Biting Rocks

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Kajolic

Juvie Member
If anyone followed, yesterday little Dovah had an emergency vet visit to settle my nerves to him regurgitating his insect meal from the evening prior. If not, the summary of the day was he ate too much, and the vet said I should hold off on feeding him for a few days to give him a little rest from the experience. I've been sticking with that note, but gave him a salad to munch on. He apparently ate some salad last night because that's all that was in his most recent movement to was kind enough to leave me while so interested in the cricket bin I'm cleaning out (issue regarding that in another thread) ... long story short, I noticed it was interested in biting the rocks inside of his Viv. Gave him a small cricket, he ate it, retreated to his basking spot and stayed there for a long while (~40 minutes) then heard him biting the rocks again. He doesn't seem to be breaking off any rock pieces (I've been watching him), but don't want him to hurt himself.

Now it appears he is shedding his snout/upper jaw line as well, not sure if it is normal for them to bite during facial shed or not. I know when I purchased him, he has just finished his shed and was just rubbing his snout/jaw line on stuff, no biting. Aside from his exploratory bite through his faux rock basking support leg.

I'm also curious on if he is actually hungry for more than just a salad, and should I keep to the recommendations of the vet regardless of the behavior (if the behavior is caused by hunger)?
 
i am sorry that i can't answer your question but i noticed that your beardy is the same color as mine and was wondering if you knew how to classify that? i have yet to be able to overfeed Hunter and believe when i say that lil dude can eat a small horse if i put one in his enclosure. have you gotten a stool sample tested for parasites? i wish Dovah the best and keep us posted!
 

Kajolic

Juvie Member
Original Poster
First fecal test came up with some internal parasites, those were treated and are gone. Imagine from the breeder, granted he is a reputable breeder from many Beardie owners in my area, can't be 100% on everything.

The vomiting is what the vet suspected as overeating, or not enough basking time. Feeding was ~5PM, lights out is at 11PM, and he basked a good amount before going to his chill out location, plenty of time so we ruled it out to just overeating. Questioned the quality of crickets, and with the slight issue I've had with their die off rate, my gut feeling feels there isn't something right, but thus far I haven't been told any caution to the regard.

When I got him I forgot to ask what his mother and father looked like and were called. IF I see him at the next show I'll be sure to ask. Aside from "4 1/2 Months - Male - Normal" written on the enclosure, that's all I know. Sadly, it's a lovely coloring, picture doesn't do justice (GIMP didn't save it how it was taken) but he has the lovely colorings on the side of his face that look like striped red sandstone.

After having him out of his Viv for awhile, I prepared a fresher salad and he dug right into it. Thus far he hasn't attempted to chow on the rocks anymore, but still curious if it was due to keeping him off the inserts and was just hungry, or shed. Another question, would they do it to sharpen teeth or a related reason?
 
thats great that the fecal came back with no ovum detected the second go round! basking time should be around 8-10 hours daily and should be monitored to make sure that he is actually soaking up the uvb for digestion purposes. there are many factors that can deter a beardy from actually basking correctly such as too strong of a bulb, bulb too close, wrong bulb entirely, not a proper basking spot(in regards to comfort), and so much more. timing is key and if you don't have your beardy on a solid schedule then i would rec. you do. you may be right about the quality of crickets or it could come down to infectious diseases your crickets procure from dead ones staying in the tank with the live ones. i treat my crickets like a second pet and for good reason. the problem with your beardy is not life threatening which allows you to experiment and thats exactly what i do on a weekly basis in the chance that something were to happen to mine. i try all different veggies and live foods just to know what Hunter will and won't eat. i want to say the color of our beardys is tiger striped het trans but i may be slightly off. irrelevant nonetheless haha. thats great and i hope that he continues to stay off the rocks. in my opinion, i would think that the chewing of the rocks is either an attempt at dulling his teeth, the color of them resembles food, or he just wants you to feed him DADDY! haha good luck
 

Kajolic

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Yeah doesn't seem to be interested in them any more. I've been giving him 1-2 crickets along with his salad and that seems to be keeping him happy.

Today I have been cleaning out my cricket habitat in front of his viv. I got up to leave and he discovered he would see down in front of his viv into the top of the totes... Boy if he could drool... It would have been a river. :lol:
 

Phoenix17June2009

Gray-bearded Member
hello there,
my oldest is going on 4 years old and what i do is salad in the am, hes gotten much better about actually eating it lol and worms in the evening and as much as he wants i give him. :D give that baby some extra yummies :D
 

TheDragonKeepers

Sub-Adult Member
Calcium.
I noticed a couple of my beardies tried to bite at whiter patches on the concrete in the garden when they felt they were calcium deficient. Try popping some on a brightly coloured flat surface and see if your dragon makes a bee line for it. :) You might need to show him it first - but they soon catch on.

(Mocha sneaks off with the lid to lick when I'm dusting bugs!)
 

bltkpo

Juvie Member
^ Thank you for sharing that point!

Hawkeye is new to us, so we don't have a lot of back story. But this weekend I caught him trying to chew on the huge piece of slate in his tank. I freaked right out, picturing all his little teeth breaking off. Now I'm terrified his previous owners never gave him calcium supplements ahh!!
 

Kajolic

Juvie Member
Original Poster
He hasn't done it since, or before his two days of no crickets. He use to bite his driftwood and now he knows it's not food, he didn't do it anymore. Sure he lost interest now, but then again, he's being fed normally now.

Calcium/d3 wise, I feed him dusted insects 5 times a week, repro-sun 10.0 within proper distance, and from understanding, the greens I feed. So he gets the proper intake of calcium. Rocks in the Viv are dark slate, few lighter areas, but none he was interested in.
 

bunnyrut

Gray-bearded Member
when i bring my beardie outside he will go to a rock and bite on it.
he does it every time, and i don't know why. he gets his calcium dustings on his food.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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