I just purchased my first baby bearded dragon saturday afternoon. When I got Little Bit (waiting to see if its a he or a she before naming permanently) home, it ate a few crickets and later went to sleep. Yesterday i tried to feed it crickets three times and it only took a few. I thought maybe the enclosure was too big so i got a small container today and tried to feed it inside the container. it only ate three this morning and none when i tried 15 mins ago for its second meal of the day.
It also has had no bowel movements that i have noticed since getting it home. Im afraid that it may have been impacted when i bought it. Other than those two issues little bit is very alert, and watches everything that goes on in the room with interest.
Any suggestions on what i should do? Should i keep trying to feed it inside the smaller container or let it eat in the larger 20 gallon aquarium?
and how long should i wait to see if there is a bowel movement before i start to treat it for impaction? Since its stress level is probably high(and might be a cause to less eating) i dont want to take it out of its inclosure and place it in another place it isn't familiar with if i don't have to so soon.
Depending on how young your dragon is, he may not be a big eater right away. Dragons only a week or two old are very light eaters. Dragons can also experience relocation anxiety that may make them hesitant to eat at first. After a few days, he will feel more at home and settle in. By 4 weeks of age, he will be eating more crickets, and having more bowel movements, than you can imagine.
I was hoping for the most part that it was from the relocation, but just checking to make sure so i can give it the attention that is needed. Right now its running circles around the cage exploring and wont move if i am watching lol. I cant wait to watch it grow! Im already addicted to having one, I am already wanting another.
I was hoping for the most part that it was from the relocation, but just checking to make sure so i can give it the attention that is needed. Right now its running circles around the cage exploring and wont move if i am watching lol. I cant wait to watch it grow! Im already addicted to having one, I am already wanting another.
They are super addicting. I bought a 7 month old one in December, than a 5 month old one in February, and now I am on my first baby beardie.. I can't wait to get home everyday to see them.. It's quite a lot of work to take care of them, even though I enjoy it very much!
When I brought my baby Kira home she was extremely tiny and skinny and I couldn't get more than 5-6 crickets in her per day for at least 3 weeks, and she wouldn't hunt, I had to hand feed her. Be consistent and she will pick up on eating. For pooping try giving her daily baths, I trained baby Kira to poo in her bath every morning, she WILL go in her tank now but in the beginning she wasn't a big pooper at all. As soon as she picked up on eating she pooped at least 2-3 times a day, she still poops in her bath. Babys are ridiculously addictive, when we got Lagu he was probably about 4 weeks old and the biggest of all of our babies, when we bought his big boy tank we went to go buy a new light fixture for him and I ended up coming home with Mika, Kira was essentially a rescue. Every time I see a baby beardie I want to take it home.
Thanks for the advice, and things seem to slowly be turning around. About hand feeding though, its very timid and wants to run from me...obviously i haven't handled it much since i am trying to give it time to recover from the relocation. any suggestions? or should i just continue what i am doing and wait to see if things NEED to change?
And yes they are addicting, if i could afford another on my budget(college student) I definitely would, i guess ill have to wait a year and graduate to see if i can get another.
Oh, I only hand fed her because that's the only way I could get her to eat, I would never do that by choice, she eats out of her bowl now as well as from our hands.
I do not plan on hand feeding it unless it comes down to that point. Which i am hoping doesn't happen, Ill give it couple more days, it seems to want to eat greens more than the crickets. I guess its better than eating nothing.