Breaking the Addiction

[beeneufe]

Currently on day 5 of no bugs, greens only. I hate starving my lizards, but Ms. Superworm-addict refuses to eat any greens or fruit--and is getting quite chubby--so I felt I had no other choice. I have tried topping up salads with small crawlers (she picks them out), changing food dishes, hand feeding, putting small bits in her basking spot, shaking the greens, sliding greens in her mouth while she is chewing (she now won't eat if she can see me holding greens nearby).

Poor girl is just standing by her food dish waiting for me to cave. Has anyone had luck with withholding bugs until salad is eaten? I don't know how long I can hold out, her little stare is too much. I don't want to neglect her, I am just unsure how else to get her to eat some greens. Her bugs are gut-loaded which kind of helps, but she is 2 years old and I don't want her to develop fatty liver or anything like that.

 

[Mom of blazey]

I'm gonna let the others chime in, my guys love their greens, good luck, I know that look she's giving you, went thru a period, when they 1st came into my life, they were given wax worms ALL the time so I had to get them off, so I weaned them off, 1st &2nd day they got 6..3rd and 4th day they got 5 so on & so on, took them about a week &1/2 until they started eating crickets and superworms, I understand how lucky I am, they love their greens, good luck and my heart's with ya...

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[Rex Carnage]

ive only done 2 days at most but id like to see what the others on this forum think too

 

[Hdrydr31]

Don't give in they will not starve themselves and if they are in good shape they will be fine.. It can take a week or two for them to figure out that well they need to eat the yummy salad... Have you put some bee pollen on there?

 

[beeneufe]

Don't give in they will not starve themselves and if they are in good shape they will be fine.. It can take a week or two for them to figure out that well they need to eat the yummy salad... Have you put some bee pollen on there?

I have not done the bee pollen thing, but have heard it a few times here and there. Can't hurt to give it a go. Where does one find bee pollen?

 

[Hdrydr31]

I have not done the bee pollen thing, but have heard it a few times here and there. Can't hurt to give it a go. Where does one find bee pollen?

You can get it on Amazon or you can find it at walmarts I got mine from the vitamin shoppe it's a big jug of granules so when I need more I put some in a grinder and make them into a powder. I store the rest in the fridge. Word of caution if your allergic to bee's .....you can sprinkle the bugs/salads with it and because it's sweet some really like whatever it's on and some anxiously await it to be put on their salads... worth a shot and if yours doesn't like it well it's a Fantastic supplement so if you do slurries at all it's a good one to add..

 

[PatsyB]

Try the bee pollen. I got mine at the Vitamin Shoppe and ground it up but I also got some online from bearded dragon.co or from bug-de-lite.com

I'll tell you that be pollen isn't a big motivator for mine. My boy will chow down a little more when he tastes the bee pollen but he's always eats his salad anyway. My girls really don't care for it.

I tried withholding bugs with Dexter and she is stubborn after awhile (I don't remember, maybe a week) I gave in. Now what I do, Is when I feed her supers I stick a green in her mouth while she's chewing them. Supers require the mouth to open a good amount and chewing takes some time so it's the perfect bug to do it with. The other thing that used to work was let the greens stick to a hornworm and then she would eat it that way.

 

[beeneufe]

Alright so she broke me. It was day 8 and even with the pollen she wasn't eating. Unfortunately, the only bug I had on hand was superworms so she is the winner in the end. The good news is she was pretty hungry so I was able to sneak some leaves into her mouth while she was chowing down. I'm going to keep up with the pollen and see if she starts to notice it. I have a new 4 x 2 x 2 enclosure under construction so hopefully when it's done and she's moved, her chunkiness will get under control with some more leg room

 

[Wendyj]

What is the purpose of the bee pollen?

 

[Canicke]

to encourage eating ; because it's sweet some really like whatever it's on and some anxiously await it to be put on their salads

 

[PatsyB]

Bee pollen is also good for the immune system.