Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering about my MHD's appetite. I just recently had her checked up by the vet, and she was diagnosed with a fractured lower jaw, and rectal problems (e.g worms/parasites). She lost a little weight since the vet visit, and prior to the vet was eating superworms. I tried to give her a variety of insects to eat, but she seemed to only go for the superworms.

Now she doesn't touch them, and only goes for nightcrawlers. She has since gained a little weight, at least that I can tell. She actually seems to have a rather large middle section. I don't know if she is gravid or not, and I think I'll post a picture here pretty soon, as soon as i can upload it. Anyways, I was wondering if any of you guys would like to share exactly what you feed and/or what your MHD's prefer to eat. What is the ideal diet for them? Should I gutload some crickets and feed them to her? My vet recommended that I feed her mainly crickets and an occasional worm. But from my experience with her and crickets, she won't even touch them. Is there something else I should do?

By the way: Thank you froggyB for all your help, you have been great, and I don't think Merlin would have made it this far without you! (her new name is now Morgana, because she is a female, but the pet store told me she was a male...go figure).

-Derek

PS: I'll try to post a picture within the next 24 hours.

Very appropriate name change

I don't believe there is anyone on this board that has not obtained all of their information regarding husbandry from Froggyb. Marcia is a tremendous resource.

For experience sake (which is brief in the scheme of things), I can share with you that two of my dragons prefer almost exclusively, large Canadian Night Crawlers. The male will only take them rarely. However, he will absolutely devour superworms, and will take crickets. I use a large feeding dish, but only regularly see the male making use of it (again, particularly with supers). Whenever my dragons take crawlers, they only do so when I dangle the worms in front of them using a large hemostat. I use Sticky Tongue Farms Miner-all as a supplement. Remember that it is important to, "feed the food". I keep my feeder insects in their own containers and provide chicken mash for them to consume.

I have also had all of my animals go off feed for several days. The gravid female stopped eating for almost 10 days, and then went on a binge - this took place roughly six weeks before she actually laid. At the time she laid her first clutch, she was back to eating regularly.

Don M.

From my experience the favorite food is nightcrawlers. In fact, I have found that some of my animals’ problems have cleared up when they were switched to nightcrawlers.

For instance, when I first started working with MHDs my females were laying poorly calcified eggs, sort of translucent with white snowflake type spots on them. When I started feeding them nightcrawlers the eggs they produced were nice and white with a chalky feel to them, very well calcified.

Then when I had my fall in 2002 my babies were getting only mealworms and the sitter I had helping me out wasn't dusting them with the supplement like I had told her to do. Most of the babies developed terrible curves in their spines and tails and as this progressed they would choke on their food and suffer to the point that I had to put them down.

This spring I was down to 3 babies from last year that were still hanging on. One looked pretty normal but the other two were really badly deformed. I decided it was time to start feeding them small nightcrawlers. There was no problem getting them to eat the crawlers and after a couple of months the smallest of the ones with the curvature started to straighten up. Her back has just a slight bit of a hump just before the hips but is hardly noticeable now. The larger of the two wasn't showing much change until just recently and although he still has some significant curvature he is now able to hold his head up normally when he is on a perch, before it would drop back against his back. He climbs better and has a healthy appetite. Before they were getting the normal supplements but their condition didn't respond to the powders or the liquid drops either one. It was only after I started them on nightcrawlers that I saw any significant change. I truly believe that nightcrawlers are an important part of their diet.

Second is the superworm. Most of my animals will go nuts for them once in a while. I have found that when I give them regularly they ignore them but when they get them on occasion they love them.

Mine are pretty much like yours with the crickets. They will eat them on occasion but they have to be the largest crickets and they have to be coated with vitamin or calcium dust or they just ignore them. I have pretty good luck getting the babies to eat small crickets but once they get going on the mealworms they seem to lose interest in the crix.

It is quite normal for the MHD to get a bit plump when it starts to feel better. I have also found that the males seem to be a bit leaner than the females who are much rounder around the middle. This isn't to say that she couldn't be gravid but there are other factors that can make them appear to be fat. Could be a full belly, bloat from parasites or treatment for parasites, or could be gravid. I can't say I have ever seen a fat MHD that was fat just from 'FAT'. They seem to be pretty lean animals for the most part.

So, in spite of your vet's opinion, I don't think that crickets should be the mainstay of the MHD's diet. I think that it should be nightcrawlers supplemented with silkworms, superworms, roaches, large crickets, and for the producing female, occasional pinks. I would rate the feeders in the order I have listed them, with the crickets being at the bottom of the list.

If you could find a safe source of grasshoppers they are supposed to be a favorite in the wild. I haven't pursued them as I feel my dragons are doing well with what I am providing.

I'm glad I have been able to help. I love these animals and every one of them that makes it make me feel that what I have spent the last 5 years doing has been worth while.

I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of Morgana.
Thanks!
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Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

will take one thing one day, and another for 2 weeks straight, then nothing for a few days
she is more finicky than my sister (whome I love dearly)
I just make a point of giving something newish and different every few days
and I stop giving a staple food as soon as I run out
ie I do not order more Cricks when I M down to 50, I let myself run out of them, while I use up the meal beetles, then I get flattails, then superworms, then maybe crix again
but the Pinky Mouse is about every other Sunday (every sunday and she ignores them somewhat)
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*