Beardie won't eat outside enclosure... not growing

[JoshK]

I thought Yoshi was doing well eating most of his crickets. I gave up trying to feed him outside b/c he would not cooperate.

Well today for the first time in two weeks I pulled out all of his tiles and other misc objects and there were probably 100 crickets in his enclosure.

I've got a dubia colony growing but it's not ready yet.

I'm done putting his crickets in the enclosure unless I find some other solution where they can't hide. I'm not sure if I'm willing to grout all the tiles down.. I like being able to pull them out easily one at a time to clean.

Any suggestions?

 

[dEEjHaY]

I was having a similar issue, only there was some small gaps against the glass and ceramic where crix were crawling down and under. I always made sure at the end of the day I pulled them up and removed any crix so they did not bug him while he was sleeping.

What I did was go and buy a clear, non toxic, silicone aquarium sealant, did research on the brand etc to ensure it was safe to use, I pushed all the tiles as snug as I could, and sealed the small gaps. The sealant is flexible enough that when I pull them all out to clean, I can put them back into position and the tiles meets the seal again.

It's worked pretty well thus far

 

[JoshK]

Another thing is.. when I got him from petsmart 16 days ago he was 6" and 9g. He's now at 6" and 12g.

Is that acceptable weight gain? I feel like he should be eating more / growing faster. I've never been able to get it to eat crickets at the rate people's other babies on the forum are doing... like not even 20 in a session.

I've spent so much money on this pet so far buying and switching various different lights, tanks, dubia colonies etc.. I just want him to be healthy.

He's shedding a lot right now.. his head is done, tail almost done, and you can see the skin starting to shed off his torso.

 

[Sapphire]

I got my baby when he was about 6.5"... He's grown at a pretty steady rate of 1/2 inch per week, which is considered average, based on what I've read. I don't know anything about weight gain since I still don't have a scale to weigh my little guy. He probably wouldn't sit still on it even if I got one.

Anyway, it takes a while for new babies to get over stress and start eating regularly. Just keep offering the food. My baby didn't start eating like crazy until about a month after I got him... Now he regularly eats 50-100 per feeding.

Also, shedding can affect a dragon's mood/behavior... Maybe he doesn't want to eat because he's shedding. It's hard to tell.

You do probably want to get a fecal sample to the vet to have it checked for parasites.

(btw, I almost named my dragon Yoshi, too)