Baby doesn't eat veggie pellets

[GodzillaMax]

Hello! I'm a completely new Bearded Dragon owner (7 days as of today!) and we brought a cute little bearded dragon into our family last week for my son's 9th birthday. I've been reading a ton and realize that the little ones are to get most of their diet from insects and some of their diet from veggies, but ours won't touch those little veggie pellets that came with our bearded dragon kit from Petsmart. We soak them in water and leave them out for him but he isn't interested at all. We also bought one of the bagged treat kits of veggies that you soak and add to their food bowl but he isn't interested in that either.

Last night, I had some cucumbers on hand from our garden so I cut some small pieces and put them in his food dish for him but by morning, they'd all dried up and I doubt he touched them.

So other than feeding your crickets the veggies, is there any way to entice the babies to eat veggies? I don't want his growth to suffer since he's only eating dusted crickets and nothing else.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[JessPets]

Hello, to tell you the truth, the kits are junk. Please give me a run down of your setup (lights, size of enclosure, substate, etc). I'm assuming the kit came with a coil UV bulb, in which you need to replace immediately with a tube bulb like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun®-

Most young beardies are hard to get to eat their veggies, but there are many tips and tricks on here. Here is a list of good/bad foods: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Juvenile bearded dragons eat 80% protein and 20% greens, while adults eat 20% protein 80% greens. It is not a HUGE problem if he doesn't eat greens immediately, but keep working on it. Hope this helped!

I just looked up the bearded dragon kit on their website, is this it?: http://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-decor/zoo-med-trade-reptihabitat-bearded-dragon-20-gallon-terrarium-kit-zid36-5175697/cat-36-catid-500009?_t=pfm%3Dcategory%26pfmvalue%3Dfaceted

If so, make sure to change the included 1) sand substate, 2) thermometer, 3) red bulb, and replace them with 1) Non-partical substate such as slate tile, reptile carpet, non adhesive shelf liner, etc, 2) A thermometer with a probe or a temperature gun like this one: https://www.amazon.com/FOSHAN-MINGZE-Thermometer-Non-contact-Temperature/dp/B01AJLWXYA/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1468098568&sr=1-2&keywords=temperature+gun&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

3) If it is too cold at night, add a ceramic heat emitter (CHE)

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Those pellets I'd feed to the crickets and not the beardie. All you can do is offer salads everyday. Eventually he'll eat it when he feels like it. Here is a site that this a co!ores coded list beautifuldragons.com.

 

[GodzillaMax]

Hello, to tell you the truth, the kits are junk. Please give me a run down of your setup (lights, size of enclosure, substate, etc). I'm assuming the kit came with a coil UV bulb, in which you need to replace immediately with a tube bulb like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun®-

Most young beardies are hard to get to eat their veggies, but there are many tips and tricks on here. Here is a list of good/bad foods: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Juvenile bearded dragons eat 80% protein and 20% greens, while adults eat 20% protein 80% greens. It is not a HUGE problem if he doesn't eat greens immediately, but keep working on it. Hope this helped!

I just looked up the bearded dragon kit on their website, is this it?: http://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-decor/zoo-med-trade-reptihabitat-bearded-dragon-20-gallon-terrarium-kit-zid36-5175697/cat-36-catid-500009?_t=pfm%3Dcategory%26pfmvalue%3Dfaceted

If so, make sure to change the included 1) sand substate, 2) thermometer, 3) red bulb, and replace them with 1) Non-partical substate such as slate tile, reptile carpet, non adhesive shelf liner, etc, 2) A thermometer with a probe or a temperature gun like this one: https://www.amazon.com/FOSHAN-MINGZE-Thermometer-Non-contact-Temperature/dp/B01AJLWXYA/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1468098568&sr=1-2&keywords=temperature+gun&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

3) If it is too cold at night, add a ceramic heat emitter (CHE)

Hello! Thanks for the helpful info! Yes, that's the kit. It came with a 5.0 Reptisun UVB so we do have one and will probably upgrade to the 10.0 later on. The very first night that we had him, I was doing a ton of reading and found out that the sand substate was a no-no for the babies (wouldn't it be nice if they included that disclaimer on the box?!) So my husband went out to the store and bought some reptile carpet, along with a few things Godzilla can climb on to help him with basking. We also bought an extra thermometer, so we're good there. The temp is around 105 +/ a few degrees on the hot side and around 75-80 on the cool side. Our house temp is a consistent 70 degrees so we leave the red heater on at night since that would be a 30 degree difference from his 100 degree area, although I've read on here and some other forums that the red heater can affect their sleep. It doesn't seem to affect his sleeping because he crawls either under the half log or into his rock tower that's shaded to sleep and he sleeps the entire night until we turn on the lights in the morning. We may end up purchasing one of those automatic timers for the lights for times when we can't turn them on/off at the exact times ourselves.

That's really really good to know that we don't need to worry too much about him not eating veggies right now. I bought some bok choy last night and put it in his food dish but so far he hasn't touched it.

Another thing we noticed this morning is that he only seems to eat the calcium dusted crickets. I wonder if he has problems seeing the other crickets since they blend in so well with the tan carpet?

Oh and what is it with crickets growing so quickly?! When the bought these 50 or so crickets a last week, they were about half this size. Now there are several larger than the space between his eyes so I'll have to let them loose outside or keep them until he grows a little larger. I know beardies grow fast but these crickets seem to grow even faster.

 

[JessPets]

Okay, so try to switch to the 10.0 Reptisun as soon as possible, because UV plays a HUGE role in beardie's lives. Did you get a thermometer with a probe or a stick on one? The stick on ones can be as much as 10º+ off. Whether or not the red light SEEMS t be affecting him, I would still try to switch it out with a CHE. It is good that he is eating the calcium crickets, and as far as them growing quickly, yes, they are a pain to keep. There are many great alternatives you could look into if you want to switch. Things like phoenix worms (aka black soldierfly maggots and calciworms), dubia roaches (these are NOT your typical house-infesting roaches) , silkworms, and other things. As far as why he would only eat the dusted crickets, it's possible he mightily the flavor of the calcium, or maybe he just happened to eat the ones with dust on them, or he feels like he needs more calcium.

 

[GodzillaMax]

Thanks again!! With the reptisun 10, I thought I read something somewhere about the coil type lights being bad for their eyes? The reptisun 5 bulb itself looks like one of those energy efficient coil type bulbs so I'm guessing those are what people are referring to as coil lights. Do I need one of those long aquarium lights? Also, if we get that, will we need a different light housing for it? The one that came with the setup is a 12 inch light housing.

The thermometer we purchased is one of those that has a needle in it like a compass and it sticks on the inside of the aquarium. The one that came with the set up was one of those cheap aquarium thermometers that is color coded.

 

[JessPets]

Yes, those can be VERY harmful. Please switch to a 10.0 TUBE not coil. Get this one: https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiSun

and than a t8 fluorescent fixture
OR

get a t5 Reptisun, which is more expensive but should last abut a year, compared to the t8 which only last 6 months.

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26061-Reptisun-Fluorescent/dp/B00AQU8HAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472828041&sr=8-1&keywords=reptisun+t5