Been thinking!

[Miss Lily]

And, no, it didn't hurt, before you ask lol! I just wanted to share my thoughts!

Seriously, I have been thinking a lot about the amount that Amy eats compared to what Lily ate. The light has finally come on in my head, and I realised that Lily was probably overfed in the 5 months before I got her. At 6-7 months (the age that Amy is now), Lily was eating over 20 feeders a day, and I, stupidly, let her. Unfortunately, at the time I didn't know any better. Amy currently eats between 4 and 6 small crix (she won't eat the bigger ones yet!) and 1 or 2 medium locusts per day, which is a hell of a lot less than Lily was eating. I am just so glad that I have got things under control for Amy. Having looked back and thought things through, I can now make the link between the fact that Lily ate way too much and the size of her and her clutches. Just before she died, Lily weighed 200g. Amy is currently at 116g and is 6" snout to vent.

You guys on here have all played a part in this, and I look forward to sharing my life with Amy for a lot longer than I did with Lily.

 

[joeandsoph]

Aw bless Lily, she realyl was a cutey.

Am I being stingy!? We feed Tilly around 6 medium crickets / locusts every other day, and a bowl full of green every other day as this is what I was advised with her being female.

Maybe we could give her more.

 

[beeze]

I would recommend everyother day after 6 months of age.

 

[Pure]

Holy crow Tiff! My Melleri doesn't eat that much!

 

[Miss Lily]

Aw bless Lily, she realyl was a cutey.

Am I being stingy!? We feed Tilly around 6 medium crickets / locusts every other day, and a bowl full of green every other day as this is what I was advised with her being female.

Maybe we could give her more.

Or, maybe I could give Amy less! Maybe it's time to cut down to every other day for Amy. She's not greedy like Lily was - she would eat WHENEVER I offered food, whereas Amy ignores it or turns away if she's not hungry!

 

[joeandsoph]

Oh Tilly is greedy! She will eat and eat if she could I think. But we have to limit that hehe. Do you think 4/6 medium crickets a day is too little?

 

[Miss Lily]

Holy crow Tiff! My Melleri doesn't eat that much!

Oh dear! I'll cut her back then! Thanks for the heads up! She is only 7 months old - I think her growth has slowed right down now though - she hasn't shed for nearly 3 months.

 

[joeandsoph]

Tilly is the same sage, she hasn't shed for a while either. And, she appears to have stopped growing for now. Hehe

 

[WelshOneEmma]

I know it's slightly different as Hugo is a boy (but over feeding is over feeding at the end of the day!), but once he reached 6 months, he was on the large crickets / Ex large locusts, and we went down to every other day. If he was particularly hungry some days, then we may have given him a couple of locusts if it was his 'day of''. We gaged this if he was eating a lot of his plants. Now, at about 9-10 months, he is on the Ex large / adult locusts, and will sometimes go 3 days without eating. I think that they get used to having small amounts every other day.

 

[Pure]

Oh dear! I'll cut her back then! Thanks for the heads up! She is only 7 months old - I think her growth has slowed right down now though - she hasn't shed for nearly 3 months.

Sorry Tiff I was speaking about the late great ms Lily.

Edit: I don't like the every other day rule. It doesn't mimic their eating in the wild. I tend to feed every day but randomly miss a day or two here and there. The trick is to keep track of when you last fed or when you last missed. Right now, with only 4 chams this is no problem...every one is on about the same schedule, with me giving the Melleri slightly more feedings. Still trying to put some weight on them. But I can imagine my system would be very complicated with just a couple more chams let alone how many others here have.

 

[Miss Lily]

Phew! Had me worried there for a bit! Lily was, well, just Lily! I am still thinking that maybe I am feeding Amy too much, but those crix are tiny - they haven't even got wings or anything!