beardie not eating anything :(

[Hoxy]

Hi. I just got my first beardie (spike) on friday, so today is only the 3rd day i've had him. Ever since i brought him home i haven't seen him eat a thing. i have crickets in there and today i bought some meal worms and put in there with the crickets. I've even tried feeding the crickets to him with tweezers. I know they can go under relocation stress, but im still worried about him not eating. Any siggestions on what to give him or how to get him to eat? also he is about 9 1/2 inches long, so i don't know how old that would make him. A few months probably

 

[diggerdrake]

keep offering him feeders and veggies and one day he will gobble u everything as long as your setup is proper. I would get away from the mealworms as their shell is hard and undigestable. relocation stress could last a couple weeks. you could try baby food to get his appetite up. hopefully soon we will hear you saying "this piggy eats everything in front of him"

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

I'm going through the same thing with my little one. She won't even look at the crickets. Thought she was just a shy eater.. but she's still just adjusting. She'll eat like 2-3 crickets a day. Hopefully she'll start soon.
Unlike them, we don't have stress marks to let THEM know how much THEY stress US out!

 

[Hoxy]

The shells of meal worms are too hard? i thought they would be fine just because my girl's brother has a gecko that eats meal worms reguarly, and is also young. I just bought 100 of them so i hope they aren't too bad. I don't think he has eaten any anyway. I have him under a reptisun 10.0 and baskin temps around 111 degrees f. cool side normally around 75. Also i have the 10.0 about 17 inches away from the floorof the cage, and about 11 inches from his higher basking spot. The box says up to 20 inches. Even though it says 20, do you think that 17 is too far away?

 

[breskie]

how big are your crickets and worms? mine is only a month old, and she has to eat smallet things, i bought wax worms, and she only eats the smallest ones i dig out, whenever she's ready to eat. she also avoides larger sized crickets, i have to feed her larger than pinheads, but smaller than medium crickets or she won't eat. i just recently learned this! is your beardie pooping and peeing? is it hydrated? make sure it at least consumes water, even if u have to sticks its head under water in baths or give it droplets on its nose! is it's tummy soft?

 

[sunfaye]

What are stress marks? I've never heard of them.

 

[sithcdw]

Youve had your beardie for a short amount of time so The most probable reason for your beardie not eating is relocation stress. It can take as long as a week or longer for a beardie to start eating. But you should make sure your temperatures are correct as well. Heat lamps are the best heat source because t heats the air rather than a single spot. @ 9 & 1/2 inches he's about 4-6 months old. He's still young, try feeding more often during the day and experiment with different times to figure out what he likes. If you feed him outside of his cage try giving him a longer amount of time to eat rather than the recommended 10 minutes. If that doesn't work try taking a heat lamp and place it over his eating area, this for some reason helps encourages them to eat; it worked for me. Mealworms are fine to feed him in moderation, I wouldn't recommend feeding him more than 3 or 4 at a time.

 

[sunfaye]

What are stress marks? Where do you see them?

 

[SexySez]

Stress marks are the dark marks they get on their bellies. Usually they have white bellies but sometimes they go darker and I know my Puff has very cool marks when his come up!

 

[Hoxy]

i think my beardie has stress marks then. Should i just stop holdin him for awhile and let him be?

 

[Hoxy]

and yes his tummy is soft. I put a few small crickets in his gage, like 5 at a time until they die and take them out. I don't want them to gang up on him if i put too many in. I wouldn't worry about too many if he would eat them, but he doesn't. So you think i should put him in a seperate container and feed him in that? wouldn't that just make for more relocation stress? keep suggestion comin, i appriciate the help

 

[SexySez]

Puff gets his stress marks, especially when he is cold or I put him in the bath! He is soooo much better when I hold him now though. I think (personally) they need to get used to and trust you!

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

I was told not to leave ANY crickets in your BD's cage. The crickets can chew at the dragons scales and even the eyes possible. That's why you are supposed to keep the crix in their own cage with their calcium diet and drink.
I was also told that you should only leave crickets in the cage long enough for the dragon to eat all they can in a 15 minute time frame.