why dont you hear about overweight beardies?

[zoiesmom]

I know this is probably a random question, but I've been wanting to get some really good, varied foods in my new beardie to make up for his previous limited, and infrequent menu, and it got me thinking.

You see lots of questions about underweight dragons, but I don't see many people saying their dragon is fat. Is it not really a problem that beardies face, or is it that its sort of expensive or inconvenient to make a chubby beardies?!

Just curious! :mrgreen:

 

[ShannyBeard]

We have a fat beardie...lol

 

[zoiesmom]

:mrgreen:

But is his size a problem? Like does anyone need to put their beardies on a diet?

I'm serious, btw. My 1 dog is overweight and its always an issue, trying to exercise him more, feed less, etc, and you hear about all the health problems it can cause. But in all my reading about beardies I haven't heard any admonitions on over feeding, except for too many wax worms aren't good because they're fatty...

 

[ShannyBeard]

I think you don't hear a lot about overfeeding because people don't feed enough. It's like people think reptiles can exist on pure air or something. People are pretty stupid.

Our 3 year old beardie is short - maybe 18" and over 750g. We barely feed her any protein, but of course she hates salad. So yes, she is on a diet, otherwise she would be even fatter. We only feed her protein a few times a week, and we give her salads but she won't eat them. We can tell that she is really hungry when she actually chases a cricket. Most of the time if it isn't in her bowl or handed to her, she won't even go after it.

 

[Jess]

... Probably because no one wants to admit their beardie is fat!

Dudley is a little chunker, but he also has a more compact build than the average beardie. He gains weight really easily too, so I'm really careful about what I feed him. He gets his veggies, which he eats nearly every day like a good boy. Every 2 days, he gets 3 - 4 superworms or roaches, or half a dozen crickets.

He is still pretty lazy, but feeding him this way keeps him hungry enough to eat his salad, and he is always enthusiastic about his feeders. I used to feed him a lot more bugs, but he refused to touch his salad and got extremely picky about feeders. So this schedule seems to be what works best for him.

 

[ShannyBeard]

Jess, what you feed Dudley is pretty much what we feed Beauty (our big Plop dragon lol). I feel so bad not feeding her more but we can tell she doesn't need it because she won't even leave her hammock to eat. Of course, if we hand her a worm she will happily eat it. :lol:

 

[zoiesmom]

I think you don't hear a lot about overfeeding because people don't feed enough. It's like people think reptiles can exist on pure air or something. People are pretty stupid.

I agree! That's what I was thinking, the cost or inconvenience of overfeeding would be too much. When we adopted our Craigslist beardie the guy who had him meant well, but he really believed that he only needed to be fed every few days, and crickets occasionally. He said he had gone 2 weeks without feeding him and he was fine!!! :shock: I think that the only reason he was alive is that when I emptied all the sand out of his cage and vacuumed everything really well, I found what looked like household roaches in there He was probably munching on those...

He's been a very good eater, and likes his veg and crickets, and LOVES the worms I just got for him. He's 4 years old, only 17 inches long, but he seems to have fattened up a tad since we've had him, almost 3 weeks. I'm wondering if he may grow some more now with better nutrition, or will he just get wider!!

 

[YBS0502]

Yellowbeard is on a diet she was 870 grams wich is almost 2 pounds she is now 823 wich might be all that she loses she will completly ignore veggies for bugs

 

[NightmareDisco]

I'll admit it. My girl Nemesis is a chubster. She is on a diet. She is 19.5" and 709g (down from 733g)

 

[theguns19726]

Im not to sure about being overweight, but we adopted both of ours off of CL. Its gotta be something in the simple minds that make ppl not want to give their beardies all they can eat. After a week of having both of them, I decided to weigh them up. At about 6to7 inches in length, my babys weigh 9.1 grams and 7.1 grams (as of 2 days ago). They have both started eating like crazy, so im happy in that aspect. I dont know that the weight they are at now is acceptable or not, but they are eating 7 to 9, 1/2 dubai roaches 2 times a day, still cant get them to eat any salad or fruits even though they have alternating days of fruits and veggies. I dust their roaches 3 days with calcium and D3 then a day of multivitamins, 2 days of calcium and another multivitamin day to round out the week.
Im really hoping to get some weight on their lil bodys, so someday I can say that we have 2 chubbsters running around the house.

 

[Claudiusx]

I'll admit it. My girl Nemesis is a chubster. She is on a diet. She is 19.5" and 709g (down from 733g)

What??

Nemesis a chubster?!?

NO WAI!! :mrgreen:

-Brandon

 

[NightmareDisco]

LOL^^

 

[zoiesmom]

Chubby beardies are adorable!!!
Hopefully i can fatten up my baby a bit....