Baby doesnt wanna eat...

[Spikey92]

Hello,
my boyfriend and I bought a baby bearded dragon 5 days ago at the local petstore (petsmart). We got a 30 " x 12" x 12" enclosure for him. He got two heat lights( 1 for the day, 1(red) for the night) the temperature on the basking site is around 100 Fahrenheit, he also got a UVB Light. We were told to feed him small crickets, mealworms and greens. Well first of all he doesnt eat greens at all. We also got dry food(made for bearded dragon Juveniles) for him. He tried that only once and it seems that he doesnt like that either. Anyways, he had his crickets and mealworms, but today he slept quit long (until around 11 am) and he hasn´t eaten anything yet. Just a small tiny mealworm. We tried crickets, mealworms, greens, everything.But he isn´t interested in it at all. He is still quit active, but I´m a little bit worried because he stopped eating.
He had his supper quit late yesterday(around 9.30 pm) and he ate 5 crickets and some mealworms. Now I read that mealworms aren´t actually good for babys cause they cant digest the shell. But he popped this morning and everything seemed to be okay with that.I only gave him tiny worms though.
Is it possible that he´s just still full from yesterday night?
I feel so bad cause I just wanna do everything right for him...

 

[bumblebee]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

Unless your house gets below 65 degrees at night, you shouldn't need any heat source at all. If it does get below 65, you are better off with a ceramic heat emitter because beardies need complete darkness to sleep. The basking spot for babies should be more like 105-110 and you should measure with a digital thermometer with a probe or an infrared temp gun. Crickets are good, just make sure that they are no bigger than the space between his eyes. Mealworms are not good for any size/age beardie, and yes, they do have a tough exoskeleton that makes them hard to digest and can cause impaction. Please don't give him any more mealworms! Keep trying with the greens! Offer them everyday even if he doesn't seem to eat them. As he gets older, he should start eating them more.

Another thing - beardies need at least 2 hours after every meal to digest their food, so if you fed him at 9:30, and he didn't get his 2 hours to bask, he may not have digested his dinner properly.

You should offer him crickets 2-3 times per day, and let him eat as many as he wants in a 10-15 minute period. You should be dusting the crickets with calcium 1 feeding per day for 5 days a week, and with multivitamins 1 feeding per day 2 days a week.

What kind of UVB light does he have? The only ones really recommended on this site are the Repti-Sun 10.0 tube and the Acadia 12%.

As you've only had him 5 days, he could also still be going through relocation stress, so that could be another reason for his lack of appetite.

Hope this helps! Sorry it's a lot of information

 

[Spikey92]

Don´t be sorry. I´m really thankful about any information. :wink:

I was actually thinking about the night light but the woman at petsmart said they need one at night. We bought a red one cause apparantely beardies cant see red light.(thats what she told us).
The UVB light is a Repti Glo(Exo Terra) 10.00 26 Watt.
I used to dust the mealworms with calcium, not the crickets, cause honestly I find crickets a kind of gross cause they can jump and are so unpredictable I mean I don´t mind giving him the crickets but thats it. If there are any crickets left over my boyfriend is the one catching them and putting them back in their box.
But the crickets are gonna be the only thing he really eats so I have to dust them. Do you got any tips for dusting crickets without having them jumping all over you? Is there anything else I could offer him? Cause only crickets seems to be a little monotonous..
I just hope that hes okay..but like I said hes still quit active , basking, exploring his cage, licking the window,tapping the window etc.

Another thing : How fast can they starve? I mean like should I go to the vet tomorrow if he still won´t eat?

 

[bumblebee]

Everything I've read on this site suggests that beardies can see red light, so I would remove it. And like I said, if it doesn't get below 70 in the house, I wouldn't worry about heat at night at all. A drop in temperatures at night is good for them, and they are fine as long as they don't get too cold.

The ReptiGlo is not recommended as it doesn't put out enough UVB for beardies, and I've heard on this site that the ReptiGlo bulbs can cause eye issues and lack of appetite. See if you can exchange it for a Repti-Sun 10.0 tube. They are a bit more expensive, but most pet stores I've been to have had them in stock. You can also order them online. PetMountain (http://www.petmountain.com

As for the crickets...I hated dealing with crickets. I would put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes (I think you could also put them in the freezer for a few minutes) to slow them down, but not kill them. I then would put them in a zippy bag with calcium powder Monday thru Friday, and multivitamins on Saturday and Sunday, and shake until coated. I've switched to Phoenix worms for my boy (a lot more expensive, but sooo much easier). You can also try butterworms, hornworms, silkworms, or dubia roaches (if you don't live in Florida). The rule of no feeder being bigger than the space between the beardies' eyes doesn't really apply to worms because they are soft-bodied, but you still need to be careful not to get feeders too big. Hornworms, for example, get HUGE pretty quickly. You can offer wax worms as treats, but they are high in fat (like beardie candy bars ). Once he is 16 inches from his nose to the tip of his tail, you can give him superworms.

Obviously, I am not a vet, and if you have any questions, you should contact a herp vet or pm a moderator about concerns. I'm really not sure how fast they "starve," but I know with babies, they can go downhill pretty quickly. If he still isn't eating well tomorrow, I would offer him chicken baby food (drip it on his nose) and contact a vet or moderator. Is he still having regular bowel movements?

Please let me know how he's doing!

 

[Spikey92]

First of all : I´m soo happy, cause he seemed to be pretty hungry yesterday night and ate 6 crickets and, surprise surprise, he even ate 2 or 3 little pieces of lettuce. I was so happy.
We then let the light on for 2 more hours, even though the little guy spent only maybe half an hour outside and then went into his cave to sleep. I also didnt turn on the red light at night and checked the temperature this morning. It was 70 Fahrenheit. So I think we can get rid of the night light. I´m gonna look for another UVB light. Thank you for all your tips!!! Thanks for the tips with the crickets too. I´m definitely gonna try that.

So yea, I don´t know what happened yesterday..maybe he had a little bellyache from the mealworms..or i dont know..we also bought new crickets yesterday and got rid(well I released them.FREEDOM! ) of the other ones.Just to make sure that they are fresh
Oh and yes, he pooped yesterday again, so I really think everything is back to normal.SO HAPPY

 

[bumblebee]

That's great!
I forgot to mention this before, but this website is really helpful with knowing which foods are good for beardies: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Good luck with your baby!

 

[smergy]

first off, just my two cents here coming from buying my first from petsmart, ignore everything they say they are wrong on most stuff, they also dont know about the feeding thing properly, my beardie had a parcite and i got him fixed from my vet, after getting him also what the vet and here told me about proper lighting, i wasted oh a few bucks at that damn place with the improper, heating, flooring. since the vet said he would be ok we did keep him and petsmart did refund our money but we then turned around and got another, they said it was a girl, we had this second one for about a week and it never ate, we took it to the vet, fed her the pet stuff we feed her and still she never would eat, gain weight or anything and died, petsmart took this one back but every time i go into that store i get mad cause of the false information they keep telling me, secondly according to our vet he told us the white heat light, good 10.0 uvb bulb was good enough and also he said if he one day decides to not eat its ok for about 3 days, going from seeing others about the digestion thing. also never never use sand, no matter what the store says, and the meal worms even my vet said that is a big no no. also with the dusting thing i dont know what kind of carrier you use for the crickets but mine comes with tubes that stick out of the top, most of my crickets climb up there for my beardies to munch on, so it makes it easy, all i do is put some powder down the tubes and give it a bit of a shake and they get dusted.

but yes with my bad experience from there two i wanted to have a second beardie, i ended up going to a show, around ohio, many breeders were there and wouldnt you know it i ended up with 2 more babies...haha two girls now i got 1 male, 2 female and they all for the last 2 months have gotten along, and hang with eachother

 

[Spikey92]

I´m really glad that I´ve found this forum. So many tips & information. THANK YOU!

We replaced the Repti Glo with a Repti Sun 10 today. I´m really happy about that, I turned the Repti Sun on and could just literally see a difference. The Repti Sun was just a bright, bright light, while the Repti Sun is more blueish. Seemed that Spikey likes his new light,too.

We are also going to pick up some small butterworms for him. Do you guys think I can offer him some baby food (chicken) just so that he can eat something besides crickets and lettuce(he only eats a couple tiny peaces of that. But I think Kids just dont like Veggis :wink: )

The crickets are in a plastic container with small,little air holes and we "feed" them with veggis and they get a kind of a gel(I forgot what its called) too "drink".We cant really put them in special crickets container because were feeding him small ones and they can crawl out of it.And like I mentioned before, I´m not a big fan of them

I noticed today that he is shedding. Or actually almost done with that. This might also be a reason for his lack of appetite yesterday.

As for Petsmart : The only time that we´re gonna go in there is for getting new crickets..

 

[Tonja]

Here is the nutritional chart most of us go by when feeding our dragons: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html Lettuce is not good for them as it has little nutritional value and is mostly water. Turnip greens, mustard, collard, dandylion, escarole, bokchoy, endive is what I feed my dragon although he still has little interest in greens unless I hand feed them to him.