Appetite Question

[saisaac]

Chewy has been picky ever since coming our of a slight cooling period back in early February. I know this is normal, especially for males, but I have been able to get him to eat some by feeding him raw or lightly cooked beef and turkey with some veggies on the side. He has really only been eating the meat though.

I'm the first person to get paranoid about my animals and Malla is a chunker so my perspective is likely scewed, but Chewy is still fairly thin and small I think compared to before cooling. Unfortunately, I don't have a weight for him prior to cooling, but if need be I can try to get a weight for him tonight.

November prior to cooling:

1451552_583662117596_1167065766_n.jpg

Recently:

1911817_590523881566_114333530_n.jpg

[Logancrook]

He does look a little skinny to me but the protein from the meat should get him to put on weight faster. My skink doesnt like veggies at all so i have to chop them up really fine and mix it into her dogfood really well. Maybe mixing in with the meat to the point that she cant separate them would help you too.

[saisaac]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried that. He just ignores it then. He is still popping sperm plugs around his cage somewhat regularly, so he may still just have the ladies on his mind distracting him from food right now. He was good about his veggies back in November before the cool down.

How long do they often go off of food during this period and can he keep eating primarily meat with vitamin/calci powder for more than a couple of months safely?

[donkeybuff]

Some people don't feed veggies very often at all. I don't recommend it, but it has worked for them for a long time. He should be back on food soon; as long as he doesn't get too skinny, you should be okay.

[Vengeance]

Gizmo was very picky with foods for several months after winter last year, and he wasn't cooled although ambient temperatures at night might have encouraged him to slow down. We did move in the last week of June (middle-tail end of winter over here), so that may have had a factor in it as well. He had a fair amount of bulk on him and didn't lose much weight so I extended feeds to once a week as he would let food sit without even touching it if I offered food in shorter intervals. He'd still only take bits here and there, mostly mealworms, egg and sometimes dog food - which did have me worried, especially when he blatantly ignored silkworms. However he did eventually regain his appetite, after three-four months of being picky to wolfing down food in November.

As for whether or not eating just proteins is good or bad, I cannot say as Gizmo didn't really lose much weight despite it being his first winter. If you're not opposed, perhaps some complete nutrition dog food could provide both the proteins and veg part of his diet.

[saisaac]

He has been ignoring his canned Wellness dog food and even the chuckier Merrick food, but I had luck mixing fresh turkey with my food frozen cubes (dog food, collard greens, squash, peas, kale, egg, supplements). He went for the meat chunks, but they were coated in veggie goop so he got some veggies too.

Malla eats like a pig! She cleaned the bowl.

[Richard.C]

Sounds normal to me,males are picky through winter/early spring

Another thing to keep in mind is males generally eat to maintain condition,females eat fir that to but also to gain eeight for breeding,and to help with regaining weight after having babies,so normally females are the better eaters,some males are pigs to though,lol

His appetite should return pretty soon,i just keep offering a bit until they start eating it and wanting more

[saisaac]

Thanks everyone!

Since Malla is fairly chunky and eats great, would it be better to feed her once a week with a decent portion or twice a week with smaller portions? One portion a week should result in less frequent poos correct?