Fussy eater

[luke.bowthorpe]

Hi, not sure what to do for the best please could someone help. I have a 18 month old male who is hardly eating. When we first got him he would eat crickets, locusts roaches and worms and we would mix them up to give him a balanced diet we would also put greens in but he would hardly ever eat his greens but we found when he ate his greens it would be the rocket he went for. As he got older he stopped eating anything but his worms so I thought this was fine. About two months ago he came out of his brumation and I fed him his morio worms again then I have read that they might not be the best things for him to eat so have tried him back on crickets and he has eaten about 5 out of 50 and just eaten rocket for about a month now and again. I have now got roaches for him and same thing he is not interested. He weighs 570g and he is 19" long. He doesn't look like he has lost much weight but not sure what to do next as we are at a stalemate not sure whether to wait him out or to give in and put him back on morios. Some advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[PatsyB]

Dexter is just over 2 and is a picky eater also. She refuses to eat her greens and will eat supers or hornworms but she doesn't want them every day. I've been told if I withhold her worms, that she will eventually eat her salad because she won't let herself starve, she'll eat whats available. Also, they are very good at conserving energy so it's okay if they don't eat every day.

Besides the not eating is your guy alert? If he's alert and not dehydrated or losing too much weight then I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you are really worried you can try a different type of worm like horn worms or silk worms or butter worms.

 

[luke.bowthorpe]

Thanks for that. Yeah he is very alert and he is not dehydrated as I make a point every other day to give him a drink from the tap. I do also have a bowl for him to drink from in his vivarium but he doesn't drink from it. We did think he was losing a little weight so today we gave in and gave him his worms. I know this is bad but how can he go a month with hardly eating and we were worried how long it would go on for. He is a stubborn lizard and he knows he will get his own way. He has such a cute face and he puts on the eyes to make you feel bad.

 

[PatsyB]

I know, they give you that sad little face. I've gone 3 days before I break down and give Dexter her worms. I just can't say no!