ECarroll25
Member
First time owner, but I did do a lot of research before getting my beardie. Here goes.
So around 5 days ago I got a baby beardie. I DID buy him from Petsmart as I work there (I do not work in the retail section though, so I'm not involved in the small animal care at all) and there was a sale for the month going on. Yes, I know. BUT I still wanted to be cautious so I did research on signs of health and illness in baby beardies and took several good long looks at all the ones in the tanks before really deciding I was willing to buy one still (to be fair, in my experience the quality of reptile care will actually vary drastically by location).
They were apparently around 2 months old, so I picked the second biggest in the tank (the biggest unfortunately had a bent tail tip and I just decided against it). He was very very calm about being handled, because the people at my location handle them often, so no stress there. He had clear skin/eyes/nose.
I brought him home to my setup, which I had ready (will give more description and pictures later). He has a dual dome light fixture with a 26W UVB bulb next to a 75W infrared bulb (which is over his basking spot). He is currently in a 10 gal tank but he is only 7 inches long currently so this tank at 20 in is just shy of being three times his body length, which is a rule of thumb I found on a few different sites. I AM aware bigger is better for tank size and plan to look for a size upgrade within the month. His basking spot stays very consistently between 108-110 degrees, and he spends most of his time there. The cool side varies more but it typically goes between 75 and 80. He does have a water bowl that I clean out daily, that only ever has a very thin layer of water in it. The tank humidity is pretty consistently at 30 percent, unless I decide to mist it.
He was very very active even when I first brought him home, and he went RIGHT after the small phoenix worms I had bought him. He currently gets salad of green beans, butternut squash, and kale, which I plan to switch up the contents of periodically. The first night he ate plenty of worms, he pooped promptly the next morning and it looked healthy, and over the next couple days he started to really enjoy the veggies I was offering and I actually saw him run down and really chow down on them occasionally. Two days ago I got new, bigger phoenix worms because the ones he had left in the tub were VERY tiny. Some were only like poppyseed sized. The new ones were around the size of the distance between his eyes and he REALLY went after them. Then, the next day (which would be yesterday), he took a big poop in the morning and just...wouldn't take worms. He took maybe three the whole day. Today he's not really going after the worms or his salad.
He has been rubbing his nose on his ramp so I think he may be shedding? Since this is my first time with one, I don't have a good idea of what that would look like with babies. I gave him a soak a few days ago and also today, and on days I don't soak him I just give his tank (and his back) a spritz so he can lick water off his decor if he wants.
He has shown no discernable signs of stress. No tank surfing, he puffed his beard at me once when I crouched down next to his tank too fast, but immediately calmed down and has not done it since, he is active, especially in the morning, has been pooping 1-2 times a day. He sometimes head bobs and postures at his reflection right after eating, probably because he thinks it's another beardie he's going to have to compete with for food (as he did in his old pet store tank, where he was with other babies).
He is usually very ok with handling, today he seems a little more hesitant and doesn't super want to crawl up onto my hand (still not aggressive or beard puffing tho) He spends most of the time in his basking spot but sometimes he goes to the second high point in the tank I gave him on his log, so he can still be up high but not directly under the heat. He settles down quickly for bed inside the hollow of the log piece when we turn the lights off for the evening.
I am probably freaking out over nothing, but his change in appetite was just so quick that it's really stressing me out. I considered that it's a problem with the larger worms, but they are definitely not bigger than the crickets they were feeding him at petsmart at any rate, and presumably he ate those. I don't think he is impacted, because he pooped right before he stopped eating, and he has reptile carpet, not a loose particle substrate. I know some of these things can happen when they are shedding, but also I don't see any obvious loose skin on him, how many days should I go before being really worried about the fact that he's not very hungry? Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give a lot of information as usually I see people ask these questions and then get a BARRAGE of other questions about their conditions and feeding of their beardie.
I just really don't know whether to chalk this up to shedding (definitely possible), relocation stress (also possible but he was fine for several days after coming hom until now), or something more serious. And it would be helpful to receive some advice on at what point I should actually be concerned.
So around 5 days ago I got a baby beardie. I DID buy him from Petsmart as I work there (I do not work in the retail section though, so I'm not involved in the small animal care at all) and there was a sale for the month going on. Yes, I know. BUT I still wanted to be cautious so I did research on signs of health and illness in baby beardies and took several good long looks at all the ones in the tanks before really deciding I was willing to buy one still (to be fair, in my experience the quality of reptile care will actually vary drastically by location).
They were apparently around 2 months old, so I picked the second biggest in the tank (the biggest unfortunately had a bent tail tip and I just decided against it). He was very very calm about being handled, because the people at my location handle them often, so no stress there. He had clear skin/eyes/nose.
I brought him home to my setup, which I had ready (will give more description and pictures later). He has a dual dome light fixture with a 26W UVB bulb next to a 75W infrared bulb (which is over his basking spot). He is currently in a 10 gal tank but he is only 7 inches long currently so this tank at 20 in is just shy of being three times his body length, which is a rule of thumb I found on a few different sites. I AM aware bigger is better for tank size and plan to look for a size upgrade within the month. His basking spot stays very consistently between 108-110 degrees, and he spends most of his time there. The cool side varies more but it typically goes between 75 and 80. He does have a water bowl that I clean out daily, that only ever has a very thin layer of water in it. The tank humidity is pretty consistently at 30 percent, unless I decide to mist it.
He was very very active even when I first brought him home, and he went RIGHT after the small phoenix worms I had bought him. He currently gets salad of green beans, butternut squash, and kale, which I plan to switch up the contents of periodically. The first night he ate plenty of worms, he pooped promptly the next morning and it looked healthy, and over the next couple days he started to really enjoy the veggies I was offering and I actually saw him run down and really chow down on them occasionally. Two days ago I got new, bigger phoenix worms because the ones he had left in the tub were VERY tiny. Some were only like poppyseed sized. The new ones were around the size of the distance between his eyes and he REALLY went after them. Then, the next day (which would be yesterday), he took a big poop in the morning and just...wouldn't take worms. He took maybe three the whole day. Today he's not really going after the worms or his salad.
He has been rubbing his nose on his ramp so I think he may be shedding? Since this is my first time with one, I don't have a good idea of what that would look like with babies. I gave him a soak a few days ago and also today, and on days I don't soak him I just give his tank (and his back) a spritz so he can lick water off his decor if he wants.
He has shown no discernable signs of stress. No tank surfing, he puffed his beard at me once when I crouched down next to his tank too fast, but immediately calmed down and has not done it since, he is active, especially in the morning, has been pooping 1-2 times a day. He sometimes head bobs and postures at his reflection right after eating, probably because he thinks it's another beardie he's going to have to compete with for food (as he did in his old pet store tank, where he was with other babies).
He is usually very ok with handling, today he seems a little more hesitant and doesn't super want to crawl up onto my hand (still not aggressive or beard puffing tho) He spends most of the time in his basking spot but sometimes he goes to the second high point in the tank I gave him on his log, so he can still be up high but not directly under the heat. He settles down quickly for bed inside the hollow of the log piece when we turn the lights off for the evening.
I am probably freaking out over nothing, but his change in appetite was just so quick that it's really stressing me out. I considered that it's a problem with the larger worms, but they are definitely not bigger than the crickets they were feeding him at petsmart at any rate, and presumably he ate those. I don't think he is impacted, because he pooped right before he stopped eating, and he has reptile carpet, not a loose particle substrate. I know some of these things can happen when they are shedding, but also I don't see any obvious loose skin on him, how many days should I go before being really worried about the fact that he's not very hungry? Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give a lot of information as usually I see people ask these questions and then get a BARRAGE of other questions about their conditions and feeding of their beardie.
I just really don't know whether to chalk this up to shedding (definitely possible), relocation stress (also possible but he was fine for several days after coming hom until now), or something more serious. And it would be helpful to receive some advice on at what point I should actually be concerned.