Quote Originally Posted by Dog Shrink View Post
The more active he is the more regular his GI will stay. I'd get him out for a lil free fun time maybe in the sink or tub or something and see if that helps. If not the soaks certainly won't hurt.

At least when humans need to diet it's usually because we're eating too much of the wrong food but for an animal who's diet we control, the food quality isn't the issue so much as the food quantity. How much/often was he eating before his deit versus how much is he eating now?
He's pretty active around his viv right now, he spends all the waking hours we share climbing around the front of the cage usually so I'm not worried about his exercise so much anymore. He used to be the laziest thing in the whole world and then suddenly he changed and was all over the place, crazy active. XD

I feel so bad for having to put him on a diet, but it's hard for me to justify feeding him normally when I know he's so overweight. The last thing I want to do is starve him, but also I don't want him getting sick again and for WTFs, weight is a big factor in illness since they become obese so easily in captivity. I know they're supposed to be a little chunky, and I like that about them, but he could definitely stand to loose a few grams. I think when I have the time I'm going to grab a gram scale so I can measure his weight better. The last tim ehe was at the vet he was around 70 grams I believe...which is 15 grams over the ideal weight for White's, as I've read. I just wanna get him down to about 60 grams and then the diet will be over. I just want to avoid health complications at all costs.

When he was at Petsmart (I bought him 3 months ago tomorrow), they were feeding him 5-8 large crickets a day. That was just way too much. When I brought him home he was all flab, and the tank he was in didn't allow him anywhere to climb (it was just a small critter keeper in the back room with a water bowl and a place to hide), so he spent the first one and half months I had him sitting on the floor of the tank, never even trying to climb. The illness probably affected this as well...

I cut him down to three crickets every two days and when he seemed to still be gaining weight I cut it to every three days. That didn't work so I moved to two large crickets every two days and now I feed him one large or two medium every three days, plus the occasional waxworm, if he decides to eat it, that is.

Th bring down in his food intake was very gradual, I don't feel like going from two to one in such a span of time is hurting him in anyway. Maybe he's hungrier now, but other than that he should be fine. The larger crickets I'm feeding him he has to take in two bites anyway, they're bigger than his mouth, but he gets 'em down quicker than they realize where they are. XD;

When I feel he's lost enough weight (though he is climbing successfully now without sliding down the glass and having to dismount...) I'll bring the food intake back to normal.

Id there something better you guys think I should do? Maybe increase the number of days between feedings but also increase the crickets? Like two large every five days...? Or decrease the number of days? But that means he'll have less time to digest. I could give him one large or two medium every other day, but then again that would be increasing the food intake.

Based on my situation I am definitely willing to take advice if anyone has it, though I feel like what I'm feeding him now should be ok. Check out pictures of Mr. Campbell in my album, he's obese for reals.