Picky Dragon

[aegillesp]

So, Simon has been doing great! I think he has become a temperamental dragon though. This is why: He refuses to bask and likes being cold for whatever reason. He only poops once in 3-4 days,and he has been tested, and had an x-ray because he had a lump somewhere internally, but no worms and all is great. He is becoming a very picky eater and I want to make sure he is eating... He used to only go for crickets that got dusted with calcium and now he is barely eating them at all. Is there any other food source I can feed him OTHER THAN ROACHES that he can still get the proteins and other important things he needs?

Roaches are out of the question so please do not recommend them!

I was thinking Supers, and I know they are pricey, but I am willing to pay for it if it keeps him healthy and happy. If Supers are good but not good enough on their own, what other worms can be fed to him? Like Supers in the morning, and Phoenix worms at night maybe? He gets Wax worms as a treat and will probably die if I give him a bowl full....

Any suggestions would be welcomed as long as there is no roach recommendations!

 

[hiTimothy]

Try butterworms, silkworms and hornworms.
Butterworms can be a great staple, but waxworms are like candy bars for them and should generally be fed sparingly as a treat, since they are very high in fat

 

[hiTimothy]

Phoenixworms are great too and make sure your beardie is 16 inches or longer if you're going to feed him supers

 

[Sauzo]

Other than worms, you are kind of outta luck if you can't use roaches and he doesn't want crickets. He will eat though if he gets hungry enough. A beardie won't willingly starve himself to death unless of course he's sick or something is drastically wrong. I sometimes withhold dubias from Harley till she eats a few pieces of greens since she is spoiled and gets her way 90% of the time and that would come down to nothing but dubias all day long. :lol: Also sometimes beardies will slow down eating for no reason. It's normal. Harley sometimes will only eat 10-15 dubias in a day when her normal is 30-45 a day. It's like people, sometimes you are really hungry, other days you just aren't for no apparent reason. But like hitimothy said, you can try worms but also know that worms grow really fast so you kind of have to feed them fast or they could possibly outgrow your beardie or die, like phoenix worms do for me a lot since I don't want to buy a wine chiller just for worms which Harley doesn't even really like that much anymore. Anyways good luck.

 

[aegillesp]

For the past few months he has slowed down significantly in eating. I mean he would go from 20-30 crickets in a sitting and now he is down to 10-15 a day, if that. I have him on Supers and I changed out his greens. I think he is done growing at 21". He has been this length for about 2 months now. I will order some Phoenix worms and Supers. He LOVES hornworms, but they give him the nastiest runniest poos possible. Do I still need to dust the supers? He loves his calcium powder but not so much with crickets now...