Baby beardie not eating as much as he use to

[Brenhal]

Hello, when I first got my baby he would eat tons of small crickets and mealworms and I fed him 3 times a day. He grew a noticeable amount in those 4 weeks and now he has slowed down to only eating a few a day. He is still very energetic and nothing seems to look off or odd. His appetite just slowed down a lot. Since he is still a baby I try to feed him more so he can grow and get that protein he needs but he just isn’t interested and I’m scared that he isn’t getting enough out of only a few a day. Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Bren, can you post some pics of him [ full body shots ] and of his tank ? What exact type + brand lights are you using + what are the temps ? Is he pooing regularly ?

 

[Brenhal]

Hi Bren, can you post some pics of him [ full body shots ] and of his tank ? What exact type + brand lights are you using + what are the temps ? Is he pooing regularly ?

If you look at my post there are pictures of him of not too long ago and right now he is in a 20 gallon tank because he’s a baby he’s got a zoomed basking lamp with a zoomed reptisun 10.0 UVB and UVA bulb. At night I turn them off and turn on a smaller night red heat lamp. All the temperatures are correct I have a humitity and temp gauge.

 

[AHBD]

O.K, i saw the pics, he's very cute. It would be good to post pics of the tank in case there are corrections needed. Get rid of the red light, that will keep them up at least part of the night despite the fact that the stores push these money making bulbs as if we need them.

So is he pooing ?

 

[Brenhal]

O.K, i saw the pics, he's very cute. It would be good to post pics of the tank in case there are corrections needed. Get rid of the red light, that will keep them up at least part of the night despite the fact that the stores push these money making bulbs as if we need them.

So is he pooing ?

I am trying to figure out how to post new pics again. But yes he is pooing but just not as much as before and not as big because he is eating less. And I will get rid of the red light however how do you suppose I keep the temperature up. Or does it not matter if it gets a little cooler at night?

 

[AHBD]

Yes,they need lower temps. at night, it's like that in the wild. It can drop to 65 safely. BTW, how many + what size mealworms was he eating ? Mealworms should never be the staple bug, be sure it's mostly crickets to be sure he doesn't get impacted.

Does he drink any ? Try dripping water on his snout to give him a drink. And here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

 

[Brenhal]

Yes,they need lower temps. at night, it's like that in the wild. It can drop to 65 safely. BTW, how many + what size mealworms was he eating ? Mealworms should never be the staple bug, be sure it's mostly crickets to be sure he doesn't get impacted.

Does he drink any ? Try dripping water on his snout to give him a drink. And here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

I was feeding him the smallest mealworms I could buy but I mainly feed him crickets now because I read that mealworms aren’t the best. And yes he is drinking I pick him up and hold him over the water and he sticks his snout in and licks it up. It’s very cute. I don’t see anything else wrong besides the fact that he just isn’t eating as much.

 

[AHBD]

The set up looks pretty good + he seems pretty alert. One thing to do right away, it looks like crushed walnut as the flooring ? Take that out ASAP, sadly it is not really digestible and can cause severe impaction + death.

And can you add a taller branch so he can get closer to the light ? I get mine outside, pop them in a 250 degree preheated oven for 45-60 minutes to sterilize or kill potential pests . Very important if your light is on top of the screen for your baby to get close to it. Is your uvb a long tube or a compact ? You'll need the long tube if you don't have it.

 

[AHBD]

Oh, and you can put down non adhesive shelf liner , easy to wipe up and if you get tan colored it looks very nice.

 

[Brenhal]

Oh, and you can put down non adhesive shelf liner , easy to wipe up and if you get tan colored it looks very nice.

I’ll look into the liner I just put in a bigger climbing log that was in my other adult beardies tank that was just filling up room

 

[AHBD]

Sounds good.

 

[EllenD]

Being completely honest with you and not even exaggerating one little bit, I'd dump the crushed walnut shells out right this minute, no matter what I'd get it out of there immediately, and then you can just put down clean paper towels and replace them as he soils them. Worry about buying non-adhesive shelf liner, tiles, carpeting, or another permanent, solid substrate whenever you have time to do so, but do not hesitate to get that junk out of there right now, I don't care if it's midnight. I'm serious. I have seen that stuff literally kill so many healthy beardies I can't even begin to tell you how many. Adults and babies both, but usually it's beardies between just hatched and a year old that die suddenly and without any warning at all due to either a bowel obstruction or more often than not internal bleeding because the sharp corners and edges on that garbage literally cuts their gastrointestinal tract apart. We're talking hundreds of healthy beardies dying suddenly and quickly without warning.

I know I sound dramatic, but if you search "Bearded dragons crushed walnut shells" on Google, or just search "crushed walnut shell" on here, you'll see why I'm being so dramatic pretty directly.