beardie isn't eating at all now!!

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So we got moochie (beardie) about two weeks ago. I know at first they're stressed and don't eat a lot but he passed through that phase and got comfortable in his new environment. He actually started eating about two or three dozen crickets a sitting. Suddenly he has no interest in eating but one maybe two crickets a day! He just sits in his basking spot all day and won't hardly move even if you move him. I've also noticed that in the mornings when I go to turn his day lights on he's laying there limp with his eyes open. He just sits there like that for quite a while before he crawls to his basking spot. He looks kinda dead if it weren't for his eyes being open.

He's a baby as in about seven inches. He's never showed an interest in any variety of greens offered. I've even tried dropping crickets in them and he just waits till they've moved. Not that he's even eating them anymore... but they're no bigger than the size in between his eyes. He is shedding if that has any relevance I'm not sure cause were such new owners but I am concerned that things are just going to go downhill from here. Please help??
 

brittani299

Extreme Poster
It sounds like relocation stress. But just to make sure can you answer these questions

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?
Di you have any type of night time heat source (ceramic heat emitter, colored bulb, etc)?
How long are lights on each day?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
What is the night time temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bathe your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
 

kahryngould

Member
Original Poster
Not sure how old got him from a local pet store.
Like I said had him almost two weeks and is roughly seven inches
Not sure on the sex thing. Too young to say really. I would post a pic but I can figure out how to...
35gallon tank
Reptile carpet
Yes a bran new coil exo terra uvb light he can get about a foot away from

Have a day time white bulb we switch wattages depending on the day time temp exo terra as well
Night exoterra bulb is a blue tint
Lights on for twelve hours
Basking temp was about 103 today (a bit high)
Cool side is 85 to 90 usually the 85 side
Use a probe thermometer
Take the basking spot temp at his highest point whrre he usually sits
Don't use a heat pad or rock
His diet is crickets no bigger than the space between his eyes. Hes offered more and won't touch anything.
We use a calcium and vitamin d supplement daily and the crickets are gutloaded
He has bowel movements often but I don't know what regular would be
Bathed gim for the first time the other day while we cleaned the tank
All alone no other dragons
 

brittani299

Extreme Poster
A couple things will need to be changed. Coil uvb bulbs are bad. Go get a reptisun 10.0 tube bulb and mount it inside the tank using command strips. I would get rid of the night light. Beardies dont sleep well with lights on them. 103 for a baby is just fine. Babies need temps from 105-110.
 

kahryngould

Member
Original Poster
weve tried leaving the light off at night and he just starts freaking out live a rabid dog lol. its about 83 room temp when we go to bed but then it drop down as it cools off
 

brittani299

Extreme Poster
Its ok he will calm down. Beardies dont sleep well with lights on them. They require no lights on them while sleeping
 

MorpheousnPuff

New member
Hi. I am new to this forum. I own 2 male dragons for 3 years now. Ours sometimes gorge themselves, start shedding, then quit eating for a day or so, and shed. When they shed they try to hide, but I usually take them out and put them under the light for at least an hour and try to get them to eat a mixed salad. Giving them a slightly warm bath while they shed seems to help them be less grumpy. Since mine are both males, if one sees the other being taken out for a bath, the other one perks up. I also change out their lights when they start getting lethargic too, as I have no way to tell if the uvb is still being emitted. Most uvb lights only last 6 months to a year, despite still turning on. Seems a waste, but have to change them out if you want a healthy dragon.
I also change up foods. One likes roaches the other likes supers. I just alternate what they both get. I feed them their salad first. I sprinkle their vitamins on the salad and they watch me do it and run over to eat it, I guess it smells good or looks like tiny bugs? They like snap peas, squash, and petunias. Sometimes they will eat hibiscus flowers, but not very often. I give them flowers when I think they need to poop, as it always seems to have that affect.
If you try feeding alternative food, do not be afraid to use your fingers to feed them. Most beardies hate our sweat. When ours was a baby (6 inches), he would lick us and then just keep trying to clean his tongue off until we fed him something else. We must taste pretty bad. So unless you have an extremely scared or upset animal, go ahead and try hand feeding them. Allowing crickets or roaches to roam in their enclosure is not a good idea. Sometimes, we have crushed a super and smeared it on the dragons mouth to get them to eat. It takes time, but they will lick it off eventually. Then we shove the rest in. When they are young, as in less than 10", they get frightened very easily. We had to put paper inside the tank to block out the reflection of the other head bobbing lizard in Puff's cage, as he would get where all he would do is stand at attention watching himself or puffing up and bobbing. We ended up cutting a white foam poster board and wedging it against the glass on two sides, to give him some space of his own. Morpheous always waved, so did his reflection, so it was all good I guess.
If you are giving at least weekly warm water only baths, you have some leeway getting them to eat. Sounds like you have the lighting and temperatures being regulated (which is quite important). Raising and lowering lights help with the temperature regulation, as does having a larger tank. Sometimes you just have to have faith with these guys. Each lizard seems to have its own set of preferences. Good luck.
 

kahryngould

Member
Original Poster
thanks so much I think you're right cause when we woke up this morning his skin was hanging half off and then he literally attacked about four crickets after he ran around rubbing his head on everything lol. That's still not his regular diet but a lot more than lately. But we did turn off the uvb light cause of what the other girl said so idk if that has anything to do with it. I can't get a new light till tomorrow at the earliest. How long can they healthily go with out it??

20130523_102541_zps5f893ebe.jpg
 

hoopyscoop

Juvie Member
I'm not exactly sure how long, as I'm new to beardies still, but from this site I learned that you could take him/her outside for about 30 minutes for some natural UVB. But don't put the tank in the window, the glass will block the UV rays and fry him up. :( Just take him outside and hold him and maybe show him around your yard?
 

MorpheousnPuff

New member
Bearded Dragons can "live" without the UVB, but will develop degenerative bone diseases which can cripple them and eventually kill them. I would not take a beardie outside until he is at least 3 months old, as they jump like crazy. They are very skittish and can think a butterfly will eat them when they are young. I thought my year old dragon I adopted would be fine, a sparrow flew by and he jumped off my shoulder and made a beeline for the fence before I even could think, "There goes a hundred bucks."! If you do take him out, keep him in your hand or in a large Rubbermaid storage bin with the top off. Do not leave him by himself. Even mocking birds will try to eat a baby beardie and ants are not their friends. If he jumps too far he could injure himself, so just be aware.
I just realized, you might think the night light is UVB. The blue light does not emit UVB spectrum light. It does nothing but emit heat and isn't really needed. Make sure your day light is a 10% UVB one. All lights have UVA spectrum, but most lights have films on them to filter out the UVB The long UVB tubes will keep him going. Nice to have the basking light one with UVB too, but that has to be kept 12-16 inches away from the bottom of the tank with no interference from screens or glass preferred. You have to monitor the temperatures pretty closely, until you figure out how your tank in your location will hold the temps. The coil lights are not very reliable, but they are better than nothing, just keep it up about 14 inches from the bottom of the tank. They can cause eye problems and can go from less than 10% UVB to way too much during a 6 month period. If yours is new, use it until you get a better one (just not more than a couple of months). Go read up on lights in the care guides. At Beautiful Dragon they have tables that tell you which brands did the best in their tests.
It is sort of tricky to advise you, because there is a lot of variables. You should read about 10 different people's care sheets and see if any offer pointers for your situation. Beautiful Dragon .com was where I found my information a couple years back. They have some great guides that I do not follow 100% for good reasons. Just like every parent thinks they know what is best for their kid, most experienced reptile keepers develop their lists of taboos and such. You will have to sort of look at all advice as a guideline. This site has guides too, just go back to the main menu, they are at the top I believe.
As long as you pay attention, write up the specific about how you are handling your dragon in a notepad or word program, then ask questions on the forums including your care and handling practices, others will be able to point out if something you are doing could just kill your dragon. Otherwise, follow your best judgement, don't panic. It just never helps.
Dragons need to be kept warm during the day, they need more uvb than most reptiles, they should be trained to eat vegies, then their live feeders. If they should eat wild feeders, do not panic, but here on the Gulf Coast of Texas most insects carry parasites. If your beardie eats too many, he will suffer. I have chickens and do fecals every 3 months, then worm them most times (because the parasite eggs in the fecals are too many to count). There's just that many parasites in the soil here. So my dragon is never allowed out on his own. I do let him swim in our very clean koi pond, but then I give him a shower and dry him off.
Dragons need a cool place to rest and shed. A bath while they are shedding helps, but then they need to bask to dry off in between the shed and the new skin. So bathe earlier in the day. Try not to help pull off the shed most times. I pulled off one, and it changed the new skin's coloration and the dragon was pretty upset for a day or two, because he would burn under his light when he basked. I will never do that again. It took another shed before he looked good again.
Sounds like you are off to a good start, asking questions and such. Print out the guides you like, so you can refer to them even if the internet isn't available. With Amazon Prime there are several guides for free for Kindle users. Sorry I was busy and couldn't answer yesterday.
Try to make sure to read up on bone diseases and their symptoms. You probably already have watched the You Tue videos of them head bobbing and waving. When they talk about bone metabolic diseases, they mention shaking limbs, trembling, tail problems, and not being able to use a leg. Make sure you know the difference between hand waving and a problem. A young hand waving dragon is just saying hi to his reflection. If he puffs up and his throat turns black, he is trying to intimidate himself into hand waving. Neither behavior is a symptom of anything.
 

kahryngould

Member
Original Poster
I actually just went out earlier today and got one of the housings and tube uvb bulbs. I stuck it in the tank bc its not long enough to go across the top and my tank is quite tall. so its about a foot off the ground but 5 inches from their fav basking area. moochie did shed and is acting a lot better now so I think I just freaked since im new and didn't really know what was going on. hes still not really eating as much but I think that may be due to the introduction of another beardie (we feed in separate feeder tanks) and the fact that since hes grown so much we upgraded to the next size cricket and is just getting fuller faster.
 

kahryngould

Member
Original Poster
ya and ill spare you the lecture. I know, you shouldn't do that. but they get along great actually. we have two tanks so its not a problem to separate them at any time if any aggression occurs but they've literally been sitting on their own little basking spots waving at each other for like the past five minutes straight. lol. so for now were just gonna see what happens. worse comes to worse we'll separate them. we've got all the extra bulbs anyone could ask for and a tank. just not a good uvb bulb and housing for it. or any carpet but im well aware you can use paper towels. just think its cool to see them being submissive to each other and how they kinda play together lol
 
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