baby beardie hasnt eat ....

hi, i got my baby bearded dragon about 3 weeks ago. and hes doing fine, very active while i take him outta tank, but in the tank it just sit there on top of a log basking all day. but i guess thats what they do. not a big deal. But the problem is : he was shedding last week and i was moving to a new apartment. And my lil guy stop eating as usual, usually it will eat 30-40 crickets a day, but since the day it shed until today(hes already done shedding for a couple of days!), he hasnt eat much, maybe just 2-3 meal worms a day, and thats it. No appetite at all...... but he looks fine tho... still standing there straight basking.. and when i take him out. he still active jumping everywhere...i really have no idea whats wrong , what should i do?

Hi, welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear that your beardie hasn't eaten. So, you've had him for 3 wks and you just recently moved? If I understood that right, he has had 2 different places to get used to in that short time which could have caused him some stress which can certainly affect their appetite.

Just to rule things out, could you fill us in on some information? What size tank is he in and what wattage bulbs are you using for heat? What brand & type of UVB do you have and what is the distance of that to him when he's in his basking spot?

What are the tank temps, where are you checking them exactly and what type of thermometer are you using?

What type of substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank?

How often are you bathing him and/or offering oral fluids? What feeders and greens are you offering? How old is he?

Also, how often are you dusting his feeders with calcium & vitamins?

I know this is a lot of questions but there are some things that need to be ruled out before we can try to help you figure out his loss of appetite.

[I moved your other 2 threads from public viewing because they were exact duplicates of this one. It's best to only have one thread about the same questions because otherwise it gets to difficult for you and us to follow them and to know what other responses you already received. Only 1 thread helps to keep the forum neater too.]

yes, you understood correct, thats the situation for these 3 weeks.
ok so i got the bearded dragon starter kit for all living things, so its a 40Gallon glass tank, with uvb light and heat light , also i have a wood piece for him to climb on and some big rocks too. my substrate is green repticarpet for petsmart. the distance between him and the heat is around 6-7 inches
tank temp is around 95-100 F, i put my therometer around the basking lamp, so i think thats the basking temp? and i use the digital theremeter thats included in the started kit.
i bath him like once a week, but when he was shedding , i bathed him everyday
i feed him Kale as green. crickets , meal worms. and i tried dubia roaches, he never eat one..... so usually he can eat 30-40 crickets a day, but now he seems dont like crickets at all, he only eat meal worm(2-3 a day..)and a lil bit of Kale. thats it... no appetite at all...
and yes i usually dusted my crickets... thank you so much on helping me out. im lil worry here.

when he is out of the tank, he is sooo active, jumping all over and even no fear of jumping from a great height(couch or table).....freaks me out.. but he seems fine to me actively.. just no appetite.and i found out that he has been changing color a lil bit darker sometimes. hes name is Rocky btw.

Personally I wouldn't use kale as his staple greens. Use mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens and squash. Kale is ok occasionally but not as the only veggie every day. Here is a link to a good site with veggies http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html Then can experiment with other stuff but the base should be the 3 greens I listed up top. Color change is normal, they lighten up to absorb less heat, uvb etc and darken to absorb more. Also change colors depending how they feel as well. And I really wouldn't worry too much as long as he seems healthy and active. Harley takes breaks sometimes too and will eat a little less for a bit, then pig out other days. Oh forgot to mention, if he isn't really interested in crickets and you aren't afraid of roaches, maybe try dubias. Harley will trample her mother for a dubia and since she's been eating them, she won't touch crickets anymore unless I trick into one, then it's only that one haha :lol:

Sauzo":2waj6r4x said:

if he isn't really interested in crickets and you aren't afraid of roaches, maybe try dubias. Harley will trample her mother for a dubia and since she's been eating them, she won't touch crickets anymore unless I trick into one, then it's only that one haha :lol:

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hi there, yes i did order Dubia for him, since i heard its the best feeder...but he seems not interested at all. or afraid to try?? he didnt even try one.. or maybe its because the appetite issue still... he just not eating anything besides 2 -3 mealworms. i hope rocky can ask me for food too!!!1

Is he still going to bathroom daily or every other day? If so and active still, I prolly wouldn't worry too much. Just keep offering him food and let him get resettled into the new apartment. Also some dragons don't like to be watched or have people in the room when they eat. Maybe with the move, he is like that. You can just drop a few dubias in since they aren't like crickets and won't attack your dragon and then go do something and check back in 30 mins or so and see if he's eaten any. But like I said, I prolly wouldn't worry too much as long as he seems active and is pooping normal. Might want to give him baths to make sure he stays hydrated too.

he pooped everyday since i got him except yesterday and today(he hasnt poop yet) i thought its because the less eating....or is it impaction? i have repticarpet though...

That's good that you're using reptile carpet, no worries about that causing impaction.

I'm not sure of everything that is in the "starter kit." Would it be possible to list what it came with or post a picture of the box perhaps? I'm concerned that the UVB is a coil bulb and those are not good to use, causing loss of appetite and other issues.

For the thermometer, it sounds like it came with a digital strip that sticks to the glass. Unfortunately, those can be off 20 degrees or more. The only 2 ways to get an accurate reading are with either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end. You need to find out the basking SURFACE temp so you would need to use one of those 2 ways to ck it that I just mentioned.

It's good that he is so active when he is out of his tank, what is he like while IN his tank and where does he spend most of his time?

Sauzo is right, kale isn't a daily staple food unless a small amount is mixed with the daily staple greens like escarole, endive, collards, turnip or mustard greens and dandelion. Mealworms have a very hard chitin shell that makes them hard to digest which can lead to an impaction. If he doesn't like crickets or dubias right now, you might want to think about getting some butterworms, phoenix worms, silkworms or very small hornworms.

Yup all those worms work great too. Phoenix worms will prolly be the easiest to get in a consistent size since it seems most of the other worms come in containers of size x-y, not a single size. And yeah definitely get something more accurate than a dial or stick on thermometer for the basking spot although I kinda cheat and don't even bother monitoring the cool side since the room temp is around 75 during the day and 70 at night but I do use a temp gun to monitor Harley's basking spot. If you are using a glass tank, my advice would be invest in a Zoo Med light stand and Zoo Med deep dome fixture. That will allow you to raise or lower the light to set the basking temp. Works great. And for the uvb tube, just buy a fixture from Home Depot or Walmart or any of those places and then use 3M Command Hooks. That works great too.

Actually Sauzo, butterworms are all the same size and when you order, you can order a certain size of silks and horns, I have actually been doing it for many yrs so that makes it work out.

Ah ok, who do you get the butters and silks from Diamc? I checked Mulberry farms and that's a no go. I was checking out Great Lakes Hornworm and they seemed decent. Haven't actually tried em yet though. There is a reptile food store about 20 miles from me that sells all the stuff the worms, dubias, hissers, crickets etc but like I said, their worms come in dishes with a wide range of size

thank you for your answers!! so this morning i planned to give my lil baby a warm bath to clear the impaction. i think he had impaction because he didnt go to bathroom for 2 days, and then i went to his tank, i saw his POOP!!! i was happy to see his poop (HAHAA :lol: ) but ya, i still give him a warm bath, and after that i tried to feed him to see if his appetites back, and he ate 2 dubia roaches(first time trying it) and 2 mealworms. he shows no interests in crickets..its not a whole lot compare to hes appetite before.... but at least hes eating something, right? so you guys think thats too little food for him? is he getting appetite back day by day? please let me know. thank you.

diamc":2zsttwi4 said:

For the thermometer, it sounds like it came with a digital strip that sticks to the glass. Unfortunately, those can be off 20 degrees or more. The only 2 ways to get an accurate reading are with either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end. You need to find out the basking SURFACE temp so you would need to use one of those 2 ways to ck it that I just mentioned.

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hmmmm, i think mine is the one you talking about, "a digital thermometer with a long wire and probe end" this was included in the kit. so this kind should be ok right?
https://www.google.com/search?um=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=zh-TW&biw=1252&bih=609&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=digital+thermometer+zoo+med&oq=digital+thermometer+zoo+med&gs_l=img.3...5756.7145.0.7265.8.8.0.0.0.0.117.610.6j2.8.0.crnk_timediscountc..0.0...1.1.17.img.gVmWQIqH7kY#facrc=_&imgrc=gVwnvk_SqXlBSM%3A%3BUA3hsmawsI9mgM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.petco.com%252Fassets%252Fproduct_images%252F0%252F097612300246C.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.petco.com%252Fproduct%252F106227%252FZoo-Med-Digital-Thermometer.aspx%3B350%3B350 this is the kind i have

I personally would nix the mealworms and just go with dubias and try phoenix worms or reptiworms. They are like little vitamin pills. They are loaded with calcium and beardies usually love em. As for 2 dubias and 2 mealworms, something is better than nothing and with him going poop, that's a good sign. I'd just keep doing what you're doing except like I said, i'd nix those mealworms and go with phoenix, repti, small hornworms, silkworms, soft bodied worms at least till he gets 6 months old, then you can do stuff like superworms although I don't do any hard bodied worms.

The thermostat you're using seems fine. Just put the probe on the bask spot so you can get the temp there and keep that spot around 105-115. I do 115 so if Harley wants a cooler spot, she can scoot over and thermo regulate. That way she always has the highest hot spot if she ever wants it. For the cool side, if your room is kept around 75 or you use a big basking light, it should be fine. I use a 150 watt basking light set up about 2-2.5ft above her basking spot so it also heats the area around it which works well. Anyways, sounds like your little guy is picking up some.