fat chubby

[Chris1]

while i really hate the thought of breeding my dragons i'm at my wits end with having chubby on a diet.

its been about 18 months and shes lost 110g,...she had lost more but recently shes gained heaps again,...the onl;y way i can get her to reduce is to feed her a small bit of bean twice a week, anything more than that annd she either stays the same of gains weight.

would breeding her make her drop the weight?
are there any health risks involved with her getting knocked up while being so fat?

i know her health is @ risk just from the weight, and losing it too quickly will cause fatty livers,..will being gravid affect her liver in the same way as losing weight too quickly?

i'm getting really depressed with having to remove her from the tank when i give the others their salad,..she knows whats going on and keeps trying to go back in and eat too.

i have a gentle male staying with me (babysitting) @ the moment so she wouldnt have to deal with my evil aggressive male who just bites randomly at faces and stuff.

as i said, i really hate the thought of breeding but something needs to be done about her weight.

she hasnt had any insects in months,...just salads every second or third day,..and i take her away befoer shes eaten her fill....she runs around alot, almost constantly some days,..so getting her to exercise more isnt helping either.

shes 47cms long
and has reduced from 655g to 550g.

any thoughts/experiences/suggestions?
i'm getting so frustrated with her.

thanks, Chris.

 

[CodeRed]

Chris,

Breeding will knock the weight off her very quickly. I would consider it quite dangerous to not feed her much whilst breeding as she would probably get a calcium deficiency.

 

[Chris1]

Thanks Steve,..!

i'd definately feed her if i was to put her with the male, lots of calcium and sun etc,...

would losing all that weight be safe for her liver considering losing it too quickly by dieting apparently causes fatty liver disease?

i'm so over not being able to feed her.

shes almost 4 btw if that makes any difference and has been fat since she stopped growing at about 10 months.

 

[Rocky]

Wow, I haven't heard of this before, I would think that if she is more bulky, that would make the gravid stage alot better. That would suck having to move her out every time you feed them. Maybe if you put her to breed with the male she may lose some weight running around

Good luck!

 

[Chris1]

good point actually i've heard people fatten up their girls before breeding....!!

hehe, shes always loved her food,..but she exercises so much more than other dragons that eat less than her,.. (and are way thinner)!

might give her vet a call,...he gave me lots of frowny looks about her weight when i took her in.

btw, the heatcord is 4.2 metres, and i'll check fro the boxes over the weekend.

 

[Rocky]

Is it a more fatty sort of size or is it a bulky one? Could she just be the dominant bigger one, or is it more fat?

(and thanks for all the incubator help!)

 

[Chris1]

shes just fat,..horrible to say but true.

her sister is a longer slimmer version of her,...


shes put on 30g since this pic was taken,...dont know how she manages it on what i feed her.

no worries bout the help!

 

[Sturdy]

hay mate if you breed her ill buy a hatchling

 

[Chris1]

thanks Sturdy, i think i'm gonna have to,...

the boy she'll be with is flourescent yellow,..brother of daisy.
(heres a pic of daisy, Larry her brother is even yellower,...)

i've tried everything except this to slim her down,...this seems to be my last resort.

 

[Dave]

thanks Sturdy, i think i'm gonna have to,...

the boy she'll be with is flourescent yellow,..brother of daisy.
(heres a pic of daisy, Larry her brother is even yellower,...)

i've tried everything except this to slim her down,...this seems to be my last resort.

Wow, that girl is very nice. Her brother must be beautiful! goodluck if you decide to breed

 

[daniel1234]

Way out of my depth here, but the pics make me wanna jump in (to keeping beardies). Although I have been getting the itch for quite a while now.....

Dont alot of vegies and fruit have high sugar content? I know lettuce does. If you feed her more protein wouldn't that slim her down?

 

[Rocky]

No you cant breed! I must be the hornsby supplier this year!

 

[Chris1]

hehe Rocky, if u wanna pay for liposuction i'm happy to go with that!!!
( hmmm,...is that available,..?)

Thanks Dave!
i'll take some pix of Larry tonight and post em on monday,...

Daniel, i dont feed her anything high in starch or sugar,....to her dismay even her once weekly bit of butternut pumpkin has been cut out of her diet, she lives on asian salad mix (about 5 different types of healthy greens) a bit of green bean,...and a sliver of carrot once a week. didnt know lettuce had a high sugar content though,...might have to re assess her diet then, nah, i'll just get her knocked up, its all getting to difficult..

the weekly juice (substitute for a food day) has a splash of juice to alot of water, so theres barely any sugar/calories there either,..

teh 100g she lost started going down when i severely reduced her roach intake, so i dont think more protien would work,...

shes so frustrating,....well, not her, just her weight!

get some beardies, theyre such fun pets!!

 

[Kirby]

ask you vet about a supplement they use in dog food to break down fat stores rather then uploading and absorbing more fat from food. its in Premium weight control foods for dogs.

ask your vet, and maybe search online (sorry cant think of it right now) something makes me thing its also natural in a variety of foods. if you can get a hold of this, it should help break down her fat stores and slow her absorbing MORE fat..

i think my Puppy has the same problem, he has HUGE fat stores, but eats so little.. now its warming up his appetite is raging and im afraid his fat stores will burst. just lay back on fatty protein feeders, and feed allot of greens, squash, beans, and greens... maybe try dropping her protein feed to 10-15%

i know your feeding her very little, but this often does the opposite, the body conserves fat and absorbs as much as it can from the food when it is scarce.. this is why its not necessarily TINY portions of food when dieting, just the right amount appropriately. i would drop her diet down to two beans a week. maybe a salad a week and a few roaches.

i suggest you look into it, i think its in Eukanuba light, look on the packaging. or maybe hills science diet weight control. lol. sorry its kind of irrelevant being a dog food, but the ingredient may help you out in this case.

Paul.

 

[Chris1]

thanks for the advice Paul.

chubby hasnt even sniffed a roach for at least 2 months, so dropping her protien further isnt really possible!

2 beans, a salad and a few roaches is more than shes getting at this point,....and shes currently gaining weight again.

i've been struggling with her weight for so long now, i really do think she has a crap metabolism cos she and her sister grew up under the same conditions being offered the same food,..chub just got huge, Bug eats more than her and is slim in comparison,..but by no means skinny (50cms, about 480-490g) and chub exercises alot more than bug who is generally content to spend her days lying on the bean bag (heated ofcourse) watching the world go by.

i'll ask about it when i call to see if its safe to get her knocked up (now that u mention it i'm pretty sure i've heard about something like that fro humans too,..)and discuss options,...but i'm thinking using up the fat with egg production would be the quickest easiest way to get her back to a decent weight i can help her maintain instead of having to take her out of the tank while i feed the others. i just feel so mean doing that.

are you trying it on your puppy? (good luck if you are)
its so depressing having to monitor an animals food so badly, it feels like punishment for me.

if it wasnt so unhealthy for her i'd let her eat whatever,...but i dont wanna lose my girl. i feel like i'm killing her with food at the moment,..and it will be my fault if she dies, which i dont think i could deal with.

 

[GSXR_Boy]

,....and shes currently gaining weight again.
i've been struggling with her weight for so long now, i really do think she has a crap metabolism cos she and her sister grew up under the same conditions being offered the same food,..chub just got huge, .

Sure she isn't related to that Kirsty Alley lady???
Sorry couldn't help myself!

 

[Chris1]

Sure she isn't related to that Kirsty Alley lady???
Sorry couldn't help myself!

hehe, positive, chubbas way to pretty!

 

[junior37991]

Crush up some weight burning meds from your local supplement store. Nah don't only kidding!

 

[Chris1]

all was going well,..he was head bobbing,...she was slowly bobbing back and wriggling the tip of her tail at him,...

then he ran at her,...she looked all panicky and started frantically arm waving.

and mummy comes running over to remove the mean boy and give chubba a cuddle.

didnt think i could go thru with it,...so the diet continues,...

 

[daniel1234]

So breeding is quite a violent affair then? Is that why you don't want to do it? Thing is maybe she does and could this be the reason for the wait gain, kinda a dragons way of going on heat.

Yeh I sorta realised/remembered later that you had other dragons who would be feeding on the same food as her.