Several questions

[Blitzjg]

1. Do they poop after every meal?
2. How long after eating?
3. And do you need to wait to handle them before or after feeding?
4. What are the concerns with feeding in their home versus a separate container?
5. Is there a reason to hand feed or to avoid it? (like will they become conditioned to think your hand = feeding time, and consequently be less prone to handling?)
6. I work normally from 9-6pm, Saturday from 7-6 pm. Can I feed a baby appropriately around this schedule? 2 meals a day, or 1 big one and 2 small in the eve?

 

[zandi202]

1. As babies, they should poo every day, but as they get older and become adults they're more likely to poo every couple of days.

2. How long after eating do they poo? Each beardie is different as is every day. Sometimes mine will poo before eating, in the afternoon, or even in the evening. All depends on your baby.

3. You should let them basking 1 hour before eating and bask for 2 hours after eating.

4. In home you typically have to take out all of the decor so the crickets won't hide in there and then you have to get any left over crickets out which can be a pain, especially the larger crickets.

5. I don't recommend hand feeding because it can lead to the beardie thinking hand = food and every time you put your hand in they'll bit it thinking there's food. I don't see the harm in doing it every now and again with a treat, but only then. Also, it can make them become lazy. Why chase the food when it can be hand delivered.

6. A baby should be fed 3x a day, you might be able to get away with two a day and leave greens in the cage all day for them to munch on. You could also try getting phoenix worms or dubia nymphs and leaving them in a dish all day so your beardie will have live feeders to munch on which should help. Just take a little time to let your beardie know they can find the food in a dish. I would bring Jace and Zy over to the dish and then they managed to work it out on their own after a few days.

 

[jerichosmom]

Good questions! It's so great to see new owners doing their homework!

I agree with zandi on all points! Occasionally I hand feed my boys some greens, but the bugs they have to chase down. We have the super long tweezers which work well for getting crickets out of the bin and into a cup for dusting, and they're handy for catching left overs in the viv. I am the "cricket ninja" lol. I would def get yourself a pair of those tweezers if you don't like handling the bugs.