What to feed a picky eater?

[KrakenQueen]

My beardie, Boba, is a big boy and when he eats, he eats. But he's grown extremely picky over the last two years. He practically ignores everything I give him unless it's hornworms, silkworms, and waxies. He completely disregards all fruits and veggies, but he looks healthy, he runs around his cage, climbs, digs, puffs, etc. His tail isn't nearly as fat as it use to be, but it's in no way showing signs of being unhealthy.

Boba's cage is 4wx2hx2h, it was a diy my husband and I made. He has 3 basking lights from the middle to one end of the cage, UVB/A strip, and no lights on the cool side. Sand Substrate (he's about 6 years old now), several large climbing branches, large basking rocks (not heat rocks, just granite rocks). Light stays on from 9am till 9pm.

I've tried: papaya, mango, alfalfa, dandilions, strawberry, blueberry, banana, apple, pear, cactus.
He sometimes eats: collards, kale, bok-choy (all of which I've grown organically)

So, I'm curious, what do you do to get your REALLY picky beardie to eat?
(-I do plan to get him fecal tested soon to see if this may be a problem.)

 

[Dandizette]

I have a really picky beardie, Minoru, who has been that way for as long as I can remember. He thinks he's a little king (but don't all beardies think that?)

What I do is I play tricks with him. I'll take a worm of some kind (mealies, waxies, whichever I have) and mix them up with the foods he won't eat.

Example:
Finely chopped up dandelion leafs (he hates these) grated apple (not a big fan of this either) and meal worms. Mix these all together in his food dish.

Then, while he is trying to get the meal worms, some of the other food eventually gets eaten and sometimes he decides he likes this and continues eating, or just gets the meal worms with the other little bits attached. Even if this happens, he still gets some added food nutrients that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise given his own choices.

On another note, have you ever tried giving your beardie melon? I find that my insectivorous little fellow really likes varieties of melon.

 

[KrakenQueen]

Huh, I've never tried melon! Watermelon or cantelope?

I'll give the mixing up a shot, but instead of supers, crix, and roaches, I'll give a shot with hornworms and silkies in a "veggie x fruit" blend.

Thanks

 

[Dandizette]

Mine likes watermelon, cantelope and honeydew. He's a melon fanatic. : )

I hope the mixing goes well! Lemme know if it works, our beardies need to stop being so finicky and start eating right!

Very, very welcome.

 

[darkridder]

honestly what he needs right now is tough love. If he truely is big and healthy he can literal go a fw weeks without insects with no problem. But being an adult his main diet should be focused on greens right now. An adult beardie should be eating 75% greens and 25% insects. Out of that 75%, fruit should not be more then 10% of that weeking greens intake. This is due to the high sugars in it.

WHat types of greens are you offering? Quite often by mixing it up a bit for them will entice them but also brightly colored and sweet smelling veggies get their attention. Normally I suggest by trying raw grated hard winter squashes like acorn or butter nut, which are available all year round the arejust called winter squashes..lol Other things to try would be a yam/sweet potato. A much healthier option then the fruit route, the sweet smell, taste and bright color of the squash often get their attention. Others you can try are the sweet bell peppers or sweet mini peppers thinly sliced.

The worm method does work also.

If that doesnt work normally I suggest taking your beardies favor fruit and making it into a puree, mixing the greens in with the puree then continue over time to remove more and more of the puree.

I personally would aviod apples, they are pretty hard to digest. Stick with things like berries (well washed these are some of the dirtiest things you could eat!) and melons, mangos (always a relished fruit!). But remember what is like them eating a single grape would be equiv to us eating an entire watermelon, so as I said try and limit fruit to like a once a week treat, the sweet veggies are a better choice.

 

[KrakenQueen]

Thanks Darkridder

It's been a few weeks, we just assume it's him in hibernating mode. Usually in late spring he starts to really pick up his appetite but it's only been about the last two years that he likes to ignore everything BUT hornworms and silkies x_x

I'll have the husband run out tonight and pick up some food. Would it be possible to test out babyfood on him first, since it's already pureed?

I tend to grow my own veggies, so I have offered him bok-choy, collards (my collard is about 6' tall), and kale. We have turnips and radishes finally showing up so I'll be offering him the tops of those as well. The apples we peel the skin from first, we've never offer them with.

Another thing I thought of last night was that we hadn't changed his reptisun UVB in a while, so that could also be an issue. It's been such a hectic year. We're also saving up for a ceramic bulb and adjustable dimming fixture, I realize the temperature in his cage isn't as hot as it should be under the basking lights. So it seems more like obliviousness on my part. Not to say he isn't warm, the temperature in there is roasty but I never see him gaping these days like I use to. That's a sign in itself I suppose.

 

[darkridder]

Baby food is made for babies, not reptiles and is pretty high in sugar. If you are going to try mixing his food with a like substance I would use CGD as it is lower in sugar but still has the fruity taste.

I would try mixing up his greens a bit more, that may help. Normally you want to offer greens like collard, turnip, chard and dandelion greens, and you want to offer 3 of those 4 types of greens. Normally I suggest to people if you cant find 3 of those 4 you can also use the escrole or endive. Good treat greens are the kale and bok choy. So you may want to pick up some of those greens and see if he likes those and if he does consider growing them for him as they are a healthier choice.

UV does make a difference in a beardies appetite and differnt UV's show variations in it also. The higher quality the bulb obviously the better results. I personally use MegaRay mercury vapor mist bulbs. Wen I first started using them I was still using the strip for of UV also, but I seen such an improvement when useing the mercury (plus in the long run it saves you money as you dont need to run heat and UV, it does it all in one) I havent gone back to the old strip styles except for other species like my rhacs.

 

[KrakenQueen]

Face's appetite is slowly increasing. He takes about 4 medium-large hornworms per day which I have to literally hand him, but I still have to stuff veggies in his mouth while he's chomping. He won't actively go out of his way to eat any horns, vegetables or fruit though.

I did make him a hide and placed it in the cool corner, from what I can tell he doesn't prefer to use it even though it's big enough for him 9_9 Not sure if it's not dark enough or if there needs to be another opening, does it need to be on the basking side?

 

[SnakeKeeper]

I agree with darkridder; a MegaRay MVB would probably solve your problem; provide ample UVB and heat. I used to use ReptiSuns, they are really great bulbs, by far the best fluorescents on the market. However, when I switched to a MegaRay almost a year ago, and I noticed significant increase in my beardie's appetite.

Actually Gerber brand babyfood has no added sweeteners or preservatives. Just the pureed fruit/vegetable and water. It's not as good as fresh fruits and veggies, but it's a great way to keep their bellies full when they aren't eating as much as they should be. Butternut squash is my beardies' favorite.

What I do is I play tricks with him. I'll take a worm of some kind (mealies, waxies, whichever I have) and mix them up with the foods he won't eat.

My beardie, Budo, is a pig, but after brumation he has a hard time getting back into eating his salads. I've tried tricking him a few times; sticking some superworms in his salad bowl. As he ate one, he got a big chunk of collards. He chewed, jumped back in surprise, then gave me the fiercest glare of outrage that I have ever seen. He was absolutely LIVID. "How could you give me these icky green things when all I wanted was a worm???" :main_laugh: It was the funniest look I have ever seen!!