1.5 mo Feeding issues

[johnnydr]

I posted this on facebook, but figured I may get a better response on here:

Boca, my new northern. So far I can only get him to eat crickets....any advice? Or is this normal. I've tried 3 dog foods and fresh food. Crix only so far but he's only been with me 4 days.
John-David Robbins's photo.
John-David Robbins's photo.
Like Comment
8 people like this.

James Bolar you'll go broke feeding him crickets, take some canned pate dog food, mix a little egg into it. and live it in his cage with no one watching him. about a spoon dallops worth.
3 hrs · Like · 1

Chelsey Trowbridge What type of dog food
3 hrs · Like

John-David Robbins I've tried blue buff, natural balance, and some other good brands. I tried patte, chunks,and the "sausage" type cut up...i leave it in his cage all day while im not in my room and he doesn't touch it. Loves crix!
2 hrs · Like

Chelsey Trowbridge I use merrick. Literally just merrick with added calcium. My boy was a picky eater too when I would make his food. He always picked out the greens and only ate his favorites. He always hated crickets and didn't eat worms or anything. You can try merrick, it doesn't even smell like dog food it actually smells quite tasty
2 hrs · Like

Jon Runde Sometimes they take a little while to settle in. Crickets are horrible feeders though...... Superworms are like crack to mine.
2 hrs · Like

John-David Robbins I've known about merrick since it's dawning. I looked for it, but petsmart doesn't seem to carry it. I bought what looked like Petsmart's equivalent because it was chicken pot pie just like merrik flavor with similar ingredients. Still.....no interest in dog food.
1 hr · Like

John-David Robbins Jon Runde. This guy was offered super worms from day 1 in his dog food to get him interested, the worms alone. NO interest. I emailed the breeder and asked what he was feeding. He said "throw in some crix to snap him out of it" He friggin is OBSESSED with crickets...he ate 1 superworm by accident and pooped it out undigested.
22 mins · Like

John-David Robbins He will eat 10-20 crickets at a time and chases them wit a prey drive every day.....I know he is settling but if there are crix in there, there is nothing I can do to upset or disturb him to make him stop hunting.
20 mins · Like

John-David Robbins Also, he never huffs, hisses, opens his mouth, runs away, etc....yet appears 100% healthy
18 mins · Like

Jon Runde That is weird...... I feed all my herps a plethora of supers and everyone, including the blue tongues, loves them and fully digest them. I'd say your temps may not be high enough if it was undigested..... He may just need a little bit of time to settle in, and if he was only fed crickets, that may be the only thing he recognizes as food. You're going to need to break him of that. Crickets are highly deficient feeders.
14 mins · Like

John-David Robbins Well I got him from a highly regarded breeder Jon Runde. I know my temps are not off. Have gun and his hot end is reliably 100ish at the hottest and low 80's at the lower end. I offered the 3 types of dog food and crested gecko diet as well....no interest. But I am persistent and maybe it's just him settling? it's only about 1.5 months old and an acceptable size for it's age.
5 mins · Like

John-David Robbins Also I'm keeping him on carefresh......do you think I should do paper towel or newspaper so he has less option to run away and hide when I provide food.....or should the smell drive him?


https://www.facebook.com/groups/BTSEnth ... tif_t=like

[NickBrahz]

A picky skink is not a hungry skink, stop giving in by giving him crickets and just keep offering him the dog food(suggest mixing in veggies with it) after a few days or weeks he will start to eat the dog food.

[johnnydr]

Alright.....I guess I was expecting a garbage disposal with a new BT....maybe he just needs some time to get hungry for the good stuff?

[NickBrahz]

Can take awhiloe for them to settle in properly and get there appetite going, they can go for about 6 weeks or so without food before they start to lose weight.

[johnnydr]

He Isn't thin. Here are the pics

[NickBrahz]

Cute little fellow, yeah no harm in the tough love approach which is just keep on putting in the dog food and he will eventually cave in and eat it.

[DianaBlueTongue]

I give my pickier babes wet cat food instead of dog food. It tend to be much stinkier, which all my bt's go nuts for, and wetter. My adut male eastern flat refuses to eat pretty much anything, but if I put a plate of stinky wet cat food infront of him he'll devour the whole thing right in front of me.

Cute little northern btw!!! I wouldn't worry too much just yet, he probably just needs to settle in a bit.

[DianaBlueTongue]

Oh, and try asking the breeder what they were exactly feeding yours, maybe the familiar smell and taste is what hes waiting for.

[Dood]

4 days is not enough time for him to get hungry, and as others have said, he isn't going to starve if you cut out the crix and only offer dog food

Have you asked his breeder what he fed him?

[Snowysmom]

When I got my new 5 week old baby she ate after 5 days she arrived and then it was cat food that did it. She had been eating crickets and meal worms and I switched her cold turkey and then started adding veggies to the cat food. I was told about the cat food from a breeder on this site and it was the magic bullet.

[splashy07]

Ditto, Snowy..was just going to say that! Never seen a baby BTS of any kind refuse cat food. Actually, never even heard of a Northern refusing ANYTHING! Must be filling up on those bugs, just cut them out completely and just offer as treats once he starts eating the cat/dog food.

[mmdrevya]

I got my young northern BTS to stop being so picky by feeding her a hornworm before her regular food, supposedly it gets there appetite started and it worked for me. Now she has no problem jumping into her food bowl and destroying what i feed her haha.

[Jbolar]

Weird seeing my facebook comment being posted here. Anyway yea 4 days isn't enough to make him "hungry" you could go a full 7 to 8 days. he isn't starving. take a spoon, put some dog food canned pate on it and drag it in front of him, let him lick it and get a taste for it.

try feeding an adult crickets.. it will be very costly when they are mowing through 500 crickets every 3 days to 5 days. these things get an appetite and eat. mine eat a tablespoon of dog food every other day or every 3 days (depends on if i remember) and the babies get an appropriate serving daily and eat with vigor.

[johnnydr]

I gave him some canned wellness CAT food today and he loved it Thanks for that advice. It actually seemed like he didn't know how to eat it at first. He licked it over and over for like 10 min before taking a bite....then he was all about it.

[starscream3232]

Just got two new baby northerns a couple of weeks ago. It took about 6 days for one of them to start eating. He still picks here and there but is doing a lot better. Been offering a mix of cat and food. It can take them awhile to adjust to new surroundings.

[starscream3232]

Just saw that he ate cat food. Great news!! Good luck with him!!

[johnnydr]

He's still not eating with gusto...

He ate an appropriate amount of cat food that one day. Since then I haven't seen him eat again and I offer the cat food alone and mixed with greens. Today I tried some hard boiled egg and some blueberries.....NOTHING

This is entirely frustrating to me! The temps are perfect.....and I use a temp gun, so I know it's 93-95 on the substrate of the warm end and in the 80's on the cool end. I haven't fed him crickets even though I know he'd eat them.

Should I invest in some dubia and gut load them so that he gets the proper calories and protein since they are supposed to grow like weeds at this age?

John

[NickBrahz]

Stop giving in to him Johnny, don't feed him treats like eggs and such until he is eating properly.
Offer him the cat/dog food with mixed greens and he will eventually eat it, you keep giving and giving him the luxury stuff so he is being picky and only eating that, it's bad for his health for you to do that he needs proper meals, they can go weeks before they even start to get hungry, mine stopped eating for 3 weeks not so long ago didn't lost a single 0.1 of a gram.