Adult only eats 1-2 tbsp of salad a day?

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FYI I did try searching for the answer on here first—I know you get a ton of repeat questions, but I couldn’t find the answer I was looking for, so here we go:

My adult beardie (male, about 17.5 inches, 447 grams) will eat grated veggies everyday (collard greens, squash, asparagus, green pepper, a little apple was today’s munch), but he only eats 1-1.5 tablespoons of these grated veggies (MAYBE 2 tbsp on his first day with me). Is that normal for an adult beardie, or should he be eating more? I couldn’t find precisely how MUCH veggies they eat.

Since it is often asked, he’s in a 48”wide by 23”deep by 15” tall terrarium with three sides enclosed melamine and sliding glass front, basking side around 95 degrees, UVB reptisun 10.0 and basking light at 72 Watts. House itself is 77 degrees and he has no heating at night since lights are off. He spends most his day alternating between basking close to the basking light and a little more toward the middle of the cage. I dust his veggies with calcium (maybe he doesn’t like that taste? I didn’t do it the first day when he ate more), mist him 1-2 times a day, and bathe him every other day. I feed greens every morning, insects in afternoon every other day. I use shelf liner as substrate and spot clean as needed.

I got him from a rescue last Sunday, and his poop is still runny, though not as bad as before. His urate is a little bit runny and tinged ever so slightly pink (it is hardly noticeable, you have to reeeeeally look). He is active though (for a beardie, lol), and is happy to snap up Dubias. At the rescue he was eating insects everyday and veggies just 2-3 times a week. Now I have him on veggies and everyday and roaches every other day (after he eats greens). Is this switch okay, or should I give him roaches everyday after greens til he gets used to his new home?

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CooperDragon

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I think you'll find that their appetites fluctuate quite a bit. Some days they'll nibble at their salad or completely ignore it, other days they'll go to town and need seconds. Offering food by hand to create a bit of movement sometimes gets their attention. What you're seeing isn't unusual for an adult though.

As far as temps go, you may want to bump the basking temps up just a little. You want the basking surface to be between 100-105 or so with cooler areas around that. Proper basking surface temps along with strong UVB exposure are important for digestion and overall health.
 

MitchTheDragonDad

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Thanks Cooperdragon! He actually went back and ate the rest of his salad after realizing that scratching at the glass front of his home wasn’t going to make Daddy give him any more roaches than he’d had already, so that’s good! I also replaced the bulb with a 100 watt and the basking area is up to 101-104 in various areas (I love my temp gun, lol!), so we’ll see if that helps his digestion! Beau is doing really well for not even being in his new home a week yet, IMHO, especially since he is from a rescue. I think I lucked out with this awesome guy!!!
 

MitchTheDragonDad

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Hey Cooper, I’m not sure that he is enjoying the higher temps. He has been sitting mid cage gaping instead of over to the right where the basking lamp is. Is it possible 101-104 is too high considering that he is an adult?
 

CooperDragon

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It varies between dragons. If he is avoiding the hottest area you can just let him be or bring the temps down a little bit until he starts sitting in the basking area. The main thing though is to have a gradient across the tank so he can sit to the side and have cooler temps if that's what he wants.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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