Beardie has increased appetite

[BeardieBaby]

Hi everyone! Lately my Baby has had an increase in his appetite and is eating a ton! I don't want to feed him too much, but at the same time, I am wondering if maybe he is going through a growth spurt? Also, I've heard you're supposed to feed your beardie for 15 minutes anything he will eat. Is that true? And, if he is going through a growth spurt, should I let him eat as many as he can until he is full or should I stick to the 15 minute rule? I don't want to overfeed him, but he just seems so hungry lately. Any advice?

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Baby's increased appetite is probably due too him feeling a lot better. The general rule of thumb is to let him eat however many live feeders he wants in a 10-15 minute period. That's the "general" rule. I wouldn't be too overly concerned about him over-eating because they will usually eat until they are full and then stop. They know better than any of us how much food they need. The only thing that I would "limit" intake on would be waxworms because of the fat content in them and I only use them as treats anyway and not as a staple food. Let him have as many crickets as he wants and enjoy watching him grow.
A lot of times with Mungi I will actually leave the crickets in his enclosure for a lot longer than 15 minutes and he will eat a bunch initially and then go bask and snack on the rest during the day. If you do this just be sure to remove any left over feeders before lights out. Crickets will disturb his sleep and they have been also known to nibble on sleeping dragons at night.

Enjoy!!

 

[Chris Baez Jr.]

Yeah, just let the guy eat, he's been through a lot. I agree with Buddha.
I'm glad to hear that he is doing better and eating. Keep up the good work.

 

[Augie]

My dragon is having the opposite problem (but not in a bad way ). When I first got him he was ravenous after being home for not an hour or two. That persisted for almost a week. I had guests over the weekend and they wanted to watch him eat, but after a few bites he got stage fright. Now I do what Buddha does, I toss 4-5 crickets in. He eats a few, then takes down the others within the hour. Now if I could only get him to eat his vegetables....

 

[Noella]

Mine eats her vegetables and greens. Fruit and supers as treats. Crickets as her main insects for now.

 

[BeardieBaby]

Thanks so much for all your advice! I am definitely thrilled that Baby's appetite is increased, and he is slowly starting to get bigger! He has finally gained all his weight back because when he was really sick he got very skinny. Although he seems to be growing wider rather than longer LOL....maybe he has grown in length but I just haven't noticed much. He is still only about 4-5 months old, so I don't expect him to be THAT big. Glad to know I haven't been overfeeding him, and I will let him enjoy all his crickets!!!​

 

[Dizzy]

My little one is eating lots too. I've noticed he is getting bigger as you will too as they grow very quickly.

I'm very similar to MB in that I feed in the morning around 10 crickets then put in around 10-15 more for the day.
When I get home I see if they have all gone and put in 3-5 at a time generally he'll have 4 More then 3 hours later its lights out.

I've notice my ones appetite varies day to day so I don't worry too much as he seems active enough