Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried to do a search on this, but couldn't find anything. Are there any negatives with hand feeding a Mali a lot? Mainly my concern is that he will eventually not want to ear out of his bowl. There is no indication of that. He eats from his bowl through the day when I am not home, but when I get home I like to take him a fresh green and he will run to me and gobble it up. It's just really enjoyble for me to have him actually come running to me when I see him, and from his voracious appetite, he seems to enjoy it too!

JR

My subadult Mali LOVES being handfed... only problem is his favorite foods are carrots and after they're gone I sometimes see him hungrily eying my fingers! lol, not sure how good their eyesight/depth perception is... that's the only downside I can think of!

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1.0 RES, Spunky
1.0 African mud turtle (P. castaneus), "Francois the Tortois"
1.0.1 Mali Uromastyx, Ajani, Guban(Goober)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Nico
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink, Owajabi(Jabi)
3.1 Cats
1/2.0 rabbit (friend and I went 50/50)
0.1 Gerbils
1.0 Betta, Nigel

helga loves being fed bok choy under the basking lamp, so spoiled, but it definitely has never led to her not eating by herself. they can miss sometimes and bite you but that's never happened to me, i keep my hand flat like when you would feed a horse

i say if he eats from your hand, let him/her have that little bonding experience with you. i keep trying to get xoco to eat from my hand so he might realize i want to feed him, not eat him
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vonnie
***The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.
— Mark Russell***

When we first got Batista, he seemed to only want to eat out of our hands, and ignored the bowl like he just didn't understand. It was the cutest thing, especially since he didn't like being picked up yet. Hand feeding him everyday made him trust us alot, and he began to climb on us without any coaxing. After a few months of him having to be fed everyday by hand got really old, and we stopped feeding by hand as much. He finally found out that there was food in the bowl and has been eating like a pig. We never noticed any negative problem with hand feeding him, and in fact, he became very friendly becasue of it. so enjoy your mali running to your hand for a tasty treat for as long as you can.