I was at my local petstore the other day, buying my weekly food supply, and noticed a sub-adult (2 feet in length) female for sale at $80. She has some nose damage from former rubbing by its previous owner, but I don't think it's horrible.
The store is very good with herps in general, and they take extremeley good care of all their animals. In fact, they specialize in reptiles and aquatics. I asked them what she was being fed, and they said "50% greens and 50% live food." I thought this was very odd, and asked why so much. They responded with "Actually, she should be eating 70% greens, they don't need much protein as adults." I never read this anywhere! I always thought the greens were hit or miss, and even if they accept them, they should only be 15-30% of the diet.
In fact, in the article written by Tricia Power, in the "2007 Reptiles Annual," she cleary states, "You may try to offer finely shredded vegetables and small chunks of fruit, but these items should make up only 10 to 15 percent of your dragon's diet if you are able to get it to eat them."
The person at the petstore suggested I stop spoiling my dragon with worms, fuzzies, and crickets, and give him some greens. Here's the list he gave me:
*Kale
Collard Greens
Mustard Greens
Dandelion Greens
*Turnip Greens
Red and Green Leaf Lettuce
Romaine Lettuce
Endive
Escarole
Sprouts
*Rappini
Timothy Hay
Shredded Carrot
Shredded Zucchini
Items NOT to feed:
Iceberg/Boston lettuce
Spinach
Broccoli
Cabbage
Peppers
Oleander
Anyways, about the female dragon. I have been looking for an adult female dragon for years now. Of course my search has been dampered by my studies and dual major. This female is old enough to be housed with my adult male. My only concern is they will not get along, and I will have no where to house the female, I just don't have the space.
How do you guys suggest I approach this problem? I really would like to contribute to the CWD species by starting a captive breeding program, and it would be unfortunate to pass-up such a great opportunity.
