Do your dragons eat their shed?

[Chris.]

Both my boy and my girl are in shed right now and I noticed that for the girl she doesn't want anything to do with it after she shed it off. There are pieces of her literally laying everywhere around the enclosure.

For my boy on the other hand the tank is almost spotless and when I show him his own shed he will just eat it out of my hand. He has done so since I got him and I don't see any issue with this at all, I used to drench the pieces in water and feed it to him so he will get some more fluids.

So I'm just curious do your dragons eat their own shed? Do you even offer it to them? I'm a bit torn between "it sure has some nutrients" and "it's like feeding them toilet paper"...

 

[NickAVD]

Mine ate shed when he was little, and then he lost interest in it.
As for nutritional value, I think it must contain a lot of calcium.

 

[Rocky2022]

I've heard of they eat it, it's due to lack of calcium so please make sure they are getting enough calcium.

 

[ChileanTaco]

I have never seen or suspected it.
But I don't know what he does when I don't look or have no camera running, obviously
I'm not feeding him the shed intentionally but if he would like to eat it I won't prevent him from doing so.

I think it should contain calcium and protein.
Other animals normally eat their shed, e.g. I know this from my hissing cockroaches and also when I had hermit crabs it was part of their normal shedding process.

 

[Chris.]

I've heard of they eat it, it's due to lack of calcium so please make sure they are getting enough calcium.

Good advice, he gets los of calcium though and also has a sephia shell in his tank, just in case

 

[Rocky2022]

Good advice, he gets los of calcium though and also has a sephia shell in his tank, just in case

Then you're all set. I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[xp29]

I've heard it's lack if calcium also. But I have no idea for sure.

 

[Chris.]

I've heard it's lack if calcium also. But I have no idea for sure.

Probably not, he had a blood test done in April and calcium was pretty amazing.
I think he just likes it or wants more calcium due to shedding right now.
So none of yours do eat their sheds?

 

[xp29]

Probably not, he had a blood test done in April and calcium was pretty amazing.
I think he just likes it or wants more calcium due to shedding right now.
So none of yours do eat their sheds?

I've never seen a one of mine do it. I usually use a vacuum cleaner to ckean up when they are done.

 

[ChileanTaco]

I've also not seen him eating it. Well, I cannot be sure if a tiny bit was missing, but the amount always looks reasonable. (I pick it out with long bamboo tongs - also sold from reptile brands, I saw, but just got them as barbecue tongs Works also nice to wipe the glass by grabbing a paper towel with the tongs, or for grabbing whatever inside the enclosure, like food carried around.)