Baby Beardie Relocation Stress

[masontg]

Hi all,

I adopted a new baby beardie on Saturday and he's been exhibiting some strange behavior which I'm not sure if I can chalk up to relocation stress. On the first day back he ate 15 crickets dusted with calcium and vitamins. The next morning he at 17 crickets and at night he ate quite a few collard greens and 5 more crickets. Now on the third day he ate 5 crickets in the morning but was hesitant about it and didn't eat any at night. It is now the fourth day and he still hasn't pooed. He didn't eat any crickets in the morning but ate some apple with olive oil and lots of collard greens. Tonight he ate 10 crickets but I had to handfeed them to him.

This is not my first beardie so basking temperatures and UV should be ideal. Hottest spot is at 110 and cool end is at 85 and he can get about 8 inches from his Reptisun 10.0. I started out feeding him in a cricket keeper (he is tiny right now) and he was fine with that up until yesterday. Now when I try to feed him in the keeper he just wants to jump out. I also bathed him yesterday and today for about 10-15 min each time and rubbed his stomach as well but still no poo. He is active and loves being handled (he normally has very few stress marks but when you take him out they go away completely) but about 10 min ago right after his bath he has been opening his mouth a lot while on his basking spot but seems to have stopped that now.

Should this be cause for alarm or is it just relocation stress? How long should we wait before taking him to a vet? Thanks in advance.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....as long as he seems active, he should be fine. Are the crickets the small ones, no longer than the distance between his eyes ? Crickets that are too large can cause impaction, but he would be quite lethargic and acting ill if that was the case. As for apples, were they in small chunks or finely shredded ? Babies can't handle anything hard to chew, they have very little jaw strength. By the way, apples are not very good, nor are any sugary fruits. Stick to turnip, mustard, collard dandelion cilantro greens and finely shredded squash. You might also offer water via syringe, eyedropper or spray bottle [ a gentle light stream on his nose may get him to drink ] in case he's slightly dehydrated. When giving baths, be very careful, or just omit the belly rubs, a baby is so delicate it is easy to hurt them that way....bigger dragons tolerate that better. You may want to lower the temp. on the cool side to 80, just in case he's getting a bit too hot. He should be fine though.

 

[masontg]

Thanks for the reply, you were spot on, he's fine! Pooed about half an hour after I posted!

 

[masontg]

An update. After he pooed yesterday he is only eating if hand fed. When I put him in a separate, smaller tank to feed him he ignores the crickets completely and only wants to jump out. This morning he ate 10 crickets while hand fed and at night he ate 3 and pooed a bit too. The weird part is that he loves greens. I fed him collard greens the first day and he ate tons and now I switched it up today and fed him some bok choy and he ate about 6 good sized pieces of that. Seeing as how he's a baby though, I'd like him to eat more protein as 13 crickets is really not a lot for a whole day.

So I guess it comes back to the original question: does this sound like relocation stress and it will go away? Or should I stop feeding by hand to force him to hunt his own food? He clearly knows how as he eagerly hunter his first couple days with me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.