Juvey not eating

samphychippy":tu5grnac said:

Hey guys,

I got a beardie last sunday at a reptile expo in NY, he is about 7.5 inches long so im assuming about 2-3 months old. When we got him he was eating fine (crickets twice a day, one day had some calci worms, and sometimes eats some collard greens) but yesterday and today he hasn't been eating barely any crickets. some of the crickets are dusted with calcium or a multi vitamin and im not sure if maybe he just doesn't like the smell or taste of that?

set up
- basking spot is 110 using a probe (had a heating debacle yesterday as i had a 50 watt that was only getting up to 99 so i wanted to raise the temps a little and got a 100 watt which was a bad decision as it got to 120 so today i got a 75 watt and we are at 109 consistantly so maybe hes not eating due to stress of the heat changes?)
<<<< too hot , should have stayed with 99F assuming the thermometer is reading true.
<<<< bit relocation stress too

- uvb is a repti sun 10.0 tube right at the basking spot
<<< tube or compact ?
and if tube T8 or T5HO ?
<<< wattage ?
<<< on top or under mesh lid ?
<<< how far from basking spot ?
... if a compact and only 13W as sold in many "kits" it's inadequate and needs to replaced.

- lights on for about 12 hours every day and he spends most of his time basking
<<< 12 hours is too short. Suggest you bump up by 3 - 4 extra hours per day.

- at night the temps get to around 75
- has a cool side with a hide
- substrate is repti carpet and slate tile
- how i feed crickets: i have a cermaic cat food bowl that i put the crickets in that they ususally cant get out of and he usually sits on the edge and eats from there
<<<< how heavy is the hatchling ?
<<< what size crickets ?
<<< best to keep to crickets just under the length of the space between hatchling's eyes and to drop a few crickets in to be caught and eaten at a time rather the dumping a lot in all at once , when the 2 or 3 crickets have been eaten , drop a few more in , hatchling will soon learn to watch you and wait in anticipation for it's next few bugs, repeat til it looses interest.

- have given him a bath twice (loves to be held) and he has drank both times
- went to the bathroom twice this week, both looked good

the only other thing i can think of is that the sides of the tank are not covered just the back wall and i think some times he sees the cat and gets scared
<<<< keep cat out of the room where the viv is ( must never be allowed in the same room EVER !!) the sight of the cat will be scaring the little hatchling , the cat and dragon must never meet and will never be friends EVER. Cats and lizards in the same home usually ends badly for the lizard.
<<< invest in cat proofing the viv , prevention is best defence as cats are sneeky and cats often break into vivs that have mesh lids.
Very easy to cat proof an open top viv : viewtopic.php?f=75&t=240221&p=1840683#p1840683

i would love to hear any ones thoughts? im trying to decide if i now need to go get new fresh un-dusted crickets

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