Who's training who?

[DawnsNova]

As you may have read in some of my other posts, until I get the correct lighting on Monday, Chevelle's only means of UVB has been daily sunbathing outside for an hour or two. In an effort to get her to eat enough, I have been hand feeding her. She has shown absolutely no interest in chasing anything down in her tank. When I feed the crickets, I pinch the bag legs off. If I accidentally drop one while feeding her, it can crawl right in front of her, even over her foot, and she won't grab it, or even move around to see it better, yet she'll take the next bug I offer.

Is this a juvenile thing, or because she's not getting enough UVB to be as active as she should be, or have I got her trained, rather, has she trained me to baby her too much??? I certainly don't mind hand feeding her,there are definite advantages as far as being able to monitor exactly how much she eats and I'd imagine it is helping us bond and trust eachother.

So, what should I do in this situation? I feed her three times a day, and she'll usually only take 4 or 5 a meal, when she is finished, she'll close her eyes and turn her head away from my hand like a dainty little lady. lol I have fresh, minced greens and veggies in there for her every day, but she won't touch them, but I have been able to sneak in a piece of cooked squash every now and then. From reading this board, it seems like, at three months old, she should be eating at least 15 a meal. I don't have a gram scale, but she doesn't look thin, and has normal bm's every day. What I thought was to keep on babying her, then intall the new lighting and see if it brings out her hunting instincts. Does that sound right?

 

[LadyMeridius]

Mine does the close her eyes and snub thing too! They are easy to spoil. Im pretty sure mine likes to watch me beg. Ive even played "here comes the airplane" with the food -_-* Mine is also a finicky eater and would eat minimally. I changed her UVB light brand and her diet, and she's a different lizard. She loves hornworms, yellow squash, and blueberries best currently.

 

[DawnsNova]

Thanks so much for the reply. I do love the "wave me off, I am done now" maneuver, it's a riot. I really need to get a picture of her face when she does that.
May I ask what lighting your baby had, and which one you switched to? As I mentioned, I had the infamous coil light, but her ReptiSun will be here tomorrow. After you changed the lighting, does your's hunt now? If so, how eagerly? How exactly do you feed, just let the crickets go? How many gets eaten at one sitting, and how many times do you feed? I was very concerned when I saw posts that said other dragons her age were eating over 30 crickets a day. I am lucky to get in a dozen although she doesn't look thin or have wrinkles. Just in case one gets away, I do pinch the legs off prior to offering them to her, I put one of those black one open ended cricket tubes, and they all end up in there. So far, Miss Dainty can't be bothered to reach down to grab escapees, I have to wiggle them right in front of her. Chevelle's Breeder sent me a message with a lot of useful information. I discovered that I was apparently mincing the greens and veggies too small. I ripped up the greens, rather than cut them into tiny bits, and she actually took two pieces of mustard greens and one piece of cooked butternut squash. That was encouraging.
Thanks again for the reply. I hope to be able to post mine is a "different lizard" very soon!

 

[LadyMeridius]

I had two reptiglo 26w 5.0 coils. I never actually had a problem with them, like most people do. never an eye issue, never lethargic. I switched to the reptisun tube because Im in the middle of building a new tank and the hood for the coils will no longer be necessary.

At the same time, I switched to hornworms from superworms and she goes nuts for them. My husband will tease her by waving the pod in front of the glass. Her eyes light up and she tries to eat them. She is very good at tracking and snatching them from the tongs.

So I can't say those I had were BAD for her, but the new lights seem to give her that boost. I may have had the right set up for them to not cause issues. I had the hood from exo terra meant for them, so maybe that helped?