Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does any one have prob with feeding there 1 to 1 and a ahlf foot dragons giant meal worms there about 2 inches long thanks mine only like eating one a day and hes not interested in them at all wile small meal worms he will eat about 10 and he loves them

Small insects like mealworms and crickets are usually favored by waterdragons, think of them as candy. They like them, but that doesn't mean there good for them to eat all the time. The smaller mealworm(Tenibrio molitor) have a thicker keratinous shell that renders them less digestible, also they have a higher surface to body mass ratio, which basically means your getting a high percentage of keratinous shell then meat. Essentially your waterdragon is probably getting more nutrition from that one Zoophoba then he is from the ten Tenibrios.

a big critter like that is lots of food for a smaller dragon. Swich it up with some crickets or small fish or pinkie mice. I can get my 14 inch dragon to eat about one big pinky a day, but i bread mice.

a diet like that and he won't be 14 inches for long! Seriously. With that amount of food he should grow fast. There is some controversy over the proper way to raise a reptile, some say if you feed them to much and they grow too fast, and that will shorten their life span. I am of the school of thought thats says a growing lizard's food requirements aren't much different then a humans. Basically, when they are babies and juveniles nutrition is important as they are developing and is the worse time to restrict their diet. When they reach adult size however they need a lot less food, my adults eat about three fuzzies a week, and less in the winter time. If there is a problem with waterdragons having short life spans, its not from eating too much as they were developing, but from eating too much as adults, and I think its safe to say that the same applies to us humans as well. Anyway my point is a pinkie a day sound great for a baby but you better watch out as he gets older that he isn't too fat. Eating at that rate he could reach adult size in a year or less.

To tell you the truth, my WD does not eat a pinky every day consistently as the mice are not that cooperative and the babies are too big very fast (raised for "Kitty" the python). I had a few litters and was able to inerest him for 3-4 days on in a row then one day off, then a few more days of one pinky. I toss chrickets in as well. I have read that some time they will even eat fish food and veggies and fruit. I have yet to interest him in these. There was a little while when i was not sure if he was warm enough at night (it never got below 72 but i wanted it warmer. So when he had a great apities i fiugued I had everything adjusted well. Nice to know 3 fuzzies will do in the future.

Mine don't go for veggies, however they will take a piece of peach once in a while.