Christmas baby....not eating!!!

[Fury1212]

Hello!!

We just got this new little guy from Santa, meet "Fury"! We have read so much on this site, thanks!!!! We cannot get this guy to eat! We read about relocation stress so we gave him a nice bath. He did lick water off his nose a ton Santa was only able to get mealworms so we'll get crickets tomorrow We have held the worms up to his nose where they wiggled and bumped his nose a bunch. Fury just ended up closes his eyes and shaking his head up and down rapidly! We figured that meant to leave him alone! He isn't very active. He will run around a bit after we mess with him but then goes to his basking spot. Is there anything else we can do to get him to eat? He did poop this morning. About the size of those worms, formed, dark-ish with a white tip. We saved it (gross I know) in case we should take a sample to a vet to get tested for parasites. We also cut a bit of a carrot up (no wider than the width of his eyes). He doesn't want that either. How long can he go without eating? We've had him for about 20 hrs. Hasn't eaten yet.

Our viv:
ReptiSun 10.0 in the tank
Digital thermometer 2 channel.
Basking side is 112 with probe on highest part of the branch
Cool side is 75
CHE 60 watt was only on last night
75 watt basking bulb.
Alfafa digging box.

Thanks! Let us know if you think we need to do anything else.
Hills

 

[ziggydoodles]

Hi, your setup for your baby sounds & looks great! It sounds like he's not eating due to some relocation stress, this could last anywhere from 1-2 weeks. I dont want that to scare you & make you think he's just gonna starve himself though. It may take him a few days to really start to eat, I would just try to keep to a feeding schedule, so he learns when its feeding time If he's not diggin the crickets you could try offering him some silkworms, hornworms, butter worms, or phoenix worms. Theyre all wiggly instead of jumpy, so they might be easier for him to catch. Also theyre much more nutritious than crickets. I wouldnt be too worried yet if hes not eating veggies, most babies dont. Try not to handle him too much for a few days, so he can adjust to his new surroundings. When he seems to be settling down you can start handling him for short amounts of time, because overwhelming him with too much love too soon might freak him out. It can also help to put a tshirt or something with your scent on it into his tank.
I hope this helps, I know its kind of a lot of info at once. Good luck with your new baby

 

[Fury1212]

Thank you so much for the reply! We're hoping it's just from the move!

 

[AHBD]

I agree that it's probably relocation stress. It may take a while, but in a few days he should at least be eating a few crickets a day, then increase on his own as he feels ore comfortable + gains an appetite. It would be good to avoid mealworms while he is so small, they can cause impaction, older dragons can have them as a treat but not a staple. I would also avoid carrots unless they are finely grated, almost paper thin. Even a small piece, if left as a chunk the size of an eraser, can be hard for a baby to digest since they lack the jaw strength to chew it. The worms that Ziggy mentioned are good, but hornworms can grow much too quickly, and you must specify the tiny size you want when ordering. Same with butterworms. Sometimes a beardie will go for the crickets if you shake them in a jar a bit until they are dizzy/slow moving.... [ you can add the calcium powder to coat them at the same time ]then drop a few close to the baby. Another tip that can work is to smash the crick and rub it lightly on his nose. The best types of greens for babies are turnip , mustard and dandelion. These all have very soft leaves. Collards are also good, but must be cut up smaller because they are pretty tough. It's too bad some breeders + most pet stores don't start their babies on greens, all the many beardies that I've hatched are eating greens by their 2nd week, and they love them. A trick that may work is to drop the little bits of greens near the baby a bit at a time, they may be attracted by the movement and decide to pounce.

 

[disastercake]

I don't have a lot of experience, but I went through a similar thing a few months ago. In October I got 2 month old beardies from a local pet store, and they ate great the first two days I had them and then continually ate less. As I learned more on here, I divided the cage, offered baby food (they loved the sweet potato), gave the combination mentioned here for food http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/parasitecare/ and I took the poo to the vet. I had to have 2 poos for the vet to be able to test (so it's good you saved it), and it turns out they both had Coccidia. The smaller one got worse and worse and eventually died. The other took 2 10-day rounds of Albon to get rid of the parasites. He ate poorly until halfway through the first round, ate better for a week (vet advised waiting 2 weeks before testing again) then went back to almost nothing until halfway through his second round. Through the whole thing I fed him the mix of baby food, jump-start, etc. and the Acidophiliz and continued the for about 1 week after treatment. I read that relocation stress can exacerbate an existing parasite problem.

I hope you and yours enjoy your new pet as much as I am enjoying mine, who is now healthy, spoiled, and well-taken care of thanks to all the great information on this site.

 

[Fury1212]

Thanks for the info! Turns out, our lil guy doesn't like mealworms anyway! We got him crickets, sprinkled on calcium and he ate 4 right away! He promptly went to sleep under "the sun" and hasn't eaten since. We will continue to keep an eye on him and try some greens soon.

One more question, how often do you bathe them?

 

[sweetpea1981]

I give mine baths everyday but with the holidays, I've been slacking a little so it's every other day. Cause most dragons don't drink from a water bowl the baths help keep them hydrated.