Picky eater

[Matthew43s]

So for the past 2-3 weeks i’ve Been noticing the only feeders KP will eat are crickets and super worms. I’ve tried feeding Dubai’s, hornworms, and Phoenix worms with no luck.

Can’t seem to get him to eat anything other then his normal, which I alternate every other day. Any suggestions, maybe even trying something new?

I gut load my crickets with a gut load I make myself, with all kinds of greens, apples, organge, sweet patatoe, and carrots blended then I freeze intovcubes and heat them in the microwave for the feeders that need gut loading. Except I give my superworms carrots red bell peppers and sweet patatoe to munch on.

 

[kinyonga]

Crickets are a good staple when fed and gutloaded properly...so it's ok that he hasn't eaten much else for now.
Try sticking a different insect in between his teeth while he's chewing on something else.

 

[Matthew43s]

Do you believe my gutload is adequate?

I would do that, however he’s only ever eaten in front of me maybe 8 or 9 times the entire time he’s been in my care. He doesn’t run away from me when I put my hand inside of his enclosure, he does however run for the hills anytime my hand gets anywhere closer then about 6 inches from him. So that would probably be pretty hard lol I figured maybe I could try the starve effect? Maybe not feed him for a couple of days and then give him the feeders to get him to try them out. Reasons being I have a closet full of feeders he won’t eat that I’m taking care of for no reason if he’s not going to eat them lol

 

[kinyonga]

How old is he? Can you post a photo so I can see his size please? If he's not full grown, I wouldn't starve him to make him eat different insects.
How big are the insects you're trying to feed him that he won't eat? How many insects does he eat a day now?
What's the basking temperature? What specific lights do you have on the cage? Is the basking light a white one?
How do you hydrated him and for how long?

To gutload/feed crickets, roaches, superworms, locusts you can use dandelion greens, endive, escarole, collards, kale, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, squash, carrots, etc and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, berries, melon, etc.

 

[Matthew43s]

He’a about 4-5months old ish by now I believe.

The Dubai roaches I try to give him are about 1/4”-1/2” I try giving him the smaller ones. Some a little over a 1/2” though. But like I said he doesn’t eat them no matter the size.
Horn worm is about an 3/4”-1 1/4” but size with those squishy guys shouldn’t be that big of a problem I thought. Considering they don’t have exoskeletons, figured it would be easy for him to gobble them up no problem.
Phoneix worms he used to eat a few but now he doesn’t touch them. Standard size.


He eats 5-7 medium/large crickets, more on the medium side, every other day. Has no problem getting those down even if a few are a little large.
Then I feed him 3-4 large super worms which he really enjoys the days he doesn’t get the crickets.

All are dusted with calcium w/o D3 everyday, and I dust with Calcium wD3 the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month, and a vitamin supplement the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month. Gut load is as follows on my previous post.

Basking temp by the basking bulb is 86 and the basking temp on his perch by the UVB light is 82. Ambient temp in the enclosure is around 73, drops to 68 at night.

I have an Arcadia 6% linear UVB bulb along with a 6.5k sunlight bulb provided by light your reptiles, along with a mercury vapor bulb with an adjusting knob for basking. All were suggested by Todd at LYR.

I have a ReptiRain automated system that waters the enclosure with two nozzles that I normally have set for every 3 hours to spray for 60 seconds. It’s turned on every morning when I wake up, and turned off whenever His lights go out. However now that humidity is lower where I am, I have it set to run for 30 seconds every hour. Along with a Big Dripper system that I have on top of his enclosure that drips 2/second. I fill both of the systems with Britta Filtered water with reptisafe added.

He also has a oil diffuser (never had oil ran through it) in his enclosure that I am using for humidity that leaves dew on the leaves at the bottom of the enclosure.

 

[Matthew43s]

 

[Matthew43s]

He was standing that way because I was trying to get a picture but he likes to sit on the perch he’s standing on to sit under his UVB light.

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

haha he is giving the "get that thing away from me stance" 1, he looks to be getting to the age where they slow down anyway and 2, guarantee you skip a day or so, he will readily eat anything. BUT their flavor of the insect largely depends on the conditions they are kept. If there is a strong ammonia smell of a feeder from a container having much poop, they will not like the food.

 

[Matthew43s]

He was ready to throw some hands at me if I were to get too close for sure lol

But that’s what I was thinking too. I mean i’ve Read these little creatures can go up to 4 days without any discomfort so why not give it a try?

And I appreciate the input, I didn’t know that. I usually clean my feeder keepers 2 times a week. I’ll up it and see if it does any good

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

Yup especially with the roaches. Their keeping affects their flavor and smell to them. And as long as they have water, they could comfortably go for a long time without food.