Bearded dragon picky at what he eats help!!!

[Steviex]

Hi I have recently bought my first beardie ?. I have had him just over a week now, he is approx 4-5 month old, the temperatures are correct (I'm constantly checking). His viv is perfect for him, he lets us handle him, I did lots of research prior to buying him and he appears happy most of the time. I took him to the reptile vets yesterday for a health check and she said he looks perfect! He is pooping fine, loves a bath ?? the only worry I have is that he is not eating as much live food as I read he should be! He turns his nose up at crickets, we have scrapped them. He loves hoppers (3rd size) my only worry is he is only having approx 4-5 per day. He will eat his veg and fruit if I hand feed him. Is this normal as I am a bit worried he's not getting enough protein (yes I dust them with vit d and calcium). He is hiding a lot in his cave too he shredded when I first bought him so unsure if he is still going through the process! I would appreciate any advice etc thanks stevie

 

[Steviex]

By the way, I know you will notice the substrate, it is in his basking area of the viv, I DO NOT feed him in the viv, I have a separate feeding tank, the cool area of his tank were his veggies are is sand mat. When I fully clean the viv I am going to have sand mat throughout, it's a learning curve and seen so many options on substrate, he loves lying on the sand tho ?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Provided the hoppers (locusts ??) are smaller than the space between his eyes he'll be fine so long as you dust them daily with calcium powder (A LIGHT DUSTING !!!) and they are gut loaded with calcium rich greens ..... I gut my crickets with buk or puk choi greens + dry repcal adult beardie pellets (straight from the bottle --- the crickets like the pellets much more than the beardies ever have) and I also add chunk of fresh carrot for them crickets to much on (provides extra hydration and some vitamins).

I'm not sure how big 1/3 size hoppers are (g per hopper) cf the crickets you were offering him , if you have a good kitchen scale that will give weights with a resolution of 0.1g you can easily compare the mass of a few hoppers with a the mass of a group of crickets and that way you'll have a good way of comparing meal sizes....

4 -5 x 1/3 sized hoppers per day sounds a bit light to me .... at 5 months old Peppa and Toothless were polishing of up to 30 (20 in am , 10 in pm) x 2/3 (medium) sized crickets per day EACH + greens and grated veg or 20x 2/3 crickets in the am + 4 - 6 x medium (2in long) silkworms in the pm + greens and grated veg per day EACH.

 

[AHBD]

Keep in mind that since he is in a new home then he may have relocation stress for a while. Every dragon is different , some settle in + eat well very soon, others take a while. After he gets used to everything he may begin to eat more.

It would be good to show a total pic of his set up and also whatever type + brand of lights you use [ as well as what the temps. are ] so someone can offer help if you need to change anything.

 

[Steviex]

Hello thank you for the replies, I have let him run free this afternoon and he has ate much better off the feeding tweezers! He has purked up lots this afternoon, the locust (hoppers) are the correct size same width between eyes he's ate 6 all in all today ?! His basking area temp is 38 degrees Celsius and his cool area 25 degrees Celsius, I use a 2 in 1 uvb and basking light exo terra. The temperatures are stable and I know he reaches his maximum heat level as sometimes he gapes when basking. I will attach a photo of his viv

 

[Steviex]

Here is his viv

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