I have a juvenile australian wd. He is about 4 in. from nose to vent. I have fed him on a regular basis but there are always a bunch of crickets left in the cage. I have read on some other posts that the crickets can't be much bigger than the space between his eyes. (his is about a half an inch) Should I keep throwing crickets in and let them keep crawling on him, or should I remove the bigger crickets from the cage. Just for some more information, his color is great and he always has a fat belly. I also have never seen him eat.

You should not leave uneaten crickets in the enclosure ever!

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

The crix should be about the length of the distance between his eyes. If you feed them too large you run the risk of an impaction and possible hind leg paralysis.
As RBL said you should never leave uneaten crickets in the enclosure. They may actually feed on the lizard. The bites are easily infected and could result in you losing your dragon.
I have seen anoles that got into a bin of crickets and there was nothing left but the lizard's skeleton!
If you are getting your crickets in quantity, try getting smaller than you need. They grow fast. A cricket's lifespan is only about 8 weeks.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I am proud to say that all of our feedings to our WD and Beardy are by hand, and never does live prety enter their enclosures. Makes a HUGE difference in how often you have to clean/sterilize your enclosure as well.

I'm not a big fan of hand feeding (dragons) for a large number of reasons, specially because the animal gets used to be fed that way by that person and won't eat any other way and also because that's totally unnatural: they are not hunting, they are eating under stress, they can't choose what to eat, etc etc etc.
Unless they were sick or injured, I wouldn't do it.

As for cleaning, I don't see how that can make a huge difference. Crickets never stay in the enclosure longer than a few heartbeats and leave almost no trails of their presence except an occasional antenna or leg. Either way, you can also place them and the dragon in a sterilite container inside the enclosure.
Non-live "prey" is different. Sometimes I have footprints of papaya and veggies scattered around the food bowl.

Even if I didn't feed my Bearded Dragon in his enclosure, that wouldn't change the number of times I have to clean it because 95% of times I spot clean it, is due to poop, and no matter what happens, (at least) every week I do a overall cleaning.

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

When I drop the crickets in he seems to just sit there and not eat. How long should I give him before I remove the crickets? Thanks for your help.

How many crickets are you putting in?
Does he not eat all of them or does he eat some?
Are they hiding inside or behind things making it hard for him to see?
How long have you had him?
Has this always been a problem?

These are a few questions that will help so I know what advice to give!

Also dose he have a big water dish?
the reason I ask is that I have always gotten my water dragons "trained" to eat them out of the water dish before the crickets can drownd.

If he has a water dish trow some in and see if the motion will get his attenion!

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Love Always,
Audrey

Owned By,

1.0.0 Iguana Iguana -Louie
0.0.1 Avicularia avicularia (pink toe Trantula)-Muffy
0.1.0 Ceratophrys ornata (Pac Man Frog)-Sparticus
1.0.0 Albino Rat -conspericy
0.1.0 Betta-Alphie
0.0.1 Apple snail- Mr. Bubbles
1.1.0 Mutt puppy's- Socks & Meeko
1.0.0 fieance-Brett

Hi!

Ever since Zooki went to the vet last week, he's been eating & growing like mad. Today he's even munching on greens.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

We're very nervous new parents, but becoming much more comfortable with this beautiful baby.