How much do i feed my blue tongue lizard?

[user 30368]

I have a baby western blue tongue lizard. I feed it every day and dust with calcium/vitamin powder. He has a heat tile set to 32 degrees and that is on 24-7 whilst he is young to get him through his first winter. He also has a UVA/UVB light on in the day. I just want to know how much I should be feeding him? I find he is eating his own poop! I feed him in the morning, and I find in the afternoon he is hanging around his food bowl. When I feed him he leaves some and I take it away thinking that he is full. The fact that he is eating his own mess suggests to me that he is still hungry. Do I start giving him an afternoon snack as well? I don't want to over feed him if he is just being greedy.

 

[lizardwhisperer]

I have a baby western blue tongue lizard. I feed it every day and dust with calcium/vitamin powder. He has a heat tile set to 32 degrees and that is on 24-7 whilst he is young to get him through his first winter. He also has a UVA/UVB light on in the day. I just want to know how much I should be feeding him? I find he is eating his own poop! I feed him in the morning, and I find in the afternoon he is hanging around his food bowl. When I feed him he leaves some and I take it away thinking that he is full. The fact that he is eating his own mess suggests to me that he is still hungry. Do I start giving him an afternoon snack as well? I don't want to over feed him if he is just being greedy.

If he's a baby, I'd make sure there are greens and veg and some dampened lizard pellets and some cut up fruit for him all day from the morning , as well feeding insects 3 times per day until he is several months old. I never give my bluetongues cat or dog food. (I'm giving my bluetongues bearded dragon pellets as part of their mix and they seem to like them (the colours appeal to them)). I always give my bluetongues more "salad and vegs" than they'll eat, the leftovers go away to the compost heap that night.

He'll graze on the vegs and greens and softened pellets and bits of fruit through the day and I'd dust it all liberally with calcium powder and give a dusting of vitamin powder at least a few times a week.

They love hardboiled egg, and runny egg too , but it's very high protein and should be a treat only.

As he gets bigger and older , his dietary needs will change to predominantly greens, veg , softened pellets (he might take dry lizard pellets) and fruit and then insects become a treat a few times a week (some of us spoil our bluetongues and give insects more regularly).

You should have been given advice on caring for him and feeding him by the breeder when you bought him. There are caresheets available online too.

DON'T LEAVE his poos in his enclosure, remove them immediately you see him do them or as soon as you see them. Would you like to live in a cesspit ?

What are you feeding him ?
.... he may be deficient in somethng important in his dietary needs if he's eating his poos .

 

[user 30368]

righto, he eats peas, green beans, carrots, corn, endive, apple, banana and whatever different fruits or veg I happen to be using for my dinner each day. His viv is very clean, but because I work, if he dumps in the day, he can eat it before I get home. I can't stress how much I keep my viv's clean. He has a multi vitamin/calcium powder on every meal, and once a week I use the same powder that also contains D3. (I was told too much D3 can give them gout). Buy what you say above, I am thinking I am not feeding him enough. So I will give him more food and leave it in there a little longer. I did notice that one day he did not finish his vegies, so I left them in there. He did graze off them throughout the day. I have never seen these reptile pellets before. We are limited in W.A. to some of the choices. But if you can recommend a good brand, i'm sure I can find something on the net.

 

[lizardwhisperer]

good guide Nutrition Content , just as good for BTS .

Go easy with the banana , phos interfers with calcium uptake. Banana makes a great treat for BTS. It's quite OK to give him his veg and salad and greens in the am and leave it in the enclosure all day.

I buy VetaFarm and Rep-Cal brand pellets. The go a very long way when you are using only 20cc of mixture per 2 or 3 days when mixing it with the salad/veg.

I'm thinking of buying some silkworms for my BTS to get as a regular staple as well as their snails and crickets.

 

[Sel]

A plate of greens and fruit a day should be fine, leave it there all day because they will always go back to it. If you can get snails, bluetongues love them.. mine usually get a few snails and a plate of whatever ive bought that week, their fave is mushroom..and banana. I try not to feed dog food, as it just makes the poop worse than it already is..lol
They can eat a bit, and while he is young id let him go for it..

 

[user 30368]

cool, so it looks like I am doing the right thing, I just need to offer more. The bulk of his diet is green vegies with fruit now and then. The only reason I haven't been going over board on his food is because I have read care sheets telling me to control the amount of food as they tend to eat more than they need to - causing obesity. I am confident he is getting everything he needs, i'll just give him more of it. Is it normal for them to get a MASSIVE stomach after eating? He ate the other day and he looked like he was ready to pop!

 

[lizardwhisperer]

Just be careful to set the snails you catch for him aside somewhere snail proof and cool for a few days (I wait a week) to gut load them and let them get rid of anything nasty they may have eaten in your garden or an neighbour's garden, especially to avoid using snails that have been poisoned.

I use a big old ceramic flower pot with bit of plywood overtop it and toss my kitchen veg scraps and leftover BTS salad in for the the snails to eat.
My two are very partial to snails , can't get enough of them, and they love crickets (and roaches) too. My female will stalk a cricket for ages and only gives up if she looses it (I've got to go looking for it later or wait for rogue crickets to come out after the lizard has gone to bed) to recover them.

I gut load my crickets with large beardie pellets, carrot and bok choy greens. They devower the pellets and bok choy very quickly and the lizards get the benefits when they eat them.