Baby Bearded Dragon Low Appetite

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hey,

I got a baby bearded dragon a week ago. He is about 2 months old and is about 6in long total.

I try to feed him several times a day and he just isn't interested in food. He eats a little bit every time, but not nearly as much as I've read they tend to eat at this age. He'll eat maybe 2 piece of lettuce in the morning, 2 bugs in the afternoon, and 2-3 bugs for dinner.

I've tried meal worms, waxworms (just to try to tempt his appetite, I know these aren't a staple for babies), small dubia roaches, small crickets, blueberries, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, carrots, and repashy grub pie.

He seems the most interested in collard greens and dubia roaches and pretty much rejects everything else.

I weighed him last night and he is 12 grams. I'm going to start tracking his weight to make sure it doesn't go down, but honestly he looks totally fine. He is pretty chubby, has clear eyes, not dehydrated, alert, and always looking around and moving around.

I have read a bunch of forum posts on here about healthy pooping habits and what healthy poops look like and everything looks good.

Should I be worried about him? Should I take him to the vet? Is there anything I can do to tempt his appetite?

I think I'm just a little skittish because I had a bearded dragon when I was younger for 8 years and he would have eaten ANYTHING I gave him as fast as he could and I'm just not used to this.



Also his settup -

20gal long (to be upgraded when he grows a little)
100w basking light
Zilla Dessert Thinline UVB (with plastic removed)
Warm side ambient temp - 95ish
Cool side ambient temp - 82ish
basking spot - 107
He tends to sit just outside of the direct basking spot so I checked that spots temp and it was 102.
Humidity is pretty consistently 39-40
He has a perch and a hide and a tiny water dish in case he wants it, but not big enough to raise humidity.
We do have one side wall blocked because he was doing a lot of wall surfing on just that wall, he stopped completely once we blocked it.

Edit: Forgot to mention substrate is repticarpet

Any husbandry tips appreciated!
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

Your setup sounds fine!

You've only had him for about a week, sometimes the relocation stress lasts longer than that. But his appetite should be slowly increasing. It sounds like he has a good diet with the willingness to eat dubia and collard greens. Just keep offering and he should settle in.

Tracking the weight is a good idea. He is a bit small for 2 months but they all grow at different rates :)

-Brandon
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Zilla Dessert Thinline UVB---- I would replace w/ a Reptison 10.0 T 5 or a T 8 UVB---- the Dessert UVB are not highly recommended--- since your gonna be upgrading the tank the T 8's only come in like 18" I believe and the T 5's come in like 22" and up --- the T 5 is a stronger bulb and can be put on top of a screen as long as the screen is a wide hole screen - the T 8's need to go inside the tank as they are not as strong- his diet is good as far as what hes eating - your lucky hes eating his greens at such a young age --:) how are you taking his basking spot temp? ambient temps sound good but you need to get a actual basking temp w/ either a digital probe or a infrared heat gun-- and dubias are more filling than crickets
Karrie
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I agree that your setup sounds good and it may just be a bit of relocation stress. The Zilla Slimline is a T8 w/reflector which is appropriate for a tank that size. It should sit about 6-8'' above the main basking area for best results. Your temp gradient sounds good. I'd just give him some more time to settle in and adjust. Since he's alert and active he is probably healthy.
 

matthewd73

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the replies so far!

He ate 4 roaches this morning, which is about twice as much as usual, so hoping that is a good sign.

I took the ambient temps with just normal heat dials, but the basking spots I took with an inferred thermometer.


Follow up question though - he seems to be really distracted by his reflection in the glass. I do have contact paper that I could use to block off 3 walls to help him calm down and feel more secure... but would that possibly disrupt him even more? I don't want to make him have to cope with a new change again when he's not even done with the first change.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Is he being distracted by the reflection, or is he looking out at the room and wanting to get out to roam and explore? If it's his reflection you can try just taping some construction paper or newspaper etc to the side to see if that helps. It's a minor change and worth it if reflection appears to be causing stress.
 

matthewd73

Member
Original Poster
It does seem like the reflection was bothering him... or maybe he felt too exposed? Because he would sit there and constantly look around, and only eat for a few seconds at a time before looking around more...

But just to close loop on all this, I put up some contact paper on the back and side walls and now he gets genuinely excited to eat. He's eating 10-11 small dubias at a time and comes running right over the second I put them in there.

Not sure if he just got more comfortable with time or if the paper really made that big of a difference, but he's eating just fine now.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
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

Forum statistics

Threads
155,899
Messages
1,255,687
Members
75,966
Latest member
georgiarichmond
Top Bottom