Change of appetite

[KobeDragon]

Hey everyone I've had my juvenile beardie home for just about a week now. He has eaten every day since I have had him even through his very short shedding phase the first two days. About three days ago it looked like he was finally really getting comfortable with his environment because he was eating about 10-15 crickets each time I fed him. He stayed like that up until today when he was a bit fussy when it came to the crickets. He only ate about five each time I fed him, and while I was away at work today (about 6 hours) he didn't eat any of the ones I left him. I've hand fed him a few crickets that he did eat tonight but seems to get bored of that pretty quickly after the first few of hand feeding. Other days as soon as I would drop one down into his tank he would go after it and eat it.. if a couple got away he wouldn't chase them but would still eat the ones in front of him. Now it looks like he is wasting too much time looking at them and not eating them which is causing them to get away too quickly!

I'm a bit stressed (actually, very stressed) on why the sudden change. Kobe is still very much eating all the veggies he can including collard, mustard, and dandelion greens just to name a few (eating veggies hand-fed by the way). He has gone the bathroom for about four or five straight days now - including today while I was away at work. The digital probe I have to check his temperatures all seem like they are fine, I don't have my Reptisun 10.0 T5 HO up yet because I need to buy a fixture for it still but it will be up 100% on this coming Friday. He doesn't seem stressed at all.. handling him is perfect this guy loves to be out and about. He loves to explore when I'm holding him such as climbing up my arms and shoulders but then he has moments where all he wants to do is stay on a spot on my arm and sleep there. Everything was going PERFECT with this guy until he doesn't want to eat his crickets!

Please help and thanks in advance, I really really do appreciate it!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....he sounds like a wonderful little pet so far ! How old/big is he ? There's probably [ hopefully ] something simple or just a phase going on. Is he drinking, and how do you hydrate him ? Sometimes if they become a little dehydrated they can lose their appetite. Did you say he's still eating his greens ? Which is great by the way, loads of nutrition in them. And finally, what type of UVB are you using while waiting on the HO T5 ? If he has no UVB or inferior, it could also affect his appetite. By the way, sometimes if you shake the crickets up in a jar so they're dizzy, then dump a few at a time he may go for them as the stagger slowly near him. You might also decrease the amont of time handling him...it might still be a bit overwhelming.