Mmantsiane
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 11
Hey ya'll, so we adopted a 2.5 - 3 year old at the end of December. Generally speaking I think transition has gone pretty well. The previous owner had her in a smallish tank with a coil uvb bulb on top and a weird styrofoam type wall on the rear interior wall that led chucks flying all over the place when she climbed on it (all that has changed). He also appeared to feed her mostly kale, spinach, peppers and strawberries as far as produce goes (he also fed her crickets and superworms). We spent the last 6-7 weeks trying a variety of veggies -- Collard, mustard, and beet greens (only twice with beet greens, but with moderate success actually); bok choy; kale; endives; green beans; red, yellow, orange and green peppers; acorn and butternut squash; fig; blueberries and strawberries; among others.
The highest success rate has been with green beans and peppers, with the most consistency of consumption. As for the leafy greens, she will eat a couple pieces then ignore it the rest of the day (at best), sometimes closing her eyes and shaking her when we try to hand feed her as to say "get outta here!" She ate a good bit of the collard and mustard greens the first two days we tried those, then nothing. Same with beet greens and endives. Bok choy was successful once or twice, but minimally. Figs and acorn squash had a decent run. We tried a couple approaches like feeding her the same food all week, to different salads every day. Nonetheless, her leafy green consumption has been minimal, and essentially none the last week. Actually her veggie consumption overall has been minimal. If you drop a couple superworms or dubia in her way, she mows em down without hesitation though.
I spoke to a breeder about a month ago and she advised some tough love. No live insects until she eats her veggies. The problem we encountered there was that after about 5-6 days she still ate few veggies and we didn't want to starve her so we started giving her a couple supers here and there... We tried hand feeding her veggies and after so many pieces letting her have a worm, then more veggies for another worm. That worked literally one day.
We have a 4'x2'x2' Zen Habitats enclosure with a 34-inch T5 uvb tube mounted to the inside of the screen (about 12" minimum from all interior decor) and her basking spots range from 90-100F depending on her choice of locale that moment.
All that being said, we have tried to be cognizant of her relocation anxiety/stress, as well as potential brumation as much as possible, but she still seems to have lots of energy to run around during the day (inside and outside the enclosure). Any thoughts or guidance that anyone can provide is extremely appreciated! We have scoured online material and a book or two, but nothing seemingly concrete... idk maybe we're overthinking it?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and assistance!
The highest success rate has been with green beans and peppers, with the most consistency of consumption. As for the leafy greens, she will eat a couple pieces then ignore it the rest of the day (at best), sometimes closing her eyes and shaking her when we try to hand feed her as to say "get outta here!" She ate a good bit of the collard and mustard greens the first two days we tried those, then nothing. Same with beet greens and endives. Bok choy was successful once or twice, but minimally. Figs and acorn squash had a decent run. We tried a couple approaches like feeding her the same food all week, to different salads every day. Nonetheless, her leafy green consumption has been minimal, and essentially none the last week. Actually her veggie consumption overall has been minimal. If you drop a couple superworms or dubia in her way, she mows em down without hesitation though.
I spoke to a breeder about a month ago and she advised some tough love. No live insects until she eats her veggies. The problem we encountered there was that after about 5-6 days she still ate few veggies and we didn't want to starve her so we started giving her a couple supers here and there... We tried hand feeding her veggies and after so many pieces letting her have a worm, then more veggies for another worm. That worked literally one day.
We have a 4'x2'x2' Zen Habitats enclosure with a 34-inch T5 uvb tube mounted to the inside of the screen (about 12" minimum from all interior decor) and her basking spots range from 90-100F depending on her choice of locale that moment.
All that being said, we have tried to be cognizant of her relocation anxiety/stress, as well as potential brumation as much as possible, but she still seems to have lots of energy to run around during the day (inside and outside the enclosure). Any thoughts or guidance that anyone can provide is extremely appreciated! We have scoured online material and a book or two, but nothing seemingly concrete... idk maybe we're overthinking it?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and assistance!
