Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yeah any suggestions for changing my little guys diet, he will only eat mealworms. I gave him a moth once he ate that, but i gotta find more moths. my female only eats crickets, but they look completely different. hes skinny shes bulky. it has always concerned me. how do you change a reptiles diet?

Both of my yearling c. bicinctores are mealworm addicts. They will NOT eat anything else, and I fear they aren't getting a well-balanced diet.

Crickets, moths, beetles... they ignore them to death.

thats not good, but that doesnt help me. Are your guys really skinny even though they eat a good amount of them?My guy can eat 4 in a sitting but he doesnt seem to be gaining weight.his feces are small as well. I thought meal worms were high in fat. i think im wrong on that but i dont know. still the question remains how do you correct his diet.

I will generally feed my collareds every other day but that depends on their general activity levels and the temperatures.
Mealworms are fed as treats and even then only 3 out of my 4 collareds actually eat mealworms. I feed crickets predominantly with mealworms once or twice a week.

thats what i did till eventually he wasnt eating crickets at all, he was only eating mealworms.So I would continue to give him mealworms so now thats all he likes. how do get him back to crickets though? I think im gonna try wax worms mixed in with mealworms, to give him some different tastes. maybe he will decide to be less picky then.

I chimed in as a "me, too -- you're not alone" rather than "here's the solution."

Both of my collareds appear and act healthy, despite their finicky diets. They're robust and active. They get plenty of natural sun. Their waste is normal and seem to be about 1/3 to 1/2 the mass of what they take in.

I'd also like to hear what other people are doing to broaden their lizards' diets.

hey you mentioned natual sunlight, how do you make sure they get that? i had the tank by a window for a while but it would heat up the tank to much.like once or twice a week i let thim sunbathe by a window, they like to watch the world go by(I think how do you do it? i was going to make or buy a reptarium so they can go out in the summer. ????

Sun through glass does not count as natural sunlight, unfortunately. Glass blocks the particular wavelength that lizards need for vitamins and to process calcium.

I have a large 38-gallon equivalent nylon-mesh "Reptarium" with PVC-reinforced skeleton. I call it "Thunderdome" because the lizards can run along the walls and even the ceiling. They go outdoors in this, along with a hide cave for shade, for 2-5 hours at a time daily. The mesh is tight enough to prevent any escape, and open enough to allow screened sunlight.

is your reptarium custom or store bought, seems you customized it. not sure where you live but what do you do when its cold. i live in Illinois and we're just hitting the 70's.

It's store-bought, non-customized. On cold days they stay indoors and get the usual UVB heat lamp treatment. On days that are mild I put them in the Reptarium indoors, and let the sun come in through an open window or open sliding glass doors. On warmer days they go outside for several hours.

I try to get them natural light an average of 1-3 hours a day. The rest is from heat lamps.

Hi, mealworms are not all that nutritious by themselves your right. I don't like mealworms much, they are very high in chiten, higher than supers, and harder for them to digest. I would use supers they usually love them, I have some that have lived off them for years that do not touch crickets. But most do like the crickets better. "There are some exceptions", so make them healthy by feeding your feeder bugs well. So they are nice and nutrious for your lizards. What boost said is good to , with a picky eater try every other day for awhile , make him get a bit hungry :0)

As far as him being SKINNY and not gaining any weight...

First let me ask are your temps up there at atleast 105 degrees at the basking site, and high 80's to 90 in the rest of tank?

**** PARASITES
Have you had a fecal done on the male to check for worms/ parasites?

Have you turned him over tummy side towards you in palm and pour some mineral oil or olive oil on his tummy and smeared it around and watched with a magnifying glass to see if tiny black/ tan or red spots begin to appear?

These are just a couple things to try. Hope all goes well and you can BEEF that boy up.

Suncharmers kids

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PHEve / Eve

hey eve my lizard was eating supers mostly but then all the sudden stopped eating those as well as crickets. i will through one in their and he will look at it like hes interested and he'll look away and eat the mealworm.i dont know.wierd little guy.

Perhaps you are feeding them too frequently and/or too much at one time. Remember that in the wild our lizard friends might not eat everyday.

You might also try to give them a soak in room temperature water to see what happens with any bowel movements.

I have seen Bonnie and Thelma gobble down a few superworms and then not eat for a day or two.

hey guy.....sup man?
i only feed my clan crickets, super worms and wax worms.......if they don't them i'll grab whatever, push it on his/her mouth and they always open their mouths and i slip it in there. when they bite down they usually take whatever i am feeding them. none of mine ever ate waxies, but they do now. i give them a couple a piece maybe 3 days a week. hell they'll eat those like they're free. a lot of my collareds like to eat when they are hand fed.
good luck with your guys collaredguy.

thanks everyone ive written about this guy before. hes the one with the toe a couple months back. He so lively and stuff just a finicky eater. he wasnt always like that though.I think first i will try fasting a couple days, see how he does. i plan on taking them both to the vet for a checkup, just to make sure their both healthy, but i have to schedule it. My worry is that he may be healthy now but this diet is not good for him, and will be bad in the longrun. thanks everyone once again.

Have you tried silk worms or phenix worms? I never feed my girl meal worms. She ate crix when I first brought her home, and she was thin and fairly small. She had been in a pet store for months. So I started feeding her supers, and then introduced the phenix and silks. She is HUGE now and ALWAYS eats the silks and phenix worms. I also off her her a salad a few times a week and have seen her eat, and she gets a small bowl of water daily. I use a Megaray Mercury Vapor UVB bulb, so I really don't have a problem with too much humidity.

Can I ask a question and maybe I missed this. Do you use UVB on him? If so, what kind? is it a MVB, a florescent tube, a coil or a compact?

yes i have tried pheonix worms and my female does not eat ANYTHING but crickets. i bought them for her and she didnt eat them. my male ate a couple but even he stopped eating them. i gave them to my fire belly toads they ate them, but then i tried again they would actually spit them out. so i think im gonna lay off pheonix worms. i use a UVB light, its got the 10 power or what ever ( not sure what its measuring).its florescent bulb. I thru a roach in today cuz i wanna try those, and my guy actually went for em, but i dont think he knew how to eat them. also he had two waxies saturday and a mealworm yesterday. i honestly think im over feeding him, and hes just not hungry.altho you mention the UVB i have a screen top and and a the fixture on top of it. its a 40 gallon and its about 1 1/2 feet tall. is that to high for them? im not sure what to do with my lighting. i need new fixtures i got a new tank and i have to update. idk, its time for them fast. diet time!!!

you mention silk worms, i went to a reptile expo and bought roaches (blaptica dubia) and horned worms(Jade colored ones get really big and have a horn on them). ladie told me they had the same nutritional value as silk worms? i got them to try them. if anyone knows anything about these guys let me know.

Horns are great too! Both are great.

As for UVB, I use only Mercury Vapor bulbs and all of my lizards are super healthy and very colorful, but you need to measure your temps carefully or you can overheat them. What do you measure your basking and ambient temps with? Is it a digital with probe, a temp gun or a stick on thermometer? The temps are super important to their ability to process food and maintain an appetite, as Eve said.

umm i use a digital stick on from fluckers. i have it close to the basking site. i wanted to get the probe ones but they seem a little expensive. maybe ill look into getting one. i also have a anologue thermometer and hygrometer on either end of the tank. i saw a temp gun at the expo i had breifly heard of them and im looking at the advertisment right now as im typing but didnt get it. not sure what it does and how it works. basking site area is in the upper 90s and the basking site is atleast 100 F and the rest of the tank mid 80's to uper 90s. right now their hanfing out in the cooler end maybe the basking area is to hot....

Hon, the stick on thermometers are notoriously unreliable. You really need to get either a digital with a probe that you lay directly on the basking surface ($10 local, $5 online), or a temp gun that you can get an instant basking surface reading with ($25 plus shipping online) I am guessing that your lizards are too hot and possibly dehydrated, and that could be why they are not eating. Dehydration can cause serious impactions, and if they are also on sand, especially calcisand, the risk of impaction triples. Play sand has a minimal risk of impaction IF all environmental conditions are good, but becomes a huge risk in a dehydrated animal, and calcisand is never a good subsratrate choice, IMO.

Temps should be as follows:
Basking SURFACE, NOT basking END 90-104
Cool side 80ish (I think)

What sized enclosure do you have them in? What do you use on the bottom of the tank? Do you mist them or provide water?

Yeah stevie finally ate about every cricket in the enclosure today, even the annoying chirper that was driving me nuts last night. i believe i have found the solution. dont feed him everyday or every other day. hes finally broken this mealworm diet. thanks everyone for your help i appreciate it.