Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, My breaded about 8 weeks old now, hes seems to be doing good, just finshed shedding!! but i have a ? if anyone could help, Right now im feeding him about 4 crickets two times a day( dusting them every other day
) and offering new fresh vegs every other day, and some meal worms couple of times a week, but he always still seems hungry after i give him crickets. I gave him 9 Crickets in one sitting like last week and he got them down no problem within like 3 min. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas or feeding ideas i could use for him bc im not sure if im underfeeding.
Also, I was thinking about giveing him 3 meal worms mixed in his vegs every other day when i change them to get him more intersted in them, is that a good idea?

Thanks for ur time!

I forgot to ask, also at about handling at first he was fine, and would sit in my hand no problem but like the past week, he is all jumpie and not wanting to be handle, does anyone have anyideas to help me calm him down?

ONce again thanks For ur time

I belive it is possible to over feed them, I think mine would eat till he poped(or atlest became impacted) after large meals he sleeps for a while(sleeping on my chest now). I find it very hard to get him to eat greens or even premade food. I gave him a canned grasshoper with monster dragon pellets along with another brand. All he did was eat the hopper and scatter everything else, I even told him he needs to eat them and all he did was look at the pellets(to my suppize)!
As for your dragon being very active and not wishing to be held, I have heard alot of people say that they go though that phase then calm down when they get older, just be shure he has his UVB and good temps

4 crickets a day and a little bit of greens and a few worms is not enough food for a 8 week old dragon. What you should be feeding is as much appropriate sized crickets, silkworms, or roaches he can eat in a 5-10 minute period. Have finely chopped greens available all day, though he may not eat much of these as insects are the primary food they are looking for when this young. Dust one feeding of crickets a day with a calcium plus D3 and multivitamin powder.

Once he is about 4-6 months old, cut back on crickets (or other insects) to one feeding a day and greens offered every day, dusting insects once every other day. When he is about 8-10 months old, feed insects once every other day, greens daily. Dustings couple times a week. After he is 12-14 months old, he should be eating 90% greens a day and 10% insects, or 1-2 feedings of insects a week, and a dusting about once a week or once every other week.

Remember, don't feed crickets or roachs bigger than the space between the dragon's eyes (length of cricket to length of space between the eyes). Too large prey items can cause impaction, especially in small dragons. Silkworms, butterworms and hornworms can be a bit bigger than teh space between the dragon's eyes due to their soft bodies which break down much easier than the exoskeletons of crickets and roaches.
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PHLdyPayne

Quick question when you say 5- 10 min, do u mean feed him once a day with the crickets and ext. beacuse ive uped him to about 8 crickets 2 hours after the light goes on and anthor 8 2 hours before it goes off.

She means let him eat as many circkets as he wants in a 8 to 10 minute period, so if he wants to eat 15 or 20 crixs in a ten minute period let him have at them!! Babies especially need lots of protein to grow and stay healthy! Feed him that way 2 times a day. I would suggest aswell feedding him his second meal atleast 3 hours beofre lights out just to make sure he has enough time to digest properly!!

Hunker down and prepare yourself to be making regular trips to the petstore to stock up on your cricket supply!!! Baby beardies will definitly eat you outta house and home and it is definitly a must to keep them fed!! lol

Have fun and keep the lil guy well fed!
M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
4.0.0 Beta's
3.1.0 Future Herper's

Yep, exactly as Mike said above, keep offering crickets during that 5-10 minute period till your little guy stops showing interest in the crickets.

I find the best way to feed is about an hour after his lights come up in the morning than again around 4-5pm in the afternoon, leaving a good 3-3 hours before lights out. Lights should be on about 12-14 hours, so feeding at say, 8am in the morning (with lights set to turn on at 7am) and again feeding at 5pm, and having the lights go off at 8pm would give him 13 hours of daylight. It is best to buy a simple indoor timer (go with the heavy duty ones, that have the three prong outlets on them). Plug a power bar to the timer and your UVB bulb and basking light to the power bar I find works best.

During the day between feedings, have a bowl of finely chopped greens left in the tank for your dragon to nibble on. Though at a young age, dragons tend to ignore greens in favor of crickets. Also make sure any uneaten crickets are removed from the cage at night (or leave the greens in the cage over night so the crickets will eat that instead of your dragon). To keep crickets from escaping and hiding in the cage, I find it is best to just drop them into a small ceramic bowl from either a bag or other container the crickets are in.

To dust crickets, what I typically do is put a pinch or two of calcium powder and multivitamin into a sandwich bag, then dump crickets into the bag (holding the bag over the cricket bin so any that miss the bag, it falls back into the cricket bin). using egg cartons for the crickets to hide in works great, as you can break them into small sections and dump what crickets are in it, into the bag, then toss the carton back into the cricket bin.
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PHLdyPayne

might i suggest not buying your crix by the 100
i buy mine by the box of 1000
it is worth the trouble of a bigger crix bin