We took Cleopatra to the vet last week and the vet said she was concerned with how much animal protein my 2 year old was getting. She said the newest information from the national herpological society or whatever is that they are no longer suppose to receive animal protein after the age of two except as a very rare treat. They are herbivores in the wild once they reach adulthood. Has anyone else heard anything about this? It's the first I've heard of it anywhere, and I have been trying to research fairly efficiently on the little guys since we wound up with an unexpected clutch of eggs... and then another...
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New dietary info?
- Thread starter Aleena
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Usually, a dragons diet for the 1st 8-10 months is 80% protein & 20% veg, to help aid in a healthy growth rate. After an increase in size they will require more moisture to stay hydrated, veg is more beneficial for this at a certain age/size.
I've just always heard before that you still feed crickets/pinkies to adults a couple times a week. And for Cleo all we can ever get her to eat right now is pinkies and supers. Well... there's a reason the poor girl went to the vet. Went into brumation in May without any nudging when she came out won't eat anything but meat. She's laying around all the time still, but more active then before 
. The other two I'm fairly confident will make the transition ok. Cass will eat anything and Gabe is happy with veggies.
. The other two I'm fairly confident will make the transition ok. Cass will eat anything and Gabe is happy with veggies.
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The pinkies is what concerns me with her diet. "Usually" the only time most BD owners feed pinkies to dragon is when they are: 1) trying to rehab a very under-weight dragon or 2) try to put weight on a female who has just laid a clutch and needs some fat quickly.
Pinkies are very high in fat and "can" contribute to fatty liver diese in a dragon. Was this maybe what your vet was referring to?
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take the pinkies out of the diet maybe once every now and then i think alot of ppl feed their beardies pinkies because they want it to look all macho like a tegu or monitor but beardies aren't like that. Even in the wild i don't think they eat baby mice all the time maybe if they come across it
Adults are the reverse of babies when it comes to food. Babies are 80% protien and 20% veggi adults are 80% veggi and 20%protien, which can come in veggi form since most veggis we feed BD have protien already. Live feed is fed once or twice a week in much smaller portion than that of a baby. Say you fed 30 crickets a day you would cut that way down to 10 to 5 one day a week. Only time the protien might be increased is after brumation or sickness.
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I feed my adults prey, all they will eat, 2-3 times a week, fresh greens daily. The '20%/80%' & '80%/20%' ratios that has been mentioned a couple of times, are only 'Ball Park' figures, a general guideline that varies greatly from Dragon to Dragon & is a New Version wording.
I'm curious, just exactly how are these percentages supposed to be figured, by weight, by volume, amount of feedings, by sight
, what/how? Just exactly how do you compare protein to veggies to come up with a percentage ratio? To me, it is one of the silliest guidelines given. Many quote it, but does anyone actually know what it really means & how to implement it. ? 10+ years & I still haven't figured it out.
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Adults: Prey 2-3 times a week, constant supply of fresh greens daily & you will be just fine.
I'm curious, just exactly how are these percentages supposed to be figured, by weight, by volume, amount of feedings, by sight
, what/how? Just exactly how do you compare protein to veggies to come up with a percentage ratio? To me, it is one of the silliest guidelines given. Many quote it, but does anyone actually know what it really means & how to implement it. ? 10+ years & I still haven't figured it out.
In the wild their diet is determined by opportunity, they eat what they can get, I find it very difficult to believe that they would turn away from the opportunity of a nice, fat, juicy Bug. If that was the case in the wild, how come adults eat prey in captivity, if they automatically become herbivores\vegetarians? I'll stick to what has been proven to work since the start of the hobby. None of this paragraph is directed at you personally Aleena, just about what you were told
.Adults: Prey 2-3 times a week, constant supply of fresh greens daily & you will be just fine.
She was under weight. She had been laying around and not eating since May...
It wasn't just the pinkies. I verified over and over again probably to the point of irritation to her because I didn't believe what I was hearing. I wasn't feeding them a ton of pinkies. It was in lieu of other protein (super worms) once a week, just one or two. In other words, some weeks they would get supers and others they would get pinkies depending on availability at our nearest pet store. Later in the week they would all get a helping of about 30 lg crickets to split between them. Granted, the giving of pinkies didn't even occur to me until my pet store owner suggested it after she had her first clutch. After going hungry all week my daughter finally got Cleo to eat some red leaf today. I think it's the first veggies she hasn't spit out since May
.I agree wholly, and that's what I've always heard so that's what I was doing. I didn't think you were chewing me out or anythingIn the wild their diet is determined by opportunity, they eat what they can get, I find it very difficult to believe that they would turn away from the opportunity of a nice, fat, juicy Bug. If that was the case in the wild, how come adults eat prey in captivity, if they automatically become herbivores\vegetarians? I'll stick to what has been proven to work since the start of the hobby. None of this paragraph is directed at you personally Aleena, just about what you were told
Adults: Prey 2-3 times a week, constant supply of fresh greens daily & you will be just fine.
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If you check this very well known & trusted nutrition chart, you will find that most Greens consist of very, very little protein.
Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart
The %ratio that has been mentioned, has been around for many years, almost since the start of the hobby. As mentioned earlier, I have never really understood the 'new version' of it, or how the Ratio is to be calculated & implemented. Over the years, recently the wording used by some, has been changed, just like a bad Gossip story. The 'Original' wording is, '20% PREY to 80% GREENS', & vice versa, which referred to 'feedings', which could be understood & implemented in a realistic manner by the normal, everyday individual & not requiring a lab to perform a nutritional breakdown on everything being fed.
This statement is just wrong ...
To go from 80% to 20% would mean that you should drop the Prey feeding by 3/4 (75%) not over 95% as in that statement. 30x7=210/week ~~~ 10/210=.047 (Your statement). Ideally, (By the mentioned Ratio) if the usual prey intake was 210 prey feeders per week as a juvenile, the weekly prey intake for it as an adult would be a little better than 50 prey feeders per week, not 5 or 10.
Just to let everyone know, the longer Cleopatra is in her own enclosure, it seems the more active she is and the more greens I can get her to eat. I'm still having to hand feed them to her, and she doesn't seem coordinated when she goes to grab it I always have to movie it to the direction her mouth is going to grab it from... usually the ground. The vet assured me she wasn't blind, but if she wasn't, wouldn't she know where the food was? She's eager to eat it but can never find it.She was under weight. She had been laying around and not eating since May...
After going hungry all week my daughter finally got Cleo to eat some red leaf today. I think it's the first veggies she hasn't spit out since May
How is the rest of her coordination? Walking, running, jumping, climbing, etc.
But her coordination stinks. She's clumsy, always wrapping herself up in the strangest positions and can't seem to figure out how to get out of them. I have to put her under the basking light in the morning, she won't find her way there on her own even though she's cold. Topic is "Is my baby blind". I should probably add this information...
germ you are right i was confusing. What I should had said was veggis once a day and prey food rest of the feedings. This is where that ratio comes from as when the get older it reverses to veggis most feeding and live prey at most once a day. Yes, most greens do not have alot of protien. But also that Nutrution chart is not that uptodate and is off some on numbers. No I will not post correct infomation it will take to long and I have a life being 47 with many animals plus hubby plus. Just look it up for yourself on the numbers.
