beardie not eating very much

[aperson120]

hello

I have quite a few bearded dragons whom are all very healthy and have been eating great. They used to be upstairs but we recently put them downstairs a month ago. SInce then one of my bearded dragons has been snubbing food when he used to be a rambunctious eater. He started acting lethargic. At first we thought that it was the fact that we moved him downstairs and that he was mad so we moved him back to his old spot this morning (since he was not eating at all). Since then he has been head bobbing and very very alert/acting normal but he has not touched his food. Could it still be location stress after a months time??

1 male bearded dragon (a year old)
1 exo terra 100 wat neodyium light
1 repti-sun 10 uvb
1 40 galleon tanks
he eats (when he was hungry--pheonix worms, crickets, butterworms, hornworms, king worms (sometimes), kale, collard greens, mustard greens, chard etc
tank is 105 in warm spot/80 degrees in cool spot
he was on repticarpet but we put him on sand this morning to try to perk him up (and we think he is now old enough/long enough)

why is he not eating all the sudden??

 

[xfaethorx]

I'm spit ballin' here but our male use to be a hoover! He'd eat anything, sometimes around 2 tubs of crickets at at a time. At around the 10-11 month point he seemed to go off brown crickets , cut back on his salad hoovering and eventually appeared to go of black crickets...The one thing that reassured me was he'd still eat his loctus when offered but also not as many.
Sometime beardies slow down their eating , they do cut back on their intake as they get older and as my mate told me they can just get bored of certain foods. Try offering him some loctus if he's had them before beardies find them hide to refuse . I use that as a guage for my guy if he wont take a loctus then I'd be extremely worried! That being said our male will eat a crickets now as and when he's in the mood for them and thats the same for the female.
We use to spend twice as much on food as we do now and as they've got older (they are about 14 - 15 months now) they dont' eat as much at all they are still healthy and happy they've just slowed down. As long as he's taking on food and is active thats a good sign. Monitor what he eats , his food intake, keep him hydrated , make sure he's pooping properly and if you can try to see if he'll take a loctus everytime your worried about his eating habbits.
If your bathe him in luke warm water (warm water helps them poop but don't put them in a scolding bath obviously) and he passes a moition you can try offering him some food after that later on he may then be interested in food as well. If he's losing fat from the base of his tail where they store it and seems not to be his usual self after a week or so then the vets might be the best option.

If your the choir and know all this already I apologize .

 

[herpfreak]

Is there any difference in the upstairs light and downstairs light? A lack of proper lighting (sometimes a ReptiSun is just not enough) may cause loss of appetite.

Your setup sounds good. Sand still presents an impaction risk in older beardies, although it is more common in young beardies. However, it is recommended that you don't use sand until they are eighteen months old (a year and a half).

The only other thing I can think of is the possibility of parasites. You may want to take a fecal sample to a vet, just in case.

 

[zebraflavencs]

What is the activity level in this new room ? Is it similar to the original area ?
If there is actually less, that could be the issue right there.
Janie.

 

[aperson120]

hello thank-you very much for all of the tips...my beardie who i put upstairs ate today (i did not want to post until something changed) but not very much--he is however back to his usual colour rather then the dark colour he was before. But now ever since i put him upstairs my other beardies are acting very odd....they started to not eat now too when they are all good eaters...this is all recently in the past 3 days!!! Why would all of my beardies suddenly go off their food!!

In answer to your questions
1)The activity is a lot less then where they were before but we still went down there everyday. We also take them outside in my backyard (where there are no pesticides at all on the grass)
2) the lighting is a lot darker
3) For my one beardie upstairs I am using the calci sand but I will take that out
4) We are also feeding them the can-o-crickets (and refrigerating it afterwards). those crickets are always eaten instantly and never left sitting in the cage

 

[herpfreak]

The lighting may be a problem. In Australia, they spend all day in the bright sun. If they kept in a darker space, even tank lights may not be enough. Try lighting up the basement a bit more, if you can.

It sounds like relocation stress. They are in a very different environment and they are feeling insecure. Try bringing them all back upstairs and getting them to feed again, then bring them into the basement daily for short periods of time, to let them gradually get used to the place.



As a side note, calcium sand is incredibly dangerous for beardies, more so than playground sand. I recommend getting rid of that ASAP.

Also, freeze-dried crickets are nowhere near as healthy as live crickets. While freeze-dried crickets aren't necessarily bad for beardies, they should be used with live crickets, not instead of live crickets.


Good luck with everything!!

~
Maya

 

[aperson120]

Thanks for all your info... I have moved them all upstairs and they are all doing ALOT better I was really freaksed for awhile. As for the can o crickets --we feed them those WITH the live crickets/silkworms/butterworms etc sorry for the confusion Another thing is calci-sand okay if they do not eat in their cage but actually eat their food in a feeding tank? I already took the sand out but I am just wondering if it is not okay even with feeding them in another tank i will for sure never again consider the sand...I DID not have sand on all the beardies just my two and one year olds...

 

[herpfreak]

Great!

Apologies, my mistake. Do your beardies seem to like the Can O Crickets? I've been considering buying some for Budo for those days when the live crickets are in the mail...

As long as you feed outside of the enclosure, I am of the personal opinion that sand is fine for adult beardies, as long as you are aware that there is still a risk. However, washed playsand is much safer than calci-sand. Try adding a few drops of water to calci-sand; it clots. This is what it will do in a beardie's intestines. While they are able to pass small amounts of playsand, even a very small amount of calci-sand can cause major problems.

 

[aperson120]

My beardies LOVE LOVE LOVE can-o-crixs --the only thing is that they have to be refrigerated after they are opened and they also need to be eaten instantly.....thank-you sooo much for all the help I really appreciate them

 

[herpfreak]

Okay, I'll definitely get some.

You are very welcome. I'm glad everything worked out.