My baby Beardies stopped eating and his beard has gone black

He has been eating normally until about a week ago, when his chin started to turn dark grey. He last ate about 4 days ago when the pet store suggested I give him wax worms until he had built his strength up, which I did. He ate one, but thats been it. He just lays on a rock with his head held high up with his eyes closed and I'm seriously worried he is going to die. My other beardie is perfectly fine and running around. They are both about 8 weeks old.

i would say get him into a vet he is definately stressed. but first just a few questions. what kind of uvb are you using :?: him not eating and basking with his eyes closed suggests that you are using a reptiglo. as these bulbs tend to hurt there eyes and cause many other health and eating problems :shock:. what kind of substrate are you using sand can house bacteria and cause impaction especially in younger beardies. so if yes go with paper towel, repticarpet or slate which is awesome

The uv ould be the issue but if you read through the UV compact light reviews he actually states that the zilla repti glo are safe to use. I cant stand that everyone talks so badly about them and atumatically assumes thats what they are using. Repti sun compacts are DANGEROUS. Not repti glo. Altough not recomended the be the best to use they are not bad and have been PROVEN 2 be safe!

But you should deffenatly have your beardie looked at by a vet. Do you bath it regularly how do you hydrate your beadies. It could be dehydrated, whih causes them to not want to eat and be lethargic make it seem like a UV issue when they are really just dehydrated. Check for sunken eyes. And you can gently pinch the side of the beardie and if the skin does not snap back into place its most likely dehydrated!

Good luck and let us know.

Just a clarification i was talking about the reptiglo fluorescent tube type uvb. I know that this type bulb is bad for beardies as i used to use it. It made my beardie lathargic and he ran away from it and would not bask. as soon as i made the switch to reptisun he stared eating and basking again. As for the compact reptiglo uvb it may be safe but is not a reliable source of uvb and is not recommended by many. this is just my point of view though, as nothing in the beardie world seems to be factual. so maybe i'm wrong :?

Like i said its still not a recommended compact bulb but has proven a safe bulb to use. As for they're tube bulbs i dont think they're that bad. In my experiences with using them my beardies had huge appetites and loved to site under they're uv light. I use many repti sun 10.0 tube but have a few repti glow that were on sale and i was in need of new bulbs so i decided to test em out.

As for this persons beardie i would make sure its not uv or dehydration and that its cage requirements are met before going to the vet. But a vet visit might be whats needed.

i agree sorry for the misunderstanding
ok so just let us know what bulbs you are using your temps what you use to measure the temps. the substrate you use how often you soak your beardie. what you feed him and all the good stuff we'll see if we can help you figure this out

come on cyaneyedangel give us some info so we can help you out How is your beardie doing?

like Squral said:

What uv bulb/'s you use, brand, size/ length
What your substrate is
What the temps are
How often you soak your beardie

Thanks for all your replies, and for caring so much about Spartan. Sorry, I have been at work all day, so my husband has been babysitting....my husband gave him a warm bath, and afterwards he ate one very small cricket, but nothing since. We are using the repti-glo 10.0 light, and the temp has been fine. We have a large tank with 2 baby beardies living in it, we have always kept the baby one together until they got bigger and then we have moved them into homes of their own. The other baby in there is doing fine, he lives on sand substrate, but Spartan is on paper towels, since we had a concern he wasn't doing so well. We partioned ofthe area because I wasn't sure if our other baby beardie was bullying him or not, although they are both baby's there is quite a size difference. Sorry to sound like such a novice, but I have never had any problems like this with my other baby beardies, and Spartan is my 6th.

He has been on pinhead crickets and has been fine, once he stopped eating, my vet suggested I give him a wax worm to stimulate his appetite and to get him some weight back on. He ate one last week and that has been it until a tiny cricket today. We give them a warm soak at least twice a week. I'm guessing it has to be a problem with Spartan himslef, and not his habitat, because we currently have the 2 babys in one large area.

Well there are a few things you can do which will probably help. You said both are living together? Even though in a large cage, you my not see it but he is most likely stressed from the other bearded dragon in his habitat. Lots of times one beardie will prevent the other from eating just out of being the more dominant one, you may not see them fight but this is most likely one issue.

The other is you might want to try a repti-sun 10.0. Repti-glo is good but repti sun by zoo med is way better.
And if its a young beardie i would be soaking it everyday to every other at the latest. So your beardie is probably suffering from stress and not getting enough H2O! Please be more clear on they're housing so are they in one big tank split in two or two different cages? Also how long is spartan pinheads might be too small as they are generally small to some hatchling beardies.

Also what are the cage tems? Basking and cool side.

i agree and have one thing to add i would dich the sand it can cause impaction especially in young beardies

They are in one very large habitat which we split into 2 once Spartan got poorly. Both sides have a cool and warm area, they both have basking rocks, the only difference is, one lizard is doing great and the other isn't. The warm side is averaging 97, and the cooler area about 80. The pinhead crickets he was eating are very small, but only because he was refusing to eat anything larger. He does seem a little better, I think maybe from more frequent bathing, but he is still doing the odd thing with his head, he wont lower it at all, just lays with it raised right up.

I am far from an expert, how ever it does sound like impaction possibly due to the sand substrate. We just recently nursed a 12 week beardie back from impaction. It took about a week, but it worked. Give warm baths daily @ approx 90-95 degrees for 20 minutes or more to assist in passing. Bathe in pedialyte to keep the animal hydrated. Try gerbers baby food (chicken) to jump start his/her appetite. Good luck to you.

For the appetite I'd use vanilla ensure. Great stuff which they love. I had a female become lethargic from dehydration and wouldnt eat for weeks even with water daily and proper husbandry. And with re hydration and 5ml of ensure once in morning and once at night. She got her appetite back and is now one of my best eaters.

Thanks for the tip. I was just wondering, does it have to be Vanilla? (I only ask as I work in a nursing home and can get Ensure in abundance!!) Does anyone know why he would still be laying with his head pointing straight up?