Dumb Feeding question

[Mom2Dovakiin]

How likely is it to 'over-feed' dragons?
For example, I am fully aware, that dogs will eat till they get sick. Cats, however, only eat till they are full.
Are dragons more like dogs or cats?
I have an amazing eater that will eat whatever I put in front of him, he's of healthy weight and size and poops like a monster lol. I am just concerned that I may be over-feeding him and want to make sure that doesn't happen.
I know about when feeding the protein source you're suppose to go with however many he can eat in like 5-10 min...but trust me, he can eat A LOT in that time frame...and I do mean A LOT.

 

[Canicke]

how old is he? what are you feeding? how much is he eating? just protein or are you offering / is he eating greens? young'uns will eat more than adults. some adults will eat more than others. both of my kids are going through a modified brumation - not as active, sleeping more and eating less, BUT my boy doesn't eat nearly as much as my girl - he stops when he wants to. so does she, it just happens to be after more food. I'm talking about live food - the greens are kinda iffy. she doesn't much care for greens. he eats them with gusto.

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

estimate of about a year old (male 16" long). he eats greens when he wants to and it's varied and fresh 2x daily. I chose superworms because of the ease of keeping them compared to other live options but he'll just about eat anything live. I do have crickets on occasion, and I have hornworms for treats. If I were to do the minimum of 5 min as much as he'd eat, he'd go through like 20+ superworms (and they are not small lol). I've only had him a short time and I just want to make sure I'm not over-feeding him and end up paying for it later.

 

[Canicke]

yeah - superworms are kinda like crack. they LOVE them (as you well know) I hate crickets. I will buy 25 small ones to feed to my gecko, but I wont deal with them for my beardies. A good alternative is dubia roaches. once you get over the ick factor they're really not so bad. I alternate dubias and superworms. throw in a hornworm every couple of weeks. there are other choices, but I live a long way from anyone who sells anything else and I just never got into mail order bugs. check out the links below my signature for some good info on feeding. at a year old you may be able to start offering him live protein less often. this will encourage him to eat more greens. well - that's the theory. just skip a day every once in a while I feed both of mine their protein once a week. a lot of folks will feed live protein 2 times per week. watch his weight. check out the dubias

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

oh trust me, I don't have that 'ick' factor lol. Never had a problem with just about any type of bug. I have a great shop with dubias and what not. I'm just taking a shot at breeding these superworms. I'm going to be picking up more dubias in a couple of days but I'll give it a shot to start limiting him. I'm just one of those moms that do not like anyone to go hungry lol. I started thinking that I may be giving him too much.
I have a cricket card that I bought when I first got him and I'll use it up...eventually lol...I don't like the crickets because they stink and once you get to the adults they are noisy.
This boy of mine is absolutely spoiled rotten here though.

 

[PatsyB]

Mine go through spurts. One day they will eat all they can eat and then the next day they don't want anything. I guess my dragons are binge eaters LOL!

 

[KrissyLeigh]

How likely is it to 'over-feed' dragons?
For example, I am fully aware, that dogs will eat till they get sick. Cats, however, only eat till they are full.
Are dragons more like dogs or cats?
I have an amazing eater that will eat whatever I put in front of him, he's of healthy weight and size and poops like a monster lol. I am just concerned that I may be over-feeding him and want to make sure that doesn't happen.
I know about when feeding the protein source you're suppose to go with however many he can eat in like 5-10 min...but trust me, he can eat A LOT in that time frame...and I do mean A LOT.

Omg, I have the same concerns with mine. I've never been able to "feed him all he can eat in 5-10 minutes" because I get worried about him digesting it all.... he is capable of eating 100+ large crickets a day, plus his salad.

Right now I give him a large salad, 25-30 large black soldier fly larvae, and 35-45 medium dubia EVERY day, IN ADDITION TO treats of hornworms, waxworms, and crickets. And he still begs for more food!!!!

I can't wait until he is an adult, so I can switch him to mainly vegetarian diet. I like watching him chase the bugs, but the cost of all these insects... he's literally eating me out of house and home.

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

Sounds like your's is still a baby as well so he should be eating like that lol. Mine...he's grown lol (at least no longer a baby lol) and he'd eat that much if I allowed him to.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

Yeah, he is 7 months.... so we still have long days of insect buying ahead of us. I'd only ever had an adult before, so I didn't realize the cost of feeding for the little ones. Skittles will probably be my first and only baby, at least until I get a better job... grumble grumble, but I still love that little turd! I'm looking into starting a dubia colony, so that may help.

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

OMG, that's absolutely adorable!!

 

[KrissyLeigh]

OMG, that's absolutely adorable!!

hahahaha. He had a little log to help him climb onto his hammock, but I took it out to give him more space because he's getting bigger. His response was to sit like that for an hour staring at me, all like "I guess I'll just sit like this since you took my stepping stool away". Even though he's perfectly capable of getting on his hammock without it. Such a goober!