New baby beardie won't eat (Lethargic behavior)

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I purchased a bearded dragon from a pet store about a month ago. He is currently a juvenile most likely less than 3 months old.

Issue: He has been sitting on his heated side on or under his hammock for about a week. When we first got him he preferred to hang on to the oak leg on the cold side of his tank when he slept. He recently finished shedding and ever since he has been very lethargic and refuses to eat unless I push a Dubia roach against his mount repeatedly. This should not be confused as forcing him as he is more than happy to eat it once its placed in his mouth.

Detail: He is still defecating when we can get food in him the following day. Defecation is solid and only contains excess water on days following baths. He used to get calcium dusted crickets without d3 and mustard greens before he shed but refused to eat them so we purchased some dubia roaches. Once thing I have noticed is a considerable darkening under his eyes and light darking at the tip of his tail.

Environment details:
Substrate is porcelain tile, Birch landings, oak legs, painted wood picket is of unknown material. (The picket was added post adoption but he showed no signs of stress after the addition.)
Basking spot is 110f (par38 flood light) and cold side is 90f (60w halogen) colder sections of the tank can get as low as 75 on the lower cold side.
We use a uvb 10.0 bulb from reptisun t5.
I started him in a 100 gallon tank so we never had to upgrade.
He is on a 15 hour daylight cycle (excluding the CHE) which has been reduced to 14 hours this morning.

Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/WlRf7IJ
 

KarrieRee

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Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Is he basking at all? The T 5 where is it in the tank or is it on top of mesh? Have you moved him to the basking areas? If so does he stay or move?
Karrie
 

Dustmister

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Is he basking at all?
100% of the time he is under the basking light.
The T 5 where is it in the tank or is it on top of mesh?
Inside the tank below the basking light. (Just out of shot from the light from the basking light to prevent overheating.)
Have you moved him to the basking areas? If so does he stay or move?
He is always in the basking area.
 

CooperDragon

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Your setup looks quite nice. Does he have any trouble moving between the different areas? Have you been tracking his weight? I'd keep a close eye on that since weight loss could indicate illness before he shows outward signs of trouble.
 

Dustmister

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CooperDragon":1f394nop said:
Your setup looks quite nice. Does he have any trouble moving between the different areas? Have you been tracking his weight? I'd keep a close eye on that since weight loss could indicate illness before he shows outward signs of trouble.

Does he have any trouble moving between the different areas?
Before he did not. He completely ignored the nice ramps I made him and climbed the legs instead.
Have you been tracking his weight?
I will begin this tonight. I have a food scale I can weigh him on.
 

Claudiusx

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That would be good. Measure in grams if you can.

How many dubia will he eat with you using that method. He does look pretty weak in the pictures. it would be best to make sure he is getting some form of nutrition.

What do temps in your tank get to at night?
And just because you didn't mention it, what are you measuring your temps with?

That's good that he will drink in the bath. Does he seem to drink a lot when he does?

-Brandon
 

Dustmister

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claudiusx":yljqxusg said:
That would be good. Measure in grams if you can.

How many dubia will he eat with you using that method. He does look pretty weak in the pictures. it would be best to make sure he is getting some form of nutrition.

What do temps in your tank get to at night?
And just because you didn't mention it, what are you measuring your temps with?

That's good that he will drink in the bath. Does he seem to drink a lot when he does?

-Brandon

How many dubia will he eat with you using that method.
10+ I normally stop after that because I'm not sure if this method is healthy for him.

What do temps in your tank get to at night?
CHE stays on so temps are around 70-75
And just because you didn't mention it, what are you measuring your temps with?
IR Gun from amazon and an ambiance temp/humidity meter.
https://www.banggood.com/UNI-T-UT333-Mini-LCD-Digital-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Air-Temperature-and-Humidity-Meter-Moisture-Mete-p-1080806.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

That's good that he will drink in the bath. Does he seem to drink a lot when he does?
He definitely does since his stool has a lot of water the following day. Do not confuse this for diarrhea as the stool itself is solid with water surrounding it.
 

Claudiusx

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Ok for now I think you should go ahead and feed him as many as he will eat like that. The goal is to get some nutrition in him so he feels he has the energy to be active again and eat on his own. One thing you could try to get some extra micro nutrients in is dip part of the dubia in some squash or vegie baby food. This will help get more nutrition in him than just the dubias alone.

When he poos how do his urates look?

-Brandon
 

Dustmister

Member
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claudiusx":1u3sevh6 said:
Ok for now I think you should go ahead and feed him as many as he will eat like that. The goal is to get some nutrition in him so he feels he has the energy to be active again and eat on his own. One thing you could try to get some extra micro nutrients in is dip part of the dubia in some squash or vegie baby food. This will help get more nutrition in him than just the dubias alone.

When he poos how do his urates look?

-Brandon

The times I've seen it its been pearly white a couple times its had a tinge of yellow. I will feed him as much as he wants tonight after weighing.
 

CooperDragon

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In addition to the advice of dipping the bugs in veges, you can also feed the veges to them. Dubia are excellent composters and LOVE things like squash and bell pepper and dark greens which can provide good nutrients up the food chain. My colony lives primarily on veg scraps.
 

Dustmister

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We did very good tonight!
So Sebastian weighed in at 6 grams and enjoyed his bath. It didn't look like he was trying to drink any water this time around since I kept the water much lower this time (below his knees). Over about 20 minutes I managed to finagle 10 dubias with calcium dust into his mouth and preped the butternut squash for tomorrow morning. He has moved a few times post bath for a better sun spot. Hopefully hes happy to eat crickets sooner than later but for now I need to get more roaches. I will continue to log his weight daily and post the results here along with feeding to see if anything seems odd.

Is there anything I should pay attention to in particular for the new few days? I'm waiting for some black soldier fly larvae from rainbow worms shipped today to see if he enjoys those more.
 

Drache613

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Hello,

That is indeed a tiny baby, at only 6 grams. It takes time for them to fully adjust though.
At least he did eat a pretty good amount today, that must have been some work on both
ends to get that done. Be sure the dubia are tiny so he doesn't have any impaction issues.
The size rule is no larger than the space between the eyes.
Do you have pictures of him we could see?
He should love the phoenix/calcium worms, AKA black soldier fly larvae. A variety will be
nice for him.
Just let him settle in, monitor his urate output (white portion), to be sure he is staying well
hydrated. He should be pretty active for the most part. The urates wont always be perfectly
white, they can change colors from a white to an off white, tinted with orange/yellow from
time to time due to foods, supplementation, etc.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Claudiusx

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Great hopefully he likes the pw's they are great feeders :)
Leave it to beardie owners to get excited over bugs in the mail LOL!

-Brandon
 
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