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I have a cute littel baby chuck living in a spacious cage with a desert ig. They get along great. The chuck is so friendly that he'll actually come right up to the glass and climb on my hand as I slide open the cage door. There's one problem - he ONLY eats the yellow flowers from the dandelions. As soon as he sees one he darts across the cage and dives in. He's so small that he can barely pull the yellow petals out of the flower. As many of you know, dandelion flowers dry up and shrivel in about 32 seconds in a dry hot desert cage. And here in Massachusetts, dandelions are as plentiful as dirt right now, but in a couple of months I'll have nothing to feed Chuck. Is there anything else he might be drawn to so I can vary his diet. The DI eats clover and dandelion leaves that I throw in there, but not this little chuck. He's also a bit on the skinny side, but I know chucks have a lot of loose skin.
Dan

You'll need to offer a lot more variety for starters. Search through some of the older posts here, as PHEVE and dvl have both posted some good lists of foods. Also, try shedding it very vine. some lizards will take slicely shredded greens better. I used to use a food chopper when my chuck was a lot smaller. He loved minced carrot and squash. I would mince the food very small, and pull the petals from the dandelions and interminge them in the food...make him dig for them, and he'll likely get some other goodies in his mouth too. Try a small mealworm or cricket as a treat. My chucks loved them! Just don't over due it on the insects, as they sometimes will prefer them when they are young.

John E.

those are good tips, and I've just shreeded some nice greens, carrots and dandelion parts. Unfortunately the little chuck is VERY lethargic now. I've given him a hot soak and he drank a lot of water at that time. After the drink, he just kind of dragged himself to a cool spot in the cage and camped out. His eyes are closed almost all the time. I've only had him a couple of weeks, and it's been a slow, steady decline. Short of taking him to a vet, what else can I do that I've not already done? BTW - the desert ig is thriving, and the cage temps etc. are perfect.

Chuck is moving about the cage now, exploring. His eyes are open. Perhaps the huge drink helped him. I've never owned chucks before, I just assumed a baby would be very active and alert. I'm going to start him on a shredded regimen each day, and give him a nice hot soak daily too. I was worried because his tail looks bony and I'm used to seeing plump chucks.

What I do is fill thier dishes with water and put the dandelions etc. in them like a vase. I've found that they like the shallow faux rock dishes the best. Using this method my dandelions usually last 24 - 48 hours. If he's only eating dandelions, I'd try to give him as many as he can eat (probably 5 , and try to pick the smaller ones) until he gets his strength up. Nasturtiums are also a big favorite of my chucks. They actually seem to like the chopped leaves as much if not more than the flowers. Another favorite are the lavender wild raddish flowers. All the water in the bowl helps keep the salad moist and the chucks well hydrated. I agree with the post about trying insects too. When I got my little guy he was underweight, but slowly gaining it back with the veggies, once I added mealworms his rate of weight gain increased dramatically. Also, I try to change out the food bowl daily because the water and warm temperatures seem to accelerate decay.

In terms of broadening his diet, keep offering other things in conjunction with the favorites. Once he's healthy, start cutting back on his favorites to encourage him to branch out. My chucks also seem to like variety and will even lose interst in favorites if they see them every day, so keep trying new things and try to offer a slightly different combo each meal.

Here are some other common garden plants I've had success with:

Yellow pansies
Moss rose
Hibiscus
Cosmos (the lavender ones)
Mint leaves
Geraniums
Cat's ear (Hypochaeris sp.) these are dandelion like flowers, because of their smaller size though, they're really good for little chucks
Mustard flowers

If you read some of the past threads on feeding, you can find a lot more suggestions. You may have to offer way more than your guys can eat to make sure that the iggy leaves enough for the chuck. In terms of supplements, I've had the most success with the T-rex Iguana Dust, but I'd hold off on this until he gets his weight up.

Good luck!
Alice