My baby beardie won't eat anything...

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Ziggyjames

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So my son has saved his money for a long time in order to buy a bearded dragon. So the time has come and we purchased everything but the beardie and the crickets. Set up the enclosure and got things prepared for our new family member. So after a week of trouble shooting tank temps and timers etc. It was time to get our little guy. So we picked him up on Thursday 3/21/19. We have had him for 5 days now and he just won't eat. He doesn't like his greens or fruit which we change daily. He's ate about 10 crickets total since we brought him home. I am worried there is something wrong with him. My son is very discouraged and I'm hoping this is normal. Please someone help me, Ziggy depends on it...
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Be sure the crickets are small and, feed only a few at a time, to many can be overwhelming.
He is experiencing what is called relocation stress this takes time to get over. The best way to do this is to let him have his space and, let him get used to you from a distance for a bit. Let him get familiar with his new surroundings slowly, do not try to handle him right away unless he will come to you, DO NOT CHASE HIM.

Babies usually don't consider greens as food nor are they required, he needs bugs for the protein to help him grow. You can put greens in the Viv every day to let him find out they are food but, that is up to him..
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
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I agree just give it some time. If your husbandry is in order then your little guy will come around. I'm on my 2nd week with Tombo and yesterday was the first day where I felt like his appetite was fully back. It had been improving after the first week but not till today and yesterday has he had the normal growing baby appetite.
It just takes time sometimes, don't get discouraged.

-Brandon
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
I have two new hatchlings in the house too. I knew what to expect as I've raised 2 other pairs of hatchling bearded dragons in the past.
My two are only 10g and 15g , so only at most 2 months old , the breeder suggested housing together and playing it by ear for now . I was ready to separate the pair from the getgo in two 120L rearing tubs.
So they are housed together in a 120L converted tub temporarily , I expect to separate the pair in a month or two.

This is the current set up :
P3300034a.jpg


Light & UV & heat sources in rearing tank:
26W UVB200 in NanoHood
35W Neodymium Daylight Lamp (gives 38 - 40 degC at highest basking spot , using because I have some in my stash , they are very compact (space is an issue under the lid) and they give the right basking spot temperature for my setup).
7W heatslab sandwiched between tiles controlled by a thermostat set to hold 35 degC under hide.

P3290026.jpg


My current tactics are :
> I left 40 bsfl in an excape proof porcelain feeding dish over night.
> I count the bsfl when I am ready to give them a feed of crickets (about lunchtime) , only a few crickets released at a time.
> the bsfl stay in the rearing tub in a feeding dish for the evening meal
> the salad goes in after the crickets have been eaten ( if they nibble on the greens that's fine, if they don't at such a young age - I am not going worry, breeder said they were eating salad everyday already), I want them to know the green and orange stuff is there and is a food
> I remove the salad left when I go to bed , but if I think there may be a rogue cricket or two or three in the tank it's left there overnight ( I'd rather the crickets eat the left over salad than bite my babies).


From tonight (this is night #3) I'm removing the bsfl overnight and only leaving the salad.

I'm expecting they will be eating 8 - 10 small (1/4 size) crickets per day each (or the equivalent) + a nibble on the salad each day , likely by next weekend.

My two had 4 small crickets (25 d/old = 1/4 size) each + 4 bsfl (not sure who ate them) this morning & and there was evidence the salad had been raided too.
 
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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.

Things to do:
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Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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