Adding baby food to my baby beardie's diet

[Motherofdragons0727]

So Godzilla eats his crickets but still hasn't touched his salad. His calcium powder should be in the mail tomorrow so I'll be able to start dusting his crickets then. But we picked up some baby food to try to get him some extra nutrients at least until he takes to the salad. We bought pumpkin, we bought peas, and we bought squash. The beechnut organic. How much should I allow him to eat from the medicine dropper. And do I add any water to it? Edited to add that he's 2 months old

 

[Sosemisa]

So Godzilla eats his crickets but still hasn't touched his salad. His calcium powder should be in the mail tomorrow so I'll be able to start dusting his crickets then. But we picked up some baby food to try to get him some extra nutrients at least until he takes to the salad. We bought pumpkin, we bought peas, and we bought squash. The beechnut organic. How much should I allow him to eat from the medicine dropper. And do I add any water to it? Edited to add that he's 2 months old

Some don’t eat veg until there are like 6 months old I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Unless he is over 6 months and not eating veg. You could also feed him veg before he eats crickets so he is hungry and might eat it. Or put crickets on top of veggies

 

[Motherofdragons0727]

Some don’t eat veg until there are like 6 months old I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Unless he is over 6 months and not eating veg. You could also feed him veg before he eats crickets so he is hungry and might eat it. Or put crickets on top of veggies

Okay, I over worry about everything but that helps a ton!! Lol Thanks

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

So Godzilla eats his crickets but still hasn't touched his salad. His calcium powder should be in the mail tomorrow so I'll be able to start dusting his crickets then. But we picked up some baby food to try to get him some extra nutrients at least until he takes to the salad. We bought pumpkin, we bought peas, and we bought squash. The beechnut organic. How much should I allow him to eat from the medicine dropper. And do I add any water to it? Edited to add that he's 2 months old

I noticed with Dex's baby food that if I added a tad bit of water (so it was a little more watery) he ate it better as it wasn't so thick. I have a few smaller droppers that I use right now as he's still tiny. I add a pinch of calcium (I use Flucker's Repta Calcium with D3) and multivitamins (I use Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamis) to each daily batch. I don't need to make a lot right now . . . about enough to half fill a small dropper. I feed him this baby food once in the morning after I give him his bugs and once mid afternoon before I give him his last bug feeding. In between I store it in the fridge. Before I feed it to him I warm it up in a bowl of water as he likes it warm. I'd say he eats about 1-1.5 ml each time. Not a lot, but his belly is tiny and I'd rather him get his protein from his crickets and roaches. Right now I buy the smallest jars I can find as once the jars are open they don't last long before they expire. As another added tip and to save $, I only open 1 jar at a time now. I'm told they like variety, but I'm still trying to get him to eat his salads which I switch up, so the baby food is just to ensure that he's getting a little bit daily until he's eating his salad. If it's boring maybe he'll want his salad instead. lol Yesterday I opened a jar of sweet peas and will use it until it expires. Hope this helps.

 

[Motherofdragons0727]

Yeah, I tried Pumpkin with Godzilla and he loved it!! But I couldn't find my medicine dropper so i just used a baby spoon and he ate it right off the baby spoon! Lol Do you add water to even the thinner baby foods too? It was kinda thick so that makes sense with the pumpkin. His calcium with d3 came in the mail yesterday so we started dipping his crickets for his second feeding. If we dip all his crickets in it, and he's eating about 30 to 40 right now all sizes of feeder crickets, should I still add calcium to the baby food? I know he can have too much as well so I don't wanna overdo it and hurt the little guy. Sorry I'm a worry wart!! My husband tells me all the time I worry too much! But Godzilla is like another baby in the house so I want to make sure he's happy and healthy too!!

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

Yeah, I tried Pumpkin with Godzilla and he loved it!! But I couldn't find my medicine dropper so i just used a baby spoon and he ate it right off the baby spoon! Lol Do you add water to even the thinner baby foods too? It was kinda thick so that makes sense with the pumpkin. His calcium with d3 came in the mail yesterday so we started dipping his crickets for his second feeding. If we dip all his crickets in it, and he's eating about 30 to 40 right now all sizes of feeder crickets, should I still add calcium to the baby food? I know he can have too much as well so I don't wanna overdo it and hurt the little guy. Sorry I'm a worry wart!! My husband tells me all the time I worry too much! But Godzilla is like another baby in the house so I want to make sure he's happy and healthy too!!

Haven't tired pumpkin with Dex yet. So far his favorites are the squash and sweet peas. lol Sweet . . . sounds like the baby spoon works for Godzilla. I went right for the dropper so am not sure if he'd eat from a baby spoon or not. Nice that your calcium came. Woot. From what peeps here have told me and from what I've read, babies need calcium daily, but not too much. Bugs only need a very light dusting (not completely coated in white). Because I have a good UVB lamp that runs the length of his tank and because I add a pinch of calcium and vitamins to his baby food I only dust 1/4 of his crickets each feeding. He's eats about 4 times a day now. Every other day I'll lightly dust with both the calcium and vitamins. Not sure if I'm giving him too much or not enough. I'm going to ask my vet when he has his wellness check, but so far he's not showing any ill effects, is energetic, and is pooing regularly. I tend to call him zippy a lot. hahahaha

Hey don't be sorry, I'm right there with you on being a worry wart. Still panic every morning when I turn on his lights and it doesn't subside until he's up and moving and I see his usual poo about an hour later. (Yeah, I can pretty much time his poos that's how bad I am.) lololol I still check on him every half hour or so even if it's just a peek. Thank gawd we are still mandated to work from home until August 31st. I'd be frantic having to go back into the office right now. When he's a little older I probably won't stress as badly. Sounds like Godzilla found a perfect forever home.

 

[Motherofdragons0727]

Haven't tired pumpkin with Dex yet. So far his favorites are the squash and sweet peas. lol Sweet . . . sounds like the baby spoon works for Godzilla. I went right for the dropper so am not sure if he'd eat from a baby spoon or not. Nice that your calcium came. Woot. From what peeps here have told me and from what I've read, babies need calcium daily, but not too much. Bugs only need a very light dusting (not completely coated in white). Because I have a good UVB lamp that runs the length of his tank and because I add a pinch of calcium and vitamins to his baby food I only dust 1/4 of his crickets each feeding. He's eats about 4 times a day now. Every other day I'll lightly dust with both the calcium and vitamins. Not sure if I'm giving him too much or not enough. I'm going to ask my vet when he has his wellness check, but so far he's not showing any ill effects, is energetic, and is pooing regularly. I tend to call him zippy a lot. hahahaha

Hey don't be sorry, I'm right there with you on being a worry wart. Still panic every morning when I turn on his lights and it doesn't subside until he's up and moving and I see his usual poo about an hour later. (Yeah, I can pretty much time his poos that's how bad I am.) lololol I still check on him every half hour or so even if it's just a peek. Thank gawd we are still mandated to work from home until August 31st. I'd be frantic having to go back into the office right now. When he's a little older I probably won't stress as badly. Sounds like Godzilla found a perfect forever home.

Yeah, that's another reason i wanted to make sure he was getting enough calcium as we only have a dome light on Godzilla's right now. We're in the market for a bigger tank and plan to expand and get a bunch more decor as well when we get his new tank. I also got a squash baby food and a pea baby food but just haven't tried them yet. Due to the COVID mess and me living in Florida, We decided I will probably end up just being a stay at home mom now. Especially since our counties positive case numbers sky rocketed recently as we're in the Panhandle, we don't feel safe sending Wyatt back to school on the 11th so we enrolled him in the online my school option so that if this dies down by the end of the first 9 weeks, he might be able to go back to his actual school. But until then, we'll keep him and his sister's and dragon safe at home!! My husband is an essential worker and that's saved us in this for sure but it is scary.. I am constantly checking on Godzilla too haha and we've been trying to get Wyatt to fees Godzilla and he does but the problem is, when he puts his hand inside the kritter keeper where the crickets are to grab one, like 6 crawl on his hand then we have crickets everywhere!! Lol So I usually do most of the feedings as well or ill get each cricket out and then give it to Wyatt to put in the tank lol

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

Yeah, that's another reason i wanted to make sure he was getting enough calcium as we only have a dome light on Godzilla's right now. We're in the market for a bigger tank and plan to expand and get a bunch more decor as well when we get his new tank. I also got a squash baby food and a pea baby food but just haven't tried them yet. Due to the COVID mess and me living in Florida, We decided I will probably end up just being a stay at home mom now. Especially since our counties positive case numbers sky rocketed recently as we're in the Panhandle, we don't feel safe sending Wyatt back to school on the 11th so we enrolled him in the online my school option so that if this dies down by the end of the first 9 weeks, he might be able to go back to his actual school. But until then, we'll keep him and his sister's and dragon safe at home!! My husband is an essential worker and that's saved us in this for sure but it is scary.. I am constantly checking on Godzilla too haha and we've been trying to get Wyatt to fees Godzilla and he does but the problem is, when he puts his hand inside the kritter keeper where the crickets are to grab one, like 6 crawl on his hand then we have crickets everywhere!! Lol So I usually do most of the feedings as well or ill get each cricket out and then give it to Wyatt to put in the tank lol

I worry about the calcium and mineral intakes too! If you discover more info please let me know. I'm in Maine and we've only had 60 confirmed cases in our county, so far. Since our town is one of several in our county with a population of just over 700 I don't think that's too bad. My son will be a senior this fall and we are still waiting to hear if it will be live attendance or online. He had to finish up his Jr year online. We might decide to keep him home regardless. Better to be safe than sorry. Because of where my daughter works she had to have a mandatory test recently. It came back negative. Yay!

I have a 40 gal right now so I won't need to expend for a little bit. I've already been looking at the bigger tanks, though. lol I might have hubby build me one. I've been watching the posts of the peeps that have custom made their own and taking notes. From what I hear babies don't need much in their tanks at first. Too much may stress them out in addition to allowing bugs more places to hide from them. Right now I have a big log, a basking rock (I have small rocks under it so it's higher and closer to his heat lamp and has a little cave like area for him to hide in), a smaller stick in the back of his tank that runs up into the leaves of one of the 2 plants I have stuck to the side (so he can get higher to UVB if he wants), a flat food bowl and now his hammock that is off the ground. That's it. His water bowl is low and flat, but I only keep it in there periodically throughout the day and I take it out at night. I did have a bigger cave like rock in there, but bugs hid in there constantly so I took it out. When he gets older, I'll add a bit more deco to help keep him entertained. Right now his hammock seems to be entertaining him immensely more as a jungle gym than as a place to bask. lol

I hear you on crickets every where. I'm constantly chasing 1 or 2 escapees and putting them back into the container each feeding. It entertains hubby watching me chase them. hahahaha 4th of July weekend our cat jumped up onto the stand where I keep the bug containers and knocked his cricket container onto the floor. I apparently didn't have the lid snapped down tight . . . tiny crickets everywhere. Between what the dog ate and those that escaped (I heard them chirping for a few days) I wasn't sure I'd have enough to get me by until the pet store opened. I made it though . . . just barely. Dang cat . . . good thing I love him. lol