size of crickets

[gadfly1]

OK seriously, everyone says dont feed crickets that are larger than the space between their eyes... WIDTH OR LENGTH of crickets? I went to the petstore to get more crickets I said I need baby small crickets and they gave me ones that definitely look too large. WTF do I do the store is closed and I cannot get back there until tomorrow night!!!!!!

 

[Kajolic]

Distance between eyes of your Beardie should be equal or greater than the size of the crickets body length.

1/2" between the Beardies eyes -> Feed only crickets no larger than 1/2" are ideal.

Granted you're not going to measure every cricket.
What I do is the distance between Dovah's eyes is roughly the size of my index finger, so if I feel a cricket it too large I will remove it from the feed tote and stick my finger in the cup and double check. If it's okay I replace it, if not, I put it out the window for the birds.

 

[gadfly1]

well he seemed like he was having a hard time eating them and he got overwhelmed which sucks but my husband chopped some of the crickets up and I made him a nice salad. He will go to bed soon and hopefully I can get to the pet store asap and yell at them and feed him lots. I have only had him two days and he was just getting used to my feeding routine.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kajolic]

Chopping them up isn't a good workaround to the size of the cricket. They have a hard time digesting the harder parts of larger crickets (not sure if that holds true to 2-3 week old crickets since they are not as developed.) Wouldn't worry about it too much, just wouldn't get into the habit of it. Don't be surprised if you note any undigested insect part or two, if you inspect their fecal like I do.

Thing with my pet shop is that they carry small and large crickets. For my ~5 month old beardie he eats 1/2-5/8" ... 3/4"+ would be too big, so when I had to buy them for on feeding from them, I requested them to give me the smallest of their large but still some large were bagged. Wasn't a big deal, but ~6 (If I remember right) out of the 30 were unusable. Even still, sometimes one might slip through my inspection prior to me placing him within his feeding tote and he beats me to catching it.

If you get smaller ones, in my most recent experience, I purchased 3 week old crickets online, they came roughly 1/4-3/8" in size, which were smaller than what I thought I was ordering (now I know). His first feeding, he downed way too many. Ended up vomiting them up, which was very frightening to discover undigested crickets and superworms in small piles and slug all over the Vivarium. I knew something wasn't right with him all day, but after that event he returned to normal health, but now I know they will allow themselves to eat more than they can digest. Which prior to that I had always read '10-15 minute eating session and allow to eat as much as they will accept' His eyes were way bigger than his stomach.
So I would moderate your Beardies intake, to a point, if they are under the normal size he would eat.

Thought, I would like someone to post to that regard before putting that into practice. I wouldn't want to suggest someone to under feed their Beardie.

 

[gadfly1]

I don't think they were too big but since its my third day I am still in the learning stage of what he wants and needs. Hes been very active and eats pretty well but when I went to feed him today he would go to grab a cricket and would miss like they were too fast for him, this morning and all yesterday he was great at catching the smaller ones. I don't think these were huge crickets just a size up from what he had the first day I bought them. I'm not too worried now that he shed before bedtime and he didn't seem too in the mood to eat. He is not interested in his salad at all but I hope he will become interested tomorrow while he waits for more crickets. If I have to feed him some more of the larger ones... again they aren't really huge but still... anything to watch out for besides puking? And as far as how much he eats... I plan to just let him go at it and eat what he wants... should I limit this or not? I am definitely feeding him more than they did at the store and his poops been regular so idk... there are so many estimates on how much a baby should eat... truly hes about 6 inches long head to tail.

Since I am new at this, what do you recommend for taming and holding him, I held him today and gave him a short bath bc he needed it and was starting to shed but thats about it I have not tried picking him up before that. Everyone says oh he needs a bath and oh this and that but then they say let him get used to his new environment. I have been home for two days studying and his tank is next to my desk so he watches me type and every now and then i open his tank and just put my hand in there. He lets me pet his back and tail without being frightened. Do you think its ok to try and hold him once a day now?


Thanks! Sorry for rambling.. its late here!!

 

[Kajolic]

Yeah It's pretty late here as well, and I actually just had a wall of text typed out for a reply, but I felt it was too jumbled in a rant and I couldn't even follow what I was trying to type since it's so late. That and I was going to reference my notes I had typed in Office, but my Windows drive crashed and apparently I had Office installed to that drive and not my storage drives... SO I still haven't reinstalled it and can't find my disc at this moment.

I'll just conclude with that I wouldn't worry about over feeding, not for your little guy. They can eat upwards to 50-60 small crickets a day, mind you that is spread throughout 3-4 sittings for a baby growing. For mine, he is 5 months, use to 1/2-5/8" crickets, and I bought 1/4-3/8" by accident and allowed him to eat about 20 more than normal (25-35 was about normal) in his one sitting. So if you keep him around what you have been feeding, maybe offering more to see how he responds, you'll be golden.

You're handling him fine, holding him is more than welcome by him, but don't over handle. Like a teenager dating (if he was a she) she needs her 'space' or 'alone time' :lol:
My little guy was raised by a very good breeder which took the time with every baby in holding them once a day, and from the day I got him he will pretty much jump into your hands. Only human action I've even seen him frighten over is me opening the Viv glass doors, but he's getting better, I announce my approach before hand to make him aware.
Don't be afraid to take him out of his Viv at lights out if he glass dances, assure he is able to gain warmth from your body if you do so. Mine loves to come out, but I limit him to no longer than 1 hour out of his cage, then I put him back under a cloth towel and off he goes to dream world.

Bathing, if I had my notes I would give a more definite answer, but from memory I believe bathing few times a week (2-3) and additional baths (1-2) to aid shed when shedding.
Elbow high water, warm water as if your were bathing a baby. 10-15 minutes, or if he wants out prior to.



Tomorrow I'll be able to install my replacement drive to reinstall windows on and reclaim my gaming drive to soak my free time away again, and reinstall Office to the proper drive and better respond with access to my notes, but I'm sure by then we'll have several replies to this thread once everyone wakes up!

 

[Paradon]

REad this: http://www.anapsid.org/vomiting.html I thought it was very interesting.

Vomiting/Regurgitation in Reptiles

©2000 Melissa Kaplan



Vomiting (regurgitation of ingesta in any state of decomposition) and fluids is not considered to be a common, relatively harmless occurrence in reptiles. When a reptile regurgitates, it is usually due to one of the following conditions:

too cold
too stressed
food/prey too large
food/prey spoiled
systemic infection
high levels of protozoans or parasites (such as the not-to-be-mistaken stench of vomitus due to Giardia)
disturbed (by humans, handling, other stressors) too soon after eating
obstruction in digestive tract (by torsion, swelling, foreign object, dystocia, impacted ingesta or fecal matter)
Vomitus may or may not smell bad. Carnivore regurge is going to smell worse than herbivore regurge, with omnivores somewhere in between depending on the the ingredients they've tossed. If the regurge was because of a parasite or intestinal infection, it will smell anywhere from "very strong" to "knocks you out of your socks when you walk in the front door".

Check the enclosure and room temperatures. If the enclosures or free-roaming areas have been allowed to get too cool (as during the change in seasons from fall to winter), or heating equipment has failed, or there was a temporary power outage when you weren't home, get the temperatures restored as quickly as possible (note: hypothermic reptiles need to be brought back up to basking temperature slowly so as to prevent cell destruction).

Since vomiting brings up the various digestive juices which can irritate the throat and mouth, it is important to give the reptile's upper gastrointestinal tract a rest of several days before trying to feed them again. You can administer oral fluids which will help wash the gastric fluids back down, soothe the GI tract a bit, and help rehydrate the reptile.

If the temperatures were not at fault, and the regurge wasn't because you decided to take your just-fed snake to school for show-and-tell day, or fed your lizard just before leaving on a bumpy 20 minute car ride to your friend's house, get your reptile to the reptile vet to be checked out. This is particularly true if there are any other signs of illness or stress.



A Note on Starved/Emaciated or Dehydrated Reptiles
If you force a starved or dehydrated reptile to eat, or to eat food that is too complex for its severely weakened digestive system to process, you will just make the reptile's overall health situation more severe...and the reptile may regurgitate rather than keep it down.

There are ways to properly rehydrate and feed dehydrated and starved reptiles to strengthen them and build them up to the point where they will be able to eat normal foods again. Please read the Fluids and Fluid Therapy in Reptiles for dehydrated reptiles; for emaciated reptiles, read the fluid article and the Emaciation (Starvation) Protocol article to find out how to safely reintroduce food.



A Note On Green Iguanas...
Green iguanas may regurge some water they recently drank, or greens or salad that didn't make it very far down their throat (you can sometimes see food in the back of their throat when they yawn or give you an open-mouth threat if they ate fast and peristalsis hasn't pulled it all down into the GI tract, making room for the most recent mouthfuls taken in. Regurging this close-to-the mouth food and water isn't a problem like regurging food or fluids that were swallowed much earlier. If the water was recently taken in, it will still be runny like water, thickened only slightly by some mucousy saliva. Recently swallowed food will come out looking pretty much like it did shortly before when sitting in the dish - each piece as distinct and colorful as it was when it went it, with a small amount of mucousy saliva laced in it.

If the green iguana regurges anything older, or what appears to be largely mucous rather than water laced with a bit of saliva, get the iguana to the reptile vet within 24 hours or sooner if there is any sign of rapid onset of illness (dramatic weight loss, sunken eyes, pale buccal tissues, diarrhea, lethargy, darkening skin color, behavioral changes, changes in daily routine, etc.)