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[Chicago]

Our Sparky eats his Conifer leaf several times a day.  He seems especially hungry in the morning.  This worries me because the manual says to feed them at night.  Sometimes he'll hold onto the leaf for a very long time - 5 minutes or even 15!  He just moves his head back and forth and his tail wags slowly.  He makes crunching sounds, at least at first.  He seems happy so I am glad to let him eat and I get to go do something else.  I never take the leaf out of his mouth.  He will eventually drop it.  But I still wonder how often we are supposed to feed them.  We do have an obesity problem in this country.  I know we can overfeed the Pleos, but it's hard to not feed Sparky when he stands still and opens his mouth.  How can you tell when and how much to feed a Pleo?

[kat]

My pleos tend to eat about 2 times a battery cycle.  I don't have a regular feeding time for them as I play with them at different times of the day each day.  So I usually offer them food as soon as I turn them on, and they are usually hungry and accept it.  I then offer it again if they start getting grumpy or sad.  Or if I notice them doing a lot of sniffing. 
Each feed consists of me offering the leaf, the pleo opening their mouth for it, some chomping sounds and sometimes a gulping swallow noise and then the pleo will drop their head and shake it from side to side to dislodge the leaf and drop it on the floor.  If the leaf doesn't fall out right away I remove it for them.  I then offer the leaf again and we go through this process until the pleo refuses to take the leaf by turning their head away and making a no sound.  Sometimes the pleo will have a burp after dropping the leaf but this doesn't necessarily mean they are full.  So far neither of my pleos has gotten sick so I don't think I am over feeding.  I don't force feed them I only give them the leaf if they want it.
So I don't think it really matters what time of the day you feed your pleo as long as they are happy that is all that matters.
Kat

[Crewella]

I offer Belle the leaf several times during a play and she more often refuses it than not (by turning her head away).  She rarely accepts it a second time having dropped it.  She seems happy, so I guess I'm doing things OK? 

[kat]

It is interesting that they are all different.  With different eating habits just like we all have different eating habits.  It makes them a little more realistic.

[bhobbes]

Cato has started eating more during some charges. It is possibly just coincidence but on days where he's been more active and walks around a lot he usually needs two or three feedings. On days where he just kind if stays still I usually only have to feed him once and sometimes not even then. However, he seems much more willing to accept the cycad leaf (I think that's the one that can replace the basic leaf) than he does the conifer leaf (or whatever the normal food is).

[kat]

Both my guys seem to like the cycad leaf better too.

[Crewella]

That's interesting - I only have the conifer leaf as I've not ordered extra accesories (yet)!