Salad & Changing Diet Advice

[YodasMomma]

Okay, so Yoda has never been to keen on eating salad, ever since he was a baby. I was forced to, at the advice of a vet, feed him baby food for his green needs. As he has gotten bigger (he's about 13.5 inches now), I am now forcing the fresh greens issue. I know as they get older they are supposed to eat more greens than protein, but I am not sure exactly how much to taper off the crickets/worms. He is used to eating about 20-25 crickets a day in addition to a little baby food (usually squash or carrots). I know I have read care sheets where they will eat up to 50-80 crickets a day, but he has never seemed to want that many.

Last night, he FINALLY ate fresh salad for the first time. I had mixed mustard greens with yellow squash and a strawberry. I added the strawberry to entice/trick him into eating it and he loves squash so I figured that might help him eat it. Interestingly enough, when he finally DID eat, he picked out all the greens and left the strawberries and squash.

I have always dusted his crickets with Calcium + D3 5-7 days a week and the Multivitamin 2 days per week. I do skip a day of calcium if I notice his irate appears a tad hard. If I am tapering off crickets, how often should I feed them to him? Do I still feed them every day and just feed fewer? And do I need to dust his salad with any powders? Any help in how to transition his diet, including amounts to feed would be MUCH appreciated!

 

[CooperDragon]

The transition can be tough in some cases and is usually gradual (over several months). I would continue to provide a salad (it's great that he dug into it last night!) daily. Perhaps try offering a nice big salad in the morning and then feed bugs in the evening a couple of hours before lights out (depending on what your schedule allows). For now, I'd keep offering bugs once a day, sticking to the 10 minutes all he wants rule. You can eventually switch to every other day or so but it depends on how much salad he winds up eating. You'll (eventually) want the salad to make up about 80% of his diet with bugs making up the other 20% (roughly). The mustard greens and squash are a good option to offer him. I reference this list for other options as well. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[YodasMomma]

Great, thanks for the helpful info! By about what age should he be at the 80/20 ratio? Also, as he continues to transition to the 80/20 should he get to where he only eats bugs like 2-3 days per week?

 

[CooperDragon]

It all depends on the individual. In general they usually transition between 12-18mo old or so. The bug frequency also kind of depends on his appetite. If he's eating a ton of salad then offer bugs more frequently to supplement the 20%. If he's light on the salads, space out the bugs a little more both to encourage more salad eating, and to keep the bug to salad ratio in check. These aren't hard and fast rules, more guidelines. Generally speaking they just turn into the more vegetarian side of omnivore than the carnivore side as they become adults and don't need as much protein to support massive growth spurts. A balanced diet is the key so go with as much variety as you can.

 

[YodasMomma]

Awesome! And again, thanks for the info!