Hi! I just got a bearded dragon about 12 weeks old and have been having some trouble with him adjusting. I have had him for two weeks as of today and he doesn’t seem to be getting any better. He only will eat roughly 8 dubais at a time (feeding 2 times a day, 3 on days i can), and will not bask on his rock only next to it. I also have pheonix worms in his tank in a small bowl he never touches. He also keeps hiding under the paper towel substrate sometimes in the day and now every night (the first few nights he slept pressed against the glass). He seems to be getting smaller (losing weight) and I am concerned. I gave him a bath yesterday to make sure he wasn’t dehydrated, but I am not sure what to do. Also, yesterday when he was laying down flat I noticed he didn’t look perfectly egg shaped as if there was a small dent or something in his side, I was thinking this could be from losing weight, but not sure. Any suggestions or advice?? Thanks!!
It's hard to give you an answer without more information. What would help us is..
1. Type of UVB/heat setup you're using.
2. Temperature in your setup.
3. A photo of your enclosure so we can see if you're using the correct substrate and so on.
My neigbor's bearded dragon just died a week ago, he didn't do his research and was using some unknown sand substrate for his enclosure which his dragon caught bacteria from and died.
If all those checks out good, it might be an underlying medical problem in which you're going to need to see a vet.
I am using a paper towel as the substrate, the breeder told me to do so as Po (my beardie) is just a baby at the moment. The temperate is 102 on the basking rock/ 96 on the floor area on the hot side, and 88 on the cool side. I have the Reptisun 10.0 UVB light tube and lamp as the light and a 50 watt halogen bulb as the basking light. The image is here!! Any input?? Thanks!!
Everything looks and sounds okay. Paper towel is fine for when he gets older too. Maybe try taking a couple sheets off on the side facing the room so he can watch your activities and maybe try placing him on his basking spot, maybe he doesn’t realize it is there.
If this continues, I would definitely take him to the Herp.
He’s gonna be a beautiful dragon!