Beardie won't eat and is VERY skinny!

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Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
If you've looked at other posts of mine you would know that Flash has had a hard time. I have been busy with school and homework and usually feed him later at night because of it. Starting yesterday he refused food. It really worries me because he is very thin. Please help!
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Sorry to hear this, how old is he , what size and what was he usually eating ? Can you post pics of Flash ?
 

Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
AHBD":2wnug4cr said:
Sorry to hear this, how old is he , what size and what was he usually eating ? Can you post pics of Flash ?
He is about a foot long if that helps you figure out the age. He usually eats large banded crickets from a pet store. They are easier to digest than normal crickets. I can't get pictures because he usually is hiding whenever I am near him. He only basks when I am not home.

Edit: He also comes out when I play my Xbox strangely enough. However, he only uses that time to try to escape.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Please post pics of tank and lighting --- that plays a huge role in their behavior eating and digesting food
Karrie
 
how do you know hes basking if you cant see him? basking is important for him.
and not to be rude in any way but being busy isnt an excuse to feed him inadequately. if you truly feel you dont have time for him, you should find him a new home. and hopefully since youre feeding him late he gets at least two hours of basking after to digest his food. how many crickets do you offer/does he eat everyday? if hes only 12 inches that makes me think he’s still a juvenile and needs more then one meal a day, how long have you had him? he needs to be given TWO (or three since hes skinny) meals of insects a day, each time he should be allowed to eat however much he wants in 15 minutes. in the morning he should be given a bowl of chopped up salad (collard greens, mustard greens, bell peppers, squash) leave the bowl in his tank, you can squirt the veggies with water to keep them good all day. some dragons wont bother to eat their veggies but they should always be offered everyday. if hes skinny i would try feeding him some waxworms to fatten him up. a good schedule would be to give him the salad and his first meal of bugs after his lights have been on about an hour before you go to school, then feed him his second meal of bugs when you get home. if you dont have time for that you probably should figure out a different living situation for him.
what UVB do you have for him?
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Kaelwizard":300x8a2u said:
If you've looked at other posts of mine you would know that Flash has had a hard time. I have been busy with school and homework and usually feed him later at night because of it. Starting yesterday he refused food. It really worries me because he is very thin. Please help!
Well, I hate to say this but he has not been fed a proper diet according to this statement.

Little (baby) dragon's require 3 meals of bugs a day and, never feed them at all 2 hours before lights out (they won't have time to digest it), doing this can lead to soured food in their tummies, causing all kinds of issues. Even at six months he should have 2 feedings a day of bugs.
 

Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Ok thank you. He still refuses food. I know he is basking because my mom checks on him and she says he does. I just tried to feed him but he won't eat. Part of it is because I recently rearranged his enclosure so he is stressed. I will try to feed him a little later. I put a fake plant in yesterday but I took it out when he tried to EAT it! Maybe he will eat greens?

Edit: I have a reptisun t5 tube and a basking light for him. I have had him since he was quite small. I got him last September.
 
well honestly you cant say he wont eat until you try something other then crickets. i got my man off crickets awhile ago because theyre not the best staple. theres many other bugs you can try, dubia roaches would be the most healthy and some waxworms to fatten him up like i said. you can order them online for a cheaper price then the stores. you should have been offering greens every single day so yes, you should try those.
your UVB is good. if youve had him since september that means hes at least 6 months but probably a couple months older. every dragon grows at different rates but he probably should be longer then 12 inches, which makes me think his growth is suffering because he hasnt been fed right. my man was 12 inches long at 3 months old and your guy is over double that. you really need to get some meat on his bones if hes too skinny, please post a picture.
 

Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
BeardedMabel":m4wt6wgd said:
well honestly you cant say he wont eat until you try something other then crickets. i got my man off crickets awhile ago because theyre not the best staple. theres many other bugs you can try, dubia roaches would be the most healthy and some waxworms to fatten him up like i said. you can order them online for a cheaper price then the stores. you should have been offering greens every single day so yes, you should try those.
its REALLY IMPORTANT to know what uvb you have for him!!

I edited the last post to include UVB. He almost always will eat superworms and waxworms. I know superworms aren't the best but my friend who has one the same age as Flash has eaten supers their whole life and has never been impacted. He always tended to prefer worms but we ran out and he usually would eat crickets just as well. Apparently not anymore.
 
superworms are great for gaining weight, i just didnt recommend them due to his size. i didnt realize they were so fatty and now my mans pretty chubby even tho he only ate them for a couple weeks and i took him off of them month or so ago. so if his poops are normal, i would say the supers are fine if he likes them. i would definatly get more worms if youre out, maybe order like 1,000 and then try to feed the ones that recently shed. that also could be why he doesnt want his crickets anymore because they get addicted to the yummy supers and then are picky. how many does he eat at a time?
 

Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
BeardedMabel":3v10hg6i said:
superworms are great for gaining weight, i just didnt recommend them due to his size. i didnt realize they were so fatty and now my mans pretty chubby even tho he only ate them for a couple weeks and i took him off of them month or so ago. so if his poops are normal, i would say the supers are fine if he likes them. i would definatly get more worms if youre out, maybe order like 1,000 and then try to feed the ones that recently shed. that also could be why he doesnt want his crickets anymore because they get addicted to the yummy supers and then are picky. how many does he eat at a time?
I usually do like 4 a day, sometimes 5, because of how fattening they are. He just ate one too! I thought I completely ran out. Is 4 okay?
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Super worms are only recommended for adults 1 1/2 years old and up and, then only as a treat once or twice a month. You say he has only been eating them for 2 weeks??? Impaction could be the issue here. Small dragons sometimes have a hard to digesting them, especially when they don't have time to digest them before lights out. The heat in the basking area is what breaks down their food, if you feed him and, he doesn't have at least 2 hours to bask to break it down this will cause what you are seeing.
 

Kaelwizard

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Gormagon":2c0fegw0 said:
Super worms are only recommended for adults 1 1/2 years old and up and, then only as a treat once or twice a month. You say he has only been eating them for 2 weeks??? Impaction could be the issue here. Small dragons sometimes have a hard to digesting them, especially when they don't have time to digest them before lights out. The heat in the basking area is what breaks down their food, if you feed him and, he doesn't have at least 2 hours to bask to break it down this will cause what you are seeing.
I never said he ate them for 2 weeks. He has been impacted before it wasn't like this. This time it could just be worse. He was never impacted when I fed him supers. He has only been impacted when I had him on a sand mat and fed him BIG crickets that he had a harder time with. His poops are fine when he goes.
 
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