Picky eater refusing crickets and other peasant food :)

[discojan]

hello all,

Our little girl Salsa has had quite a run with parasites, though last fecal was all clear. We've been giving her acidophiliz and doing all that we could to break her little hunger strike. The good news is that she absolutely loves worms--supers, silk, horn, butter--she likes them all. The bad news is that ever since a few months into her parasite battle, she refuses to eat crickets. She used to love them and dubia, and now she will accept neither. I know she sneaks some greens when we're not looking , but she doesn't eat as many of those as she used to either.

Any advice on coaxing her out out of her champagne lizard tastes? (Those horn and silk worms get kind of expensive). I've read a lot about how finicky/picky these dragons can be...Will she ever go back? Have other dragons gone off certain foods and then gone back to them?

Any advice and insight would be greatly appreciated. Best wishes, Jan

 

[Gail]

Often once they go off crickets they won't go back. Is she big enough for supers? They make a fine staple for bigger dragons.

 

[spurlee01]

My Lilly went off crickets for months and will every once in a while eat some, but it's rare. I would just let her have supers if she's old enough/ big enough. I think it's Incredipet down in Lexington that has a good super price. (PS... do you teach at UK?)

 

[beardie parents]

I think it depends on the dragon. Redrock would eat supers, horns and butters in the summer time, but come winter she wanted nothing to do with any of them, she'd only eat crickets and some greens and not much else. Her brumation was like she woke up about mid day then went back to sleep early, sometimes as early as 3pm.

Rosie discontinued her liking of crickets (not that she ever ate many of them) a few months after we got her when she saw Goldie eating a super we had left from when Redrock died. She wouldn't touch crickets after that, not that she ate a lot of them before that.

 

[discojan]

Thanks all for your input... Yes, Spurlee, I teach at UK, and yes Incredipet is awesome, though we've been ordering a lot of our insects online. Salsa is at 18 or 19inches and about 320 grams--small for a dragon her age (almost a year!), but she was hardly eating at all while she underwent treatment for parasites Sept-Feb!!! We're trying to fatten her up and get her to reach maturity, but she's picky, picky.
photos of our munchkins available here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ridolfo/5216666256/in/set-72157625363947167/

and http://www.fernheimer.org/?page_id=2

I thought Supers had a too much chitin to be a good staple. They certainly are cheap enough, but I worry about her tummy. I fed her some on Fri and she hasn't pooped yet....

She LOVEs silks and especially the giant hornworms--and we ordered some which should arrive Mon, but they're kind of pricey for all the time. Thankfully our big girl still eats the crickets, though she may need to go on a diet soon!

 

[spurlee01]

They CAN be a staple and are for my girl, but there's some debate about at what age they should be a staple. They can safely be fed at 16", but that doesn't necessarily mean they should be a staple for dragons that size. I know several people are recommending they not become a staple until a dragon is 18 months because younger dragons need more food and supers are kind of fatty so it's best to not feed that many. Will she eat roaches?
http://thebugpros.com/ is the site where I got my roaches, they are not dubia but are a safe, healthy roach that is MUCH cheaper than dubia.
My boyfriend is a senior at UK (dietetics).

 

[lauraj1055]

www.mulberryfarms.com sells 4 different sizes of supers, micro, small, medium and large. So you can feed a dragon smaller than 16" supers, just use the small ones. I get the small ones for my 6 month old and he gobbles them right up, can eat about 40 - 50 in a sitting.. they are cheap too. 1,000 will last me over a month because mulberry always sends extra...