daisydragon19
New member
Hello!
I hope this is the right place to post this. For backstory, my husband and I just adopted a 4(?) year old female bearded dragon named Daisy from close relatives who wanted to get a new, baby dragon about a month ago. We love her to bits, and want to give her the best possible care we can. We are mildly concerned that she did not have the best care based on what we've been told. The relative has said on separate occasions that they fed Daisy once a month, once every 10 days, and once a week. Not sure what is true, but we know that the top-opening cage with lights on top influenced the feeding frequency. Her enclosure was filled with sand from the back yard and had a water bowl that we were told she would sometimes sit in. We think she was dehydrated, because we gave her a bath when we first got her and she opened her mouth and went underwater to chug for a long time...we thought she was drowning. Second bath she drank but not as much. All baths since she has not tried to drink, just sits. She had a cardboard box under her basking light with a cardboard ramp up to the top. We were told that she was not a climber and would often sit in the cardboard box for weeks at a time. She had a UV light at the time we got her but we think this may have been a relatively recent addition. All lights were outside the screen. When we adopted, my husband cleaned out the sand, which smelled awful, and were told it was last cleaned in September 2018 (~about 7 months prior).
We bought her a new tank (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QHSYWX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1) inside the cage with a light bulb on her basking perch at 95*F. She is in our furnace room which is heated to 75*F. She will come out and sit on her basking area once in a while. If she does, I will usually feed her at night, maybe around 8-9pm when i get home from work. I feed her 4-6 large dubias with greens stuck to their back with mango/calcium mixture. Her lights are set to turn on at 9am and off at 1am. Sometimes we take her out and let her run around the heated furnace room. We plan to take her outside for some sun eventually. She is a really sweet thing, I love being around her.
My major concern at the moment is that the day after I feed her, she will go right into her hide and sleep for days. I have tried to feed her when in her hide and she is not interested. Not even in superworms which she normally loves. I have started to just change out her salad daily until 3 days have passed, then i give her a bath and feed her. She eats normally. Then its back to the cave.
My question is should I force her out more often to try and eat or just let her sleep? I've read that they eat daily...Sometimes she eats her greens on her own, but not much or often. Usually I get the bulk to her by sticking it to the back of a dubia with some sort of sticky fruit. I want her to be healthy, but I'm totally new at this, and am not sure if I am overreacting or if I need to make a big change. Any advice would be appreciated!
TL;DR: Do I force my beardie out of her sleep to feed her every day?
Previous cage
New cage
I hope this is the right place to post this. For backstory, my husband and I just adopted a 4(?) year old female bearded dragon named Daisy from close relatives who wanted to get a new, baby dragon about a month ago. We love her to bits, and want to give her the best possible care we can. We are mildly concerned that she did not have the best care based on what we've been told. The relative has said on separate occasions that they fed Daisy once a month, once every 10 days, and once a week. Not sure what is true, but we know that the top-opening cage with lights on top influenced the feeding frequency. Her enclosure was filled with sand from the back yard and had a water bowl that we were told she would sometimes sit in. We think she was dehydrated, because we gave her a bath when we first got her and she opened her mouth and went underwater to chug for a long time...we thought she was drowning. Second bath she drank but not as much. All baths since she has not tried to drink, just sits. She had a cardboard box under her basking light with a cardboard ramp up to the top. We were told that she was not a climber and would often sit in the cardboard box for weeks at a time. She had a UV light at the time we got her but we think this may have been a relatively recent addition. All lights were outside the screen. When we adopted, my husband cleaned out the sand, which smelled awful, and were told it was last cleaned in September 2018 (~about 7 months prior).
We bought her a new tank (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077QHSYWX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1) inside the cage with a light bulb on her basking perch at 95*F. She is in our furnace room which is heated to 75*F. She will come out and sit on her basking area once in a while. If she does, I will usually feed her at night, maybe around 8-9pm when i get home from work. I feed her 4-6 large dubias with greens stuck to their back with mango/calcium mixture. Her lights are set to turn on at 9am and off at 1am. Sometimes we take her out and let her run around the heated furnace room. We plan to take her outside for some sun eventually. She is a really sweet thing, I love being around her.
My major concern at the moment is that the day after I feed her, she will go right into her hide and sleep for days. I have tried to feed her when in her hide and she is not interested. Not even in superworms which she normally loves. I have started to just change out her salad daily until 3 days have passed, then i give her a bath and feed her. She eats normally. Then its back to the cave.
My question is should I force her out more often to try and eat or just let her sleep? I've read that they eat daily...Sometimes she eats her greens on her own, but not much or often. Usually I get the bulk to her by sticking it to the back of a dubia with some sort of sticky fruit. I want her to be healthy, but I'm totally new at this, and am not sure if I am overreacting or if I need to make a big change. Any advice would be appreciated!
TL;DR: Do I force my beardie out of her sleep to feed her every day?
Previous cage
New cage