my baby beardie ate 64 crickets today!

[sheri85]

Archer is only about 8 inches long, and in the last few days he's really been eating his small crickets. (i've been counting).

so this week we had an issue with lighting. he didn't eat at all on monday. Tuesday i replaced the coil light with the tube uvb. he ate 4 crickets. wednesday he ate 11. Thursday: 28, Friday: 48, today: 64. (note: i feed him twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. these totals include all crickets eaten at both meal times).

i let him eat as much as he wants in the 10 minutes or so, and i stop dropping crickets in when he's done eating, but is this increase in appetite normal? i read that many dragons his size will eat 20-30 crickets per day, but he's now eating twice that. he's alert, and after basking for an hour he dances at his glass for me to take him out. he ran around earlier today, so maybe he's just growing. i just don't want to over feed him, if that's possible.

 

[dylanravenj]

That's normal for a baby to eat that much. In fact, it's not uncommon for babies to eat around 100 in one day! Bearded dragons grow very fast and so they need to eat a lot as babies.

 

[sheri85]

That's normal for a baby to eat that much. In fact, it's not uncommon for babies to eat around 100 in one day! Bearded dragons grow very fast and so they need to eat a lot as babies.

thanks so much! i'm glad he's found his appetite. i will just have to make more frequent trips to the pet store lol.

 

[Jamiedog]

Archer is finally showing his true - gluttonous - colors! And in the land of beardie-babies, this is a good thing!

 

[sheri85]

Archer is finally showing his true - gluttonous - colors! And in the land of beardie-babies, this is a good thing!

so i'm learning. it's definitely a relief, given how before he was barely eating. my boyfriend almost didn't believe me when i told him how much he ate today, except he knows i sit in front of the tank marking a tally for each cricket lol.

 

[Jamiedog]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who counts every day! :lol:

 

[sheri85]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who counts every day! :lol:

ha me too! my boyfriend was laughing at me for tallying up what Archer eats, but it's not like my cat where i can just check the bowl. lol

 

[Sashee]

I'm so glad Yoshi eats his greens now! He doesn't go thru nearly as many crix. Where do you get yours? I HIGHLY recommend www.reptilefood.com for ordering in bulk. I've ordered from other places but this place had the least amount that arrived DOA. I had MAYBE 5-8 that arrived dead.

 

[sheri85]

I'm so glad Yoshi eats his greens now! He doesn't go thru nearly as many crix. Where do you get yours? I HIGHLY recommend http://www.reptilefood.com for ordering in bulk. I've ordered from other places but this place had the least amount that arrived DOA. I had MAYBE 5-8 that arrived dead.

i'm still not able to get Archer to eat his greens. he looks at them like "wtf." my turtle is the same way about veggies, so now i have two reptiles who are brats lol. i get the crickets from Pet Supplies Plus because they're cheaper than petco or petsmart (unless i run out and i have to go to petsmart because that's much closer, but it's almost twice as much as Pet Supplies). i wish i had better local pet stores.

i looked at reptile food's site--what size are those crickets? Archer is still eating small ones.

 

[Sashee]

You can choose what size you get. When you add it to your cart, they have severeal choices in a drop-down menu. I actually got a size too small for Yoshi so he's eating more than normal. LOL

 

[sheri85]

thanks a lot!

 

[Prouddragonmama]

I would put 2 worms in hunters salad "buggy salad" and that's how I got him to eat his however it creates a habit he runs over to his non buggy salad and says no thank you! Add a micro super and he'l eat! Go figure!!!