Feeding schedule, right or wrong?

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Dkrugg9

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Both of my beardies get a salad (spring mix- washed and ready to eat from Walmart) every morning dusted with calcium 5x a week and vitamins the other 2 days. My female (7months old) eats all of her salad daily and my male (8 months old) eats half or less, occasionally he’ll eat all of it. In the morning, every morning my female also gets dubias and she devours those too, my male sometimes eats dubias or not at all and he only eats if fed from tongs or put right in front of him one at a time, but he will eat supers and wax worms but I only give those as treats. I’ve been thinking about trying bsfl to see if he will eat those since he likes the other worms. Does this seem to be a good schedule for them or am I over doing it? I’ve been reading on here other people’s feeding schedules and they all vary so much I just want to make sure I’m not over doing it or not giving enough. Thanks in advance! My female seems to want to eat anything all the time, she’s a bottomless pit and not picky at all. My male, he’s the complete opposite and I want him to start eating more.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I would start dusting the insects especially for your male- your dragons are not housed together I hope
its great your female is eating her salads and males for some reason I am finding are just not salad eaters - I would add some BSFL to your males salads make sure you have a glass or ceramic bowl so they cant get out of - add the dubias to his salad one at a time and see if he will go for that - but take the BSFL and add them to his salad right in front of him -- I would hand feed him one and see if that entices him to that bowl - they are gonna eat as much as they want - you can try adding other worms to his salad too like supers or horn worms and butter worms -- if you need websites for those please ask and I will post some for you---- if your concerned about weight get a weight on the both of them from a kitchen food scale weigh in grams and keep a chart on them length and weight -- its good to do this for brumation time so you know if they are losing weight during the time they are brumating -- they wont brumate till over a year old - they may go into a slow down period but not completely brumate till over a year - and they should not brumate for over 3 months -
Karrie
 

Dkrugg9

Member
Original Poster
They are definitely not housed together, nor can they see each other. My male definitely seems to be in the slow down stage and has been for awhile. He will go and hide in his cave for a couple days at a time and I either have to get him out by hand or entice him with treats to get him to come out, then he will be out for a few days then hide again for a few days without eating, and it’s been a revolving cycle for about 2 months. Any ideas why this is? I’ve have never taken weight on them but I will get a scale and start doing so.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Sounds like a lighting issue- please tell me what your using for a UVB NO coils and what the basking temps are -- NO stick ons they are inaccurate- if the temps and lighting is correct which we will go over after I find out what it is then it could possibly be semi brumation but I want to get the lighting ruled out first
Karrie
 

Dkrugg9

Member
Original Poster
He’s in a 75 gallon tank 48x18x21 I believe is the dimensions. I’m using a 24inch uvb tube with T5 10.0 he’s got a 50 watt bulb for basking last i checked a couple days ago his basking was ranging between 95-100 degrees. There’s a light on the cool side for visibility and surface temp on the cool side is about 85 degrees. I can take pictures in a couple hours and show you what the set up looks like. And how the lights are placed. He is about 12 inches from the uvb also. I’ve done a lot of research on lighting and temps when I got him and am fairly confident it’s done right but I’m open to criticism always to better for him. Like I said I can get pictures after work.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
No your lighting sounds correct -- is the T 5 inside the tank or on top of screen and if its on top of the screen is that screen wide holed like a dime or fine mesh like a screen door ?
Karrie
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
ok and the distance is 12-15 inches? No closer - bulb is too strong
Karrie
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok so lighting is out--- I am thinking hes going into semi brumation- so get a weight on him keep track of it for the next couple of weeks - if hes sustaining it hes good - what about hydration? Is he hydrated?That will cause them not to eat as well along w/ parasites- what about his poop - does it smell so bad it makes you want to leave the room? Is it runny ? dried out chalky looking urate?
Karrie
 

Dkrugg9

Member
Original Poster
His poop seems normal, other than not pooping everyday due to lack of eating I’m assuming. My female did have parasites and her poop was disgusting and his is nothing like hers was. I am getting his poop tested too though just to hopefully rule that out as well but his poop doesn’t show any signs of that (smelly, runny). Hydration could be. His skin doesn’t seem wrinkly or anything like it is lack of hydration but it could be. Like I said he doesn’t eat much salad and obviously doesn’t drink water. He does get a bath once or twice a week.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Is he drinking in the bath? If not you can drop water on his nose and see if he will lick- you can get some horn worms they are a hydrating worm they get really big and grow really fast
Karrie
 

Dkrugg9

Member
Original Poster
No he doesn’t drink in the bath. I don’t think he really likes bath time lol. He just sits there and towards the end he’s trying to climb my arm the wall to get out. I do put water drops in his nose and sometimes he will lick it up but not most of the time. I know I’m probably making this difficult on you but his behavior has me stumped. I’ve done a lot of research on these animals and gained quite a bit on knowledge and I thought maybe it was brumation but like you said he’s under a year old so I have no idea what he’s up to and I just want what’s best for him
 

Dkrugg9

Member
Original Poster
I’ve got a probe in right now in the basking area to double check to make sure my laser thermo isn’t malfunctioning and giving me false temps.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok so if all is good w/ that and hes not losing weight its him -- hes going into a slow down period-- its that time of year -- just keep an eye on him and watch his weight
Karrie
 
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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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