[techdave]

If she's done at five minutes, there is very little you can do to get her too eat more. When it's clear that she's done, go ahead and bring her out.

 

[AstridsFam]

My little one does the same thing! So far she's only ate 12 at one feeding. When she's done she's done. Has Wave started eating veggies yet? Astrid only sniffs the good stuff then looks like "yeah right, sure you eat it, not me!"
Lol

 

[Jamiedog]

techdave: Okay, thanks - I'll assume that if she can get 23 down in one go, she'll be able to get herself full in that time. Or maybe she'll extend the time herself as she gets a little older/more comfortable. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing some irreparable harm to her by letting her have her way after such a short time.

AstridsFam: Good, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Wave will eat her greens when she thinks I'm not watching her - I'll notice her snatching from across the room, or come into the room and notice that, mysteriously, greens are scattered around on the floor, where they were in the bowl before... How very strange! :lol: So maybe Astrid is having at least a few bites when she doesn't think you're paying attention? Little ones can't admit they like salad, now can they? Completely ruins their image as big, brave hunters.

 

[Redleg]

Exactly what my Scarlett does. 5 minutes of chowing down on crickets and then she wants OUT back into her dominion (cage). Nothing to be done but to obey her.

 

[Jamiedog]

...Resistance is futile... :wink:

 

[Redleg]

Scary is still doing this, and she is growing like crazy, so no problem.

 

[Jamiedog]

Scary is still doing this, and she is growing like crazy, so no problem.

Wave is up to 10" at 3 months, so I think it's working out okay for us, too! :lol:

 

[JenFid]

Sarth did this when I was still feeding him crickets. He preferred eating in his cage, problem is then the crickets hid in everything I'd take his perch out to clean it and crickets would leap from places I didn't know existed!

I switched over to repti-worms and put them in a shallow dish and left it in his tank all day. This worked pretty well since he (used to be at least) the kind of eater of take a couple bites, go bask, come back 10 mins later and polish them off. Same idea with the dubias, they just need something slippery so they can't escape.

 

[Jamiedog]

I'll be doing that - the leave-them-in-all-day thing - when I start classes at the end of the month. So I'm glad to hear it helped with Sarth! Wave has started eating a lot more eagerly since I switched her over to worms, definitely - her record in a single feeding is 43 reptiworms (when she was staying at a friend's house, and should have gone off her food altogether from relocation stress! :lol: Has to be difficult...). She still loves dubias, but I've done away with the crickets. Nasty things.