drinking in the bath?

[H3RB]

had my beardie a week today and im still having problems with him barely eating anything at all. since ive had him he as pooped 3 times and ate a very small about of squash and spinage and only 1 cricket. thats in a week.....
i bath him every day and have tried rubbing his stomach to help him poop but still no luck. today he started drinking his bath water, is this ok? could it help loosen his stomach at all?
getting worried about him now, he's on newspaper so hasn't swallowed any sand, also he sleeps a heck of a lot i have no idea what to do..

 

[Tigg]

It's relocation stress...

For the first 2 weeks, offer food and water via shallow bowls, and maybe the occasional pat on the head... and that's it. Leave him alone as much as possible to settle in. A new house is a lot for him to get used to, don't add to it by introducing everything to him all at once.

Then slowly begin to introduce the handling more and more frequently, then the baths, ect.

Since you have been massaging him in baths, have you felt any hard lumps in his stomach? If not I would not worry about impaction. If he was impacted, he would not be stooling at all.

Drinking from the bath is a great thing! it means you don't have to administer oral fluids from a dropper very often. some do it some don't. You need to be careful of this at times though, if your beardie stools in the tub, you will want to replace the water right away. And if you ever have any health concerns were special baths are needed (IE. Betadine) you will want to make sure he drinks from the clean water before mixing the antiseptics.

Do your best to get him eating, leave a shallow dish with some small crickets with their back legs pulled off so they cannot climb out of the dish. maybe when you are not around, and he feels comfortable, he will eat.

Otherwise just monitor him for the next week or so, make sure he does not become weak from not eating.

Only other recommendation is for your substrate... Newspapers is easy, and safe. But paper towels will be better for your beardie since his skin will not become dyed from the ink in the paper.

 

[H3RB]

he ate a cheeky cricket the other day while i wasnt watching,i heard a crunch and turned round to see him muching away and licking his chops.
i only handle him for baths atm and if i put salad on his basking log within a few mins its gone.
i will try pulling the legs off the crickets as ive just been dropping them in normally and having to get them from under the paper etc when they run off.
is it ok to put them in the fridge for about 15mins to slow them down first? i dont fancy a kitchen full of crickets lol
also not noticed any lumps felt nice and well... squishy, only strange thing i have noticed is his tail has started going orange, ill try get a pic later to show what i mean.

 

[Tigg]

Sounds like he is going ok... I suspect that if he has a constant supply of feeders left in a bowl for him to nibble on as he pleases, he will be just fine.

You are going to see lots of colour changes over the next few months, it's actually quite exciting most of the time (Unless I am just a freak lol)

And yes leaving crickets in the freezer for a few min is fine I would actually recommend it because the young ones are usually very clumsy hunters.

 

[H3RB]

any tips on getting the legs off the crickets? personally i hate touching them i also have bigggg hands lol and these guys are tiny

 

[Tigg]

I actually have the same problem... Best thing to do... and this is going to be graphic and sound gross to some... but after all, we are sacraficing them to our beardies in the end anyways.

I purchased a large pair of feeding tongs, they work great!

After a few min in the freezer, pour them into a shallow dish (They should look dead/frozen at this point)

You can either use feeding tongs, tweezers, or even scissors to just quickly snip or pinch the large rear legs above the knee joint (do crickets have knees?)

This should be easier thank pulling them off.

 

[H3RB]

sounds good ill give it a blast

 

[TheRedDragonAkaRed]

also if you have a reto glo 10.0 take it out....knowne asked what you set up is...but this light is bad...

 

[Tigg]

You know it never really crossed my mind, but while we are at it we might as well make sure everything is the best it can be... would you mind answering the following?

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

 

[zebraflavencs]

Also, I would like to mention that spinach isn't the best greens you could offer your baby. Here is an awesome list to choose healthy foods for your dragon.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
Just follow the colors-green is everyday staples, black are treats. Ignore the rest and you should be fine !
Hope this helps out !
Janie.