Kreature Eating Video

Salmon Sunday for Kreature

Kreature is becoming a spoiled tegu. He passed over steak the other day because he wanted salmon. Silly tegu! Good thing I had a slice of salmon frozen I could thaw for him.

He ate about half of it and then closed his eyes to digest in the warm sunshine. Every so often, he'd lick his lips.

Norman is not used to fish as a food and didn't have much interest in his salmon. 

Blogger isn't letting me upload my video of Kreature eating and so I'll post it directly on my Facebook rescue page. :)

Feeding Kreature

Feeding Kreature is an interesting experience! He prefers meat! Tonight was "Fish Friday" for him and I gave him cod and shrimp. He picked out the shrimp before eating the fish.

When he's eating, I keep my fingers far away from his mouth. I've seen those teeth!

To get him out I blow on the food towards his cage so he can smell it. 

Once he comes out, I keep blowing the odors towards him. 

I make him come all the way out before he can eat.

He tries the fish first. Not too bad. 

He tries the shrimp.

He starts picking out the shrimp.

He eats all the shrimp first. 

Then he finishes the fish. I use the tongs to help him with the smaller pieces.

He looks around on the towel for anything he missed.

No more food. He's done. 

Back to sleep. 

Eating! When Food is a Good Sign

Lotus chowed down on 6 large superworms today! 

Humpty Dumpty got in his water bowl and ate 8 pellets. 

Woo hoo! Glad both of them are eating again. 

A Farmer's Market

When I was on my vacation in California, I found the most amazing fruit & vegetable stand/shop in Moss Landing. 

It was incredible. I walked up and down the aisles and thought of how spoiled my reptiles would all be if I lived close to one like that. 

Outdoor Dining

We collected the tortoises from the backyard and gave them greens to eat. 

Then my boys collected strawberries and sugar snap peas from our weak garden to feed them. 

Otis and LilFoot went CRAZY when we brought over the strawberries. 

LilFoot ate his so fast that I couldn't even get a pic. 

Nubs eating Roaches

Nubs Eating Greens

Big Step for Forward for Nubs

Nubs ate 6 little dubia roaches today! It's his first "protein" for over a week. I only let him eat a few tiny ones so we could see how his digestive system responds to them. If he is still doing well tomorrow, we'll give him 6 more. The quicker he is eating on his own, the quicker he can be off the force feeding and the quicker he'll put on weight.

Weight = Health = Going back Home!!

If your Beardie won't Eat

Greens! Greens! Greens!

Because I have herbivore/omnivore reptiles, my fridge rivals any die-hard vegan's! Greens, veggies, & fruits are always on my shopping list. With so many reptiles to feed, I finally got my greens down to a system and I thought I'd share that today.

1st-- know what greens are good all the time, which are good some of the time, and which are good rarely. My favorite staples are: collard greens & mustard greens. The rest of my mix changes weekly. I've added in cilantro, parsley, spring mix, kale, beet greens, bok choy, and others. You can grow your own greens, buy them from farmer's markets, or get them from any produce seciton.

2nd- buy your greens. I buy most of my greens from Wal-mart or from a local grocery store. Sometimes I'll buy a box of Organic spring mix from Costco, but lately my reptiles can't eat all of it before it goes bad (so it doesn't really save me much money even though it is super cheap).

3rd- I soak all my greens in the sink for 5 minutes. Then I swish them around with my hand. You can buy organic greens, but you should wash them anyways.

4th- I cut the stems and wilted pieces off my greens. I save the ends & such and put them in a bag to send to my neighbor's chickens. I chop up the greens and put them in my plastic reptile greens container.

Putting a paper towel in the box keeps the greens from going mushy quickly. I change the paper towel out frequently (every other day or so).

5th-- I will grate other veggies: carrots, squash, zucchini, apples, red bell peppers, etc and put them in separate containers. I learned the hard way that storing other veggies with my greens makes them all go bad. :(  So now I just grab out my greens box and my other containers.

6th-- I never have enough feeding/watering dishes to go with my rescue tanks and am always buying them. I was so excited last weekend when I found small, rounded plates at a thrift store for a quarter a piece. I bought a dozen of them.

Now I can pull out my clean plates along with my greens and dish up the greens from the kitchen and then deliver them to my tanks.

7th-- all my old, dried greens go into my compost box. Though I do have a few beardies who will NOT eat greens until they are totally dried out & crispy. Crazy beardies!

8th-- repeat when the greens are gone. I do it at least weekly, but sometimes every 5 days.


This way saves time & works well for me-- especially when I have 8 beardies to prepare greens for and an iguana-- that iguana eats a TON of greens twice a day. :) Sometimes I'm not as organized and I find myself scrambling to find things to feed my reptiles-- which is no fun. It's just easier to play ahead.

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Here's a link to my FAVORITE list of what beardies can eat:

Beardie Dragon Diet

The key is variety. No beardie likes to eat the same thing over and over. If you're finding your beardie has stopped eating greens, then switch it up. Let them try something new to see if they'll start eating again. Swapping out your veggies will make sure that your beardies get many essential vitamins & nutrients.

Share your own tricks, secrets, and ideas in the comments box below!