Hey, thanks for stopping by and hopefully offering some advice. I'm pulling my hair out here! I'm a herpetologist, I've got a master's in animal science and have been raising reptiles (mostly snakes) for over 20 years....but one little beardie is confusing the heck out of me.
A friend of mine "rescued" him from petco (bought) for my birthday and dropped this baby off. I wasn't there to choose so my friend picked the runt which as we know is the worst one to choose when picking a bearded dragon baby. I love him already though so oh well! His name is Trogdor and he's incredibly sweet and settling in very well aside from one minor concern: He's losing weight and doesn't seem to be eating much.
His siblings still at the petco are all much larger than him now but he's remained fairly close to the size I got him at almost two weeks ago. He's eating, just not very much and won't touch mealworms or crickets. The petco he was at feeds mealworms to their babies (I know, ew) so I tried those hoping they'd work even though they're not ideal. He actively avoids them. He'll munch on a little bit of romaine, kale, spinach, basil, or other greens. He won't touch any of the prepackaged food I've tried or crickets.
Other than not growing as fast as expected he seems healthy enough. He's curious, active, basks appropriately, drinks water both misted on him and even from a dish. He sleeps well and he's not losing weight alarmingly, he's just not gaining it if that makes sense.
He's approximately 8 inches from nose tip to tail tip and though I keep referring to him as a "he" I haven't actually sexed him since he's so young.
His setup is sufficient if a little large for his age (though I know full well I'll need to upgrade again in a year if he grows like other beardies).
A friend of mine "rescued" him from petco (bought) for my birthday and dropped this baby off. I wasn't there to choose so my friend picked the runt which as we know is the worst one to choose when picking a bearded dragon baby. I love him already though so oh well! His name is Trogdor and he's incredibly sweet and settling in very well aside from one minor concern: He's losing weight and doesn't seem to be eating much.
His siblings still at the petco are all much larger than him now but he's remained fairly close to the size I got him at almost two weeks ago. He's eating, just not very much and won't touch mealworms or crickets. The petco he was at feeds mealworms to their babies (I know, ew) so I tried those hoping they'd work even though they're not ideal. He actively avoids them. He'll munch on a little bit of romaine, kale, spinach, basil, or other greens. He won't touch any of the prepackaged food I've tried or crickets.
Other than not growing as fast as expected he seems healthy enough. He's curious, active, basks appropriately, drinks water both misted on him and even from a dish. He sleeps well and he's not losing weight alarmingly, he's just not gaining it if that makes sense.
He's approximately 8 inches from nose tip to tail tip and though I keep referring to him as a "he" I haven't actually sexed him since he's so young.
His setup is sufficient if a little large for his age (though I know full well I'll need to upgrade again in a year if he grows like other beardies).