Will No Longer Eat Crickets

[jomeigs]

My 8 month old, Rex, has not been eating crickets for about a month( Ithink) now. He was a massive eater of crickets. He now closes his eyes if he sees a cricket...like, "I don't see any crickets...do you?" He is being so stubborn. He eats supers with no problem. Has been turned off by reptiworms lately also. He does eat some of his salad. Should I just keep trying the crickets and offer no supers? I hate to see him not eat. I keep getting mixed reviews on feeding him supers as a staple. I will not do roaches!

Thanks for any advice!

Joyce

 

[JenFid]

From what I understand supers are fine to feed as a staple. Being 8 months old I'd think your dragon is big enough (16") handle them fine. Even if he's not you can still get small supers. Besides crickets, repti/phoenix worms, roaches, and supers, I don't think there are a lot of other options for staple feeders.

 

[catUK]

Mine did exactly the same at 8 months- completely went off crickets and hasn't touched them since- put it down to her entering adulthood. she also turned stopped eating calci worms. I tried to keep feeding her crickets but no luck. She is now nearly 1 and i feed her locusts (hoppers) and morio worms (think they're the same as supers). I also mix it up with the variety of silkworms and butterworms as treats. She is not eating a great deal and beginning to turn her nose up at the locusts too- think there's no winning with beardies :roll: . You could try not feeding supers for a few days- if he's really hungry he'll eat the crickets. Sorry i cant be of more help, hope it turns out well

 

[lauraj1055]

Supers are fine as a staple... I try to mix it up a bit with supers (mainly) some butters, Phoenix worms, and I just ordered silkworms for the first time. I also feed hornworms, but they are so expensive...

My 10 month old is going through a no eating phase too. He ate 14 supers on Thursday last week, and hasn't touched them since. I read all the time on here about beardies stopping eating for awhile, so I stop panicking all the time now.. They definately do make you nervous though!

 

[jomeigs]

Thank you to all. After reading through some of the posts, I do see that a lot of beardies go through this. I rasied this question at the latest reptile and my daughter heard one answer she didn't like and is now afraid. This person said that beardies don't live as long if fed supers as a staple. So I need to reassure her and myself that we can feed him supers. I do have another dragon in the house, so I have crickets on hand and will keep on trying. Although, I would rather and hope the hear, that supers are okay. As I hate the crickets!

 

[lauraj1055]

Also, I know so many people feed crickets as a staple, but as a known fact, if you feed crickets, you are going to have a beardie with pinworms. Crickets carry pinworms, no matter where you buy them from. With using supers as a staple, I never have to worry about that and both my beardies fecals came back with no pinworm parasites.. Even though one did have a slightly higher count of Coccidia which we have since cleared up.

Also, my breeder who has been breeding dragons for a very long time... also users supers as a staple.. her oldest beardie is 11 years old :wink:

 

[jomeigs]

Also, I know so many people feed crickets as a staple, but as a known fact, if you feed crickets, you are going to have a beardie with pinworms. Crickets carry pinworms, no matter where you buy them from. With using supers as a staple, I never have to worry about that and both my beardies fecals came back with no pinworm parasites.. Even though one did have a slightly higher count of Coccidia which we have since cleared up.

Also, my breeder who has been breeding dragons for a very long time... also users supers as a staple.. her oldest beardie is 11 years old :wink:

Thanks for the info! People will always have different opinions on what is good and not good. I guess it will depend on each individual animal. I have birds and are fed fresh fruit and veggies along with some seeds. I was told an all seed diet was bad. Well before I knew this I fed my Amazon an all seed diet, gets french fries( his fav) and a very rare occasional M&M(He loves these) all no nos. Well this still is his diet, he won't change. I have now had him for 27 years and he is still doing great. But I still want to do what is best for my critters.