new baby not eating

Hi,
Our new baby bearded dragon was purchased about a week ago. He (I call him "he" even though we obviously dont know) is very young and now looking back I wish we had gone with an older and larger baby. However now he is mine and I'm very attached to him. Anyway, he was about 4 weeks old (maybe only 3) when we purchased him. He is now about 3-4 inches in length.

Here is a little summary of Giblet's first week with us:
Last Saturday (the first day we had Giblet), he did not eat much more than a cricket or two. However Sunday (day 2) until Thursday (day 5), he was eating anywhere from 12 to 15 crickets a day (6 to 8 before and after work). Thursday after work he ate 7 crickets, and then we left him to bask under his light for a few hours before bed. Before turning the light off before bed, we were looking for non-eaten crickets so we could remove them. When we shook one loose from his basking spot, little Giblet ran after the cricket and ate it. The tank had already cooled considerably from the basking light being off during our cricket search, and Giblet was already getting sluggish and tired. We use a 50 watt I/R heat lamp at night because our house is so cold, so we turned that on and left the UVB bulb off and let Giblet go to sleep. His belly was looking pretty fat from having just eaten a cricket before bed, and for the first time since we got him, Giblet slept on the "cool" side of the tank (averaged about 70 degrees F).

The next day (Friday), he ate no crickets. He ate a few bites of some collard greens. Today (Saturday), he has eaten nothing, not even any greens.

I hear so much about baby bearded dragons eating a LOT and it really worries me that he is not eating. I have quite a few worries:
Did we impact or hurt Giblet somehow by letting him eat the cricket before bed and not letting him digest it? Especially since he slept on the cold side of he tank?

Should we not be using the 50 watt infared heat lamp? Is that keeping him up at night? We tried one night without the heat lamp and the temp was about 68 degrees F throughout the entire tank. With the heat lamp (we leave it on one side of the tank, in the same place his basking light normally is), the temperature is about 70 degrees F on the cool side and 75 to 78 on the warm side.

Is he just still stressed from his initial move to his new home? I have read that it can take a week or two for baby bearded dragons to get used to their new environments and get into a healthy eating schedule.

Another thing, there are little tiny bugs that seem to get into our house. They are like little fruit flies. I have seen a few get through the screen on top of Giblet's tank. I have also seen him snap at them once or twice. I know about the danger of fire flies and they are DEFINITELY not fire flies. But I wonder if maybe these little fruit fly-esque bugs are hurting him.

My boyfriend and I have made an appointment with a vet for tomorrow who specializes in reptiles and bearded dragons. However, I am worried that the stress of going to the vet is going to make things even worse. Not to mention that the cost of setting up Giblet's "haven" has made us barely able to afford the cost of a veteranarian.

Let's see what else I can tell you. He is in a 20 gallon long tank. He has a reptisun UVB 10.0 light, a 75 watt spotlight heater and we are using papertowel as a substrate. He has pooped every day, sometimes more than once and his stool is solid with both the dark and white parts. During the day, the cool side of his tank is about 75 degrees F and the warm side is about 95 degrees with the basking spot topping out at anywhere from 100 to 110 degrees. Baby Giblet also seems to have periods of great activity when I put my hand in the tank, he will rush around and climb up his little basking spot... however, for the most part he just lays (completely flat) on his basking spot. Before (when he was eating) he would have his head and chest raised.

Arrgh, I can't think of anything else to tell you. I really apologize for the length of this post and I hope it is not too confusing. I really hope that someone has some ideas. We called the local specialty reptile store where we got our baby, and they told us "dont worry about not eating unless it continues for a week." That is REALLY hard for me to believe so I wanted to get some other opinions. We are really trying our hardest to do the right thing with our new baby, and it is so difficult for me to see him not feeling well. Even though I have only known him a short period of time, it is very obvious to me that something is wrong and it is absolutely killing me not to be able to help him.

Here is a pic of our new baby from the first day we got him.

hey have you tried a warm bath. also you should switch to a ceramic heat bulb instead of a infrared because the infrared isn't good for beardies.and try different types of foods like phoenix worms or silkworms, new types of food will get him interested in it and he will want to try it.

Okay, here is something else.

I said earlier that I have a Repti-Sun 10.0 UVB but I dont. I have a Repti-Glo. Reading another post on here about the dangers of the Rept-Glo 10.0 really got me thinking, because little Giblet's symptoms really seem to match exactly. He is listless, not eating, and keeps his eyes closed most of the time.

Anyway, we ran out to Petsmart, returned the Repti-Glo and then went to PetCo to purchase a Repti-Sun. It is an 18" 15 watt strip type light. It is situated INSIDE the screen (screwed to the top) and is therefore anywhere from 5 to 10" from the highest point to the bottom of the tank.

Do we still need to take him to the Vet tomorrow? Do you think that this was the problem? Do you think that changing the light will allow him to absorb the right vitamins and allow him to open his eyes and hunt for food again?

I am really worried and I would really appreciate any advice or anything from anyone.

Thanks,
Jenn, Jet and Giblet

garnothegreat":b56a1 said:

hey have you tried a warm bath. also you should switch to a ceramic heat bulb instead of a infrared because the infrared isn't good for beardies.and try different types of foods like phoenix worms or silkworms, new types of food will get him interested in it and he will want to try it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice. We did try a warm bath earlier today and although he did make another bowl movement, it didn't seem to help with eating. As I just posted again, I really think now that the type of UVB I was using was causing a problem. I think that once he will open his eyes again that he will want to hunt crickets. However, tomorrow I will go to the reptile store and get him some silkworms or something as a treat to get him to eat.

As for the infrared heater, yes we will definitely be getting a ceramic heater as well.

Again I really appreciate your advice and the time to answer my post.


Jenn, Jet and Giblet

im am glad i could give you some info. hes definitely gonna be a looker!!!
and i hope he gets better

Hi there,
At this stage I wouldnt take him to the vets.
Dragons are notorious for resisting change, so it may take him longer than a week to settle down.
The fact that he has been eating at all and pooping is very encoraging trust me
Right now he's only eating because he needs to, when he becomes happy and secure in his new home he will start eating for the joy of eating!
If you would like to make sure he is healthy the best, and the cheapest thing to do is to get a faecal done.
Just call the vets and ask if you can bring in a sample for a full paracites screen. Then just wait until he poops, pop it in a bag and take it down to the vets.
This is very inexpensive (can be as low as $12) and will save you the cost of an office visit.

Until he is on a regular eating scedual I would keep handling to a minimum to minimise stress.
Its also a great idea to wear one of your old t-shirts and then cut up a section and put it into his viv. This way he will become used to your scent in a non threatening manner. It will work wonders when you two finally start to bond.

Holly

Ethelia":088d7 said:

Hi there,
At this stage I wouldnt take him to the vets.
Dragons are notorious for resisting change, so it may take him longer than a week to settle down.
The fact that he has been eating at all and pooping is very encoraging trust me
Right now he's only eating because he needs to, when he becomes happy and secure in his new home he will start eating for the joy of eating!
If you would like to make sure he is healthy the best, and the cheapest thing to do is to get a faecal done.
Just call the vets and ask if you can bring in a sample for a full paracites screen. Then just wait until he poops, pop it in a bag and take it down to the vets.
This is very inexpensive (can be as low as $12) and will save you the cost of an office visit.

Until he is on a regular eating scedual I would keep handling to a minimum to minimise stress.
Its also a great idea to wear one of your old t-shirts and then cut up a section and put it into his viv. This way he will become used to your scent in a non threatening manner. It will work wonders when you two finally start to bond.

Holly

Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice!! The idea of a fecal for a parasite check is a good one. I also really appreciate the idea to refrain from handling. When he was eating regularly, he seemed to be enjoying being handled (which was for a very short period inside his tank due to his tiny size). However, since he became sick we have not handled him because - as you say - we dont want to stress him out.

This morning he is waking and warming up all right, I will be attempting to feed him in an hour or two and we will see how he does. His color does look MUCH darker this morning, which is interesting to me. :| His eyes are open though which is really great because his eyes were closed almost all day yesterday.

Again, thanks for your help! It makes me feel good to know you guys are here for advice.

Jenn, Jet and sick baby Gib