Bearded dragon eating.

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Jittjuke

Member
Hello, I have a baby bearded dragon.ive had him for a day now. I started handling him and he's great he's calm nice and cool. So far to eat I only have crickets for him. So I want to feed him in a different place so the crickets aren't stuck inside the cage eating him. But whenever I try to put him some where else he wont he will just crawl back up my arm.
Any thoughts?
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
It may take some training to get him used to a routine and a feeding spot. Don't push it too much at first because he's probably still getting used to you and his new environment. If he isn't having the eating outside of the tank thing, try offering crickets in small batches of a few at a time. Dust a few in a cup then release them then repeat until he's full. I've found that feeding in small batches makes it easier for both of you to track them and pick them up after meal time.

After a while I'm sure he'll be OK with being moved. I feed bugs in my kitchen because the vinyl floor is easy to clean. I've just made the morning routine as going to the kitchen, basking under the clamp lamp there to warm up, then breakfast salad, then bugs if it's bug day (he's an adult so no bugs every day). Makes a poop easier to clean up than in the tank too. They respond to routine so just slowly build a routine that works for both of you and be patient.
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
Ok awesome!
One last thing. He has just been kind of chilling where ever through out the day so far I'm going to get him some new stuff tonight hopefully. But I just noticed he has been doing some window scratching. He also has been hanging out on top of this fake tree I have in there. Could he be bored? Could want to explore?
Any thoughts? And thanks for being so helpful
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Yeah he's probably just curious and trying to figure out his new home. If you have a safe spot for him to roam around outside of his tank you can bring him out for a while. I do that all the time with my guy and even set up a couple of portable basking spots in the house so he can return and warm up when he wants to. Keep a very close eye on a little one though. They can dart off and hide in some very tiny places in an instant. As he gets older you'll start to learn his hiding spots and he'll be quite a bit bigger so it's not as tough to find them if they decide to have a nap, say, under the couch or behind the bookshelf etc.
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
okay awesome. sounds like you got all the tactics down.
so ive been doing alot of interacting with him since hes been wanting to come out of his cage.(glass surfing) and hes been great ive just put him on my shoulder and done daily tasks. i just put him back in and hes back doing it again. could it be his cage? maybe? im planning to move him into the 40 gallon by this weekend. and right now the two bulbs that i have is a red basking light 75 watts from petco and i have a daytime blue light its pretty much white that is 40 watts. ive been checking temps with my temp gun every like 30 minutes. to try and keep things together. i went to petco to try and get some stuff and they didnt have alot of the things needed so im going to try and order online. i still need a basic basking bulb and the uvb.
other then that food wise i know my sister said he was eating when they bought him yesterday around 8 ish. but like i said i put him in a seprate container to eat like three times today and he didnt want to eat crickets. i also put some chopped up lettuce into his bowl earlier and went to petco and came home and noticed there isnt much lettuce left. could zooma not like crickets? if so then where are your guys favorite things to buy baby beardys food wise?

thanks so much :)
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
I turned off the red basking light and I think he may have stopped glas surfing. But I think he may have ate the lettuce. Is lettuce bad for him? Could he choke from it?
I shred it as low as I can.
 

Skipper7

Juvie Member
Lettuce is perfectly fine, but some are more nutritional than others. What type of lettuce was it? A good veggies guide is here: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
However, as a baby you should continue your routine of feeding bugs 2-3 times a day. (As many as he will eat in 5-10 minutes.) He may just be bored of crickets. You could try dubia roaches. They are relatively inexpensive when buying in bulk online. They are better and bulkier than crickets as well. I like https://www.megoris-feeders.com

As for lights, I will link you to the basking bulb and UVB I have in my 40 gallon tank. The red 75w you have isn't suitable for a beardie. They need a basking spot with intense, bright, white light. Also, the blue light isn't the greatest. It looks normal to us, but the dragons can tell the difference. I'm glad to hear you have a temp gun- many new owners don't and therefore have a hard time getting temperatures right. The lights I use for my 40 gal are as follows.

UVB tube (22 inch): http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=25696
UVB Hood (24 inch): http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=25698

Basking light (I get the 100w two bulb pack): http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...d=PLA_G_6196&gclid=CO_MuaGkgtICFQi5wAod4dgPuQ If this doesn't get your "cool" end up to a proper 80*, you can always put a low wattage regular household bulb on that side.

Also, all lights should be mounted directly above your basking spot. When tilted, you run the risk of the dragon hurting its eyes by looking into them.

I'm not trying to offend you or rip apart your husbandry. It's clear to me that you care about your new little scale baby and that you want the best for him.
 

Varalidaine

Juvie Member
It seems the lighting has been covered well.

As for the lettuce, definitely check out that linked guide. Most lettuce is just water, so not very nutritious. Better staple foods are Alfalfa (plant, not sprouts. Looks like clovers), Cactus Pad (spines removed!), cactus pear, collard greens, dandelions greens, mustard greens, escarole, beet greens, turnip greens, and any sort of squash like acorn, winter, etc.

For bugs, I preferred Phoenix Worms when my guy was a baby. They are super easy to keep and have no shell, so there is no impaction risk. Plus they are one of the healthiest feeders since they have a great calcium:phosphorous ratio. http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/phoenix-worms-1/ He can eat the larges as even larges are very small. When feeding, you can try feeding one cricket at a time in his tank. That's what I do for mine, I just feed one insect at a time until he's done (unless eating Phoenix Worms, I just leave those in a bowl). Some babies will also be shy and not eat in front of their humans, so having a feeder you can leave in a bowl for the first few weeks is good. You can also get Dubia roaches, red runner roaches, and silkworms from the site rainbowmealworms that I linked above. All are superior feeders.

For the glass surfing, I recommend putting white paper on the inside of the tank to completely get rid of reflections. My dragon was unhappy for the first two months I had him and the second I put the white paper on the inside, he brightened up and felt much more comfortable. He now has a Melamine tank with only one glass front for this reason.
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
Awesome. So from the looks of things I would be able to move him into the 40 gal tank until this weekend when I get the rest of the stuff. Do you guys have any tips for what I'm using right now to get me and zooma through saftely until this weekend? Would keeping him out more be best? I try my best to manage temps and keep the sides between 100-110 and 80-90 with my temp gun. I should be able to go to the grocery store and get some nice greens for him and maybe order some dubia worms or Phoenix worm.
Thank you all for the tips
 

Varalidaine

Juvie Member
Reptiles are very easily stressed. It took 2 months for my dragon to lighten up and eat in front of us on a regular basis. I prefer to let babies stay in their tanks for this reason and because they need to eat 2-3 times a day, they need the warmth of the light to digest. Dragons need to be at a minimum of 95 to even start digesting food. It's good to wake up, let him bask for hour, then offer salad. After another 1-2 hours, offer his first meal. Let him bask for at least 2 hours after eating in order to digest properly. You can then take him out for an hour or so before the next feeding time and let him digest again for two hours after the second feeding, but if he's not eating and glass surfing, he sounds stressed. I would leave him be in his tank and put white paper on three sides of the inside of the tank to get rid of reflections. That way he can sit and bask, get comfortable and just watch you from a distance. Then feed him every few hours.

Your temperature on your cool side doesn't need to be so hot. Aim for 75-80 air temperatures on the cool side. Maybe more in the 80 range for babies. Basking spots should be about 110-115 for the little ones, and then cool side around 75-80. If you have 100 on the warm side and 90 on the cool side, that's not enough of a gradient for him to regulate properly.

If he's nervous about eating, the Phoenix worms would be best. They are slow moving enough to not intimidate babies, yet are very wriggly to catch their attention. Plus they are easy to leave in a bowl and then let him eat without you watching, or watching from behind a corner :) I wouldn't want to leave roaches or crickets unattended in a tank.

As for your lights, you can get away with just using the 40 watt I imagine, especially if he's in a smaller tank. The blue light will be better for him than the red. To achieve proper temps with the blue light, just raise his basking spot. You can also post pictures of your set up and we can help you rearrange things and get it all sorted :)
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
Varalidaine":128sxzp1 said:
Reptiles are very easily stressed. It took 2 months for my dragon to lighten up and eat in front of us on a regular basis. I prefer to let babies stay in their tanks for this reason and because they need to eat 2-3 times a day, they need the warmth of the light to digest. Dragons need to be at a minimum of 95 to even start digesting food. It's good to wake up, let him bask for hour, then offer salad. After another 1-2 hours, offer his first meal. Let him bask for at least 2 hours after eating in order to digest properly. You can then take him out for an hour or so before the next feeding time and let him digest again for two hours after the second feeding, but if he's not eating and glass surfing, he sounds stressed. I would leave him be in his tank and put white paper on three sides of the inside of the tank to get rid of reflections. That way he can sit and bask, get comfortable and just watch you from a distance. Then feed him every few hours.

Your temperature on your cool side doesn't need to be so hot. Aim for 75-80 air temperatures on the cool side. Maybe more in the 80 range for babies. Basking spots should be about 110-115 for the little ones, and then cool side around 75-80. If you have 100 on the warm side and 90 on the cool side, that's not enough of a gradient for him to regulate properly.

If he's nervous about eating, the Phoenix worms would be best. They are slow moving enough to not intimidate babies, yet are very wriggly to catch their attention. Plus they are easy to leave in a bowl and then let him eat without you watching, or watching from behind a corner :) I wouldn't want to leave roaches or crickets unattended in a tank.

As for your lights, you can get away with just using the 40 watt I imagine, especially if he's in a smaller tank. The blue light will be better for him than the red. To achieve proper temps with the blue light, just raise his basking spot. You can also post pictures of your set up and we can help you rearrange things and get it all sorted :)



Thank you so much for your help :)

heres some pics of everything.

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Thanks please tell me what you guys would recommend.
I hopefully can get him a new basking light tonight. and hopefully the uvb this weekend along with his bigger cage.
i still have some lettuce in there right now. and if i order some phoenix worms they will still take a couple days to deliver. i still have crickets what do you guys recommend? every time i try and put him in a seprate dish to eat he like does a 360 then crawls up my finger.
Thanks guys
 

Skipper7

Juvie Member
Are you dusting the crickets? If not, you should. When you dust them you can put them into a bag and shake vigorously to "stun" them. Then try hand feeding if he wont eat.
 

Jittjuke

Member
Original Poster
Skipper7":33wme6an said:
Are you dusting the crickets? If not, you should. When you dust them you can put them into a bag and shake vigorously to "stun" them. Then try hand feeding if he wont eat.

What exactly do you mean by dusting. And yeah I tried that a couple times. It didn't work. I tried hand feeding nothing. Either. Could he just be having a weird time adapting to everything still? Like I feed him in a different container and every time I try and put him in that or back in his cage he like turns around and crawls back up my hand.
Should I maybe but some more lettuce in his cage? Or try putting some crickets in there? - I really don't want to do that though. I just want him to be healthy.
 

Skipper7

Juvie Member
By dusting I mean calcium powder. In conjunction with the UVB, it helps them develop strong bones and steer clear of metabolic bone disease. Phoenix worms are naturally high in calcium and actually don't need to be dusted. I believe this is part of why Varalidaine reccomended them. It won't hurt to have veggies available all the time either.

Somehow I missed that you've only had him for a day or two!! It is comepletetly normal for babies to take some time to adjust. As Varalidaine already suggested, covering 3 of 4 sides may help him adjust quicker.
 
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