Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, im totally backing off with the chicken for a few reasons. But I think I've come up with a new diet for him.

Each week:
A case of Nightcrawlers (1 dozen, in a 2 day period)
Superworms (2-4 dozen, never delt with these before)

All food is Calcium suplimented of course, how does this sound, do you think I should throw in the twice a month piece of chicken/fuzzie.
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www.mplionhearts.com

Soundz good!

nice dragon btw, how old?
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www.mplionhearts.com

thanks , hes a little under 2 years

He looks good, but I hate to say it, but he won't make it past 6 if you keep him that fat.

Is that dragon realy fat? He looks kinda crawny to me. My 2y olds could eat him. Are my males obease monsters?

In principle its a way to start.
Superworms are much better as feder insects than their reputation is.
Anyhow, you should try to go for more variety.
Your aim should be to provide a regular varietyx of 4-8 feederinsects.
From time to time you can stick to one or two feeder species -that also happens in nature.
But its better to vary.
Also do not forget to dust gut load all feeder insects.
Fosr dusting mix one of the usual brands with Calcium citrate in a 2-3/1 ratio.
Otherwise you very often fail with shifting the Ca/P ratio, which can be up to 1/9 with cb feeder insects up to the necessary 1,2-2/1 ratio.
Also offer bird grit.
To give you an idea about variation in feeders, I may list commercially available things you can use: Night crawlers, Crickets (using different species also adds varietyx); Locusts, Roaches, Superworms, Waxworms (Occasionally) Silk worms; MAggotsd (yes); Roaches (combine soft and hard shelles species to add variety), Mealworms (occasionally), Butterworms etc.
Occasionally you may offer a pinky mouse

Maintaining a few colonies of feeder insects saves a lot of work and money.
In summer you can and should also feed WC Arthropods like
grasshoppers, Spiders, katydids and the like.

I know that many herpers tend to keep their animals on a diet of one to three feeder items.
Many species can survive long on this and if the supplements are well chosen, its not even too detrimental.
But you need quite some knowledge tomake the animals thrive on a restricted diet and its much easier to keep them healthy on a varied diet.
Also living in a terrarium is extrmely low in stimuli, varied food can give a lot more thrill than always the same old cricket.
So it also has a "psychological" effect on the animals.

Thats my 2 cts

Ingo

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I agree with the above list, variety is best. The earthworms don't need calcium suppliments and neither do the pinkies, They all ready have good ratios. Don't use a calcium suppliment that has phosphorus, the problem with their diets is that they usually have too much phosphorus, so you don't want to add more. Again as I have mentioned in the last discussion, from my own experience raising my waterdragons to 15 and 16 years old, fuzzies and pinkies are by far the superior food.

I own a waterdragon and I live in Richmond, Virginia. We only have like 3 exotic/reptile stores. I am very impressed with your list of foods for a waterdragon. However, some of the stuff I have never even heard of so I know I would have a hard time finding them locally. Can you give me some help on where to find those items. I do get Crickets, Mealworms, Nightcrawlers, Waxworms, I also use feeder fish, Pinkies, but that is about all I see on your list that are available in the pet store I frequent. How would i be able to get my hands on locust or silkworms, and the such. Please help me. My dragon is only like a year old, but I want him to live a healty full life. I fed him nightcrawlers for the first time Saturday and he ate 3 of them. His stomach was so fat I could see the difference in him from just that one feeding. He loved them. When I first got him he was on the skinny side. I am going to continue with the nightcrawlers to help get him som weight. I do dust his food. He does not seem to like the mealworms very much. I think they are too hard for him. Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!