beardie not eating because of stress?

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Lovelybeardie

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Hi! :) Two days ago I took my bearded dragon Toefu to the pet store to get his nails trimmed for the very fist time, and to get him some dubias to be his new staple feeder (mealworms have been his staple for about a year). during the nail trim he was very scared. :( Ever since then he hasn't eaten anything on his own. I'm wondering if it's because he's just not hungry or he's traumatized from the nail trim. :( By the way, he had no trouble eating live food before.
Toefu is about 2 1/2 years old, and 18 inches long. He lives in a 40 gallon tank (38x18x17) , his substrate is non-adhesive shelf liner, he eats about 25-30 mealworms every other day. Thank you in advance for any input! :D
 

CooperDragon

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The nail trimming may have stressed him out as you said. They don't tend to like it much and if it was done in an unfamiliar environment then probably more so. You can usually trim their nails at home using clippers to nip off just the very sharp tip at the end and an emery board to file them down a bit as needed. This will let you just work on one hand/foot at a time and then let them run around if they get squirmy. They usually forgive and forget pretty quickly though so I don't think the trauma will last long.


As far as diet goes, a 2 year old is an adult and should be eating mostly salads. It's good that you are switching to dubia roaches as a staple bug but even those should be offered maybe once or twice per week. A nice big salad should be offered every day with a variety of items rotating depending on what you can get fresh at the store. The roaches are excellent at taking care of leftovers too which is nice =). I would reference this list for some ideas about what to offer http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html If he isn't used to eating veges then it may take some time for him to start digging in. Hopefully you can find some favorites soon and keep those in regular rotation for him.
 

Lovelybeardie

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Original Poster
Thank you for responding! He is eating now but I’ve discovered that he just doesn’t want the dubias but he will eat mealworms. He had a couple dubias about a year ago and really liked them, but now he will not eat any. :( I will definitely try to feed him more veggies, it’s just really hard because he’s so picky.
 

CooperDragon

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If his weight is stable it may take some tough love and offering just a nice big salad every day for a few weeks. They can be stubborn and hold out for their treats but a high fat diet can cause some health issues for them down the road.
 
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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.

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