Female bearded dragon will not eat (urgent)

[Xpango]

Hi! I got my bearded dragons about 2 weeks ago. They are both 2 years old. Male and female,they came in a vivarium with sand I changed it to newspaper as I heard that sand is bad for them. They won't eat a lot for first few days,then I started feeding them with mealworms both ate but not a lot. Later on they stopped eating for about 2 days. Also I had this situation that one of them would eat but other won't and then the next day the one that won't eat began to eat but other one stopped.(I know it's confusing)
At the moment after having a break for 2 days male started eating fine ,he eats crickets well but not a lot of greens. I have a problem with female,she won't eat anything for 3 days now. (All she ate today was 1 mealworm and she would not touch anything else)

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[destiny1998]

Hi. I would separate. Beardies shouldn't be housed together. They probably both be way happier. How big is the enclosure? Maybe you can divided it. Also I'd nix the mealworms. Superworms are better. I can't get the picture to get larger, but she looks a little thin. Hopefully she'll start eating soon.

 

[Xpango]

These images should be larger and vivarium is quite big as you can see in the picture im not sure if its big enought to divide it.

 

[destiny1998]

Yeah idk. You can try it. Beardies need a 40gallon minimum per adult. I bought 2 of my 40gallons on Craigslist for $40 each and one I bought at petco when they had a dollar per gallon sale.

 

[Xpango]

oh okey,i live in uk so vivarium cost around 60 £ dont no if i want to spend that much buying another 1 + lamps etc

 

[destiny1998]

I know how you feel. But looking more at those pictures she really has no fat pads and looks kinda sickly. Maybe you can sell her to someone who is knowledgeable in taking care of beardies. As for lights. The proper uvb is expensive I know, but a halogen flood bulb for a basking lamp is cheap. You can try separating until you can come up with her own habitat. If she gets gravid from him she probably wont survive. She's just not healthy enough to lay eggs. You might want to take her to the herp vet and have her checked.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, it's good that you've come here for advice and it seems like you care about your new beardies. I'm sure that you can tell that the female is very thin, like Destiny mentioned, and although you may not have realized it, it is best to get another tank for the male or else give one of them away. The female has not been able to keep weight on even there with her previous owner and she is already very stressed, her health will just get worse. If he mates with her it will take all her nutrition to form the dozens of eggs that she may lay. You can see the male standing on her in one of your pics, dominating her. For now, at least take him out while you give her a meal, but it's really best to separate then ASAP , that female will just get sicker + thinner.

Hopefully you'll find a good solution.

 

[Lovereptiles]

Also concerned me with your photos. Your basking light bulb how hot does it get. Very low and your dragon right next to it. If they wanted to they could climb on it. Would cause serious burns. Your tank could be to warm with the light bulb inside. If the tanks to warm could effect there eating. You even know the sex of your two. Good be a good idea find that out with them together. Female and female would be best together but even so I wouldn't house them together. Male female together once there a 1 year. Will fight mainly because them breeding. I seen a male and female together we're fine til they turned a year old. The male seemed extra aggressive. Would bite the neck of the female. Male male together would be a nightmare. Please read up on a lot of things on this site. Very helpful and learned a lot about dragons and from my experience with them.

 

[Xpango]

Hi there, it's good that you've come here for advice and it seems like you care about your new beardies. I'm sure that you can tell that the female is very thin, like Destiny mentioned, and although you may not have realized it, it is best to get another tank for the male or else give one of them away. The female has not been able to keep weight on even there with her previous owner and she is already very stressed, her health will just get worse. If he mates with her it will take all her nutrition to form the dozens of eggs that she may lay. You can see the male standing on her in one of your pics, dominating her. For now, at least take him out while you give her a meal, but it's really best to separate then ASAP , that female will just get sicker + thinner.

Hopefully you'll find a good solution.

I did try taking her out to a seperate container and feed her but no luck.She would just stare at the food or shut her eyes when it gets near her. For now all i do is give her baths so she dosent dehydrate. :| Also i tried getting male out so its just her in vivarium but nothing happend,once i managed to put cricket right in front of her and she got her tongue out to grab it but she did not succed and wont try again. I think best solution will be to sell one of them :roll: . Thanks for advise :!:

 

[Xpango]

Also concerned me with your photos. Your basking light bulb how hot does it get. Very low and your dragon right next to it. If they wanted to they could climb on it. Would cause serious burns. Your tank could be to warm with the light bulb inside. If the tanks to warm could effect there eating. You even know the sex of your two. Good be a good idea find that out with them together. Female and female would be best together but even so I wouldn't house them together. Male female together once there a 1 year. Will fight mainly because them breeding. I seen a male and female together we're fine til they turned a year old. The male seemed extra aggressive. Would bite the neck of the female. Male male together would be a nightmare. Please read up on a lot of things on this site. Very helpful and learned a lot about dragons and from my experience with them.

I could change th location and put it as high as i can,i never seen them getting too close toward the bulb so i did not think of it... Also the tempreture in basking spot is no more than 30/31 Celsius.(its a lot voltage bulb so it does not give out as much heat as normal bulbs).
I will look up some topics,the thing that confuses me is that people write so many different opinions eg; mealwarms are bad for beared dragons then someone wrties they are fine. Not sure who i should trust :? Thanks for your help

 

[AHBD]

Maybe try hand feeding her , just hold the cricket in front of her. You can even squish one so the guts come out the back end a bit and rub it very slightly on her mouth. This will sometimes get them to swallow a few. And get some baby food, add a bit of calcium powder [ just a tiny pinch ] and offer that with a feeding syringe or eyedropper. You might even try scrambling an egg and microwaving with no oil for 1 minute. Some of my beardies enjoy egg once in a while.

 

[Xpango]

Both od them seem to have breaks with eating,does it happen to your bearded dragons aswell? :?
Both of them seem to love mealworms,do you think i should feed them with mealworms or carry on trying to make them eat crickets ? I dont know whether things that people say about mealworms are correct or not.

 

[AHBD]

If you Google " nutrition content of mealworm" and " nutrition content of feeder insects " you'll see that they are not as bad as many people think. Just don't feed them ONLY mealworms or not too many at a time. They are not good for babies [ hard to digest ] but adults can eat them alright, and they do contain some nutrition. Just keep your mealworms in a container [ it can be open because they can't crawl out ] add oat bran or oatmeal and put a few leafy greens in every other day so the mealworms eat good stuff and that will go in to your lizard. It would be even better if you could get superworms. [ zoophobas morio ]

 

[Xpango]

If you Google " nutrition content of mealworm" and " nutrition content of feeder insects " you'll see that they are not as bad as many people think. Just don't feed them ONLY mealworms or not too many at a time. They are not good for babies [ hard to digest ] but adults can eat them alright, and they do contain some nutrition. Just keep your mealworms in a container [ it can be open because they can't crawl out ] add oat bran or oatmeal and put a few leafy greens in every other day so the mealworms eat good stuff and that will go in to your lizard. It would be even better if you could get superworms. [ zoophobas morio ]

Okay thanks for your advice i will do that,did you ever get your bearded dragon swimming in his water container. Its very strange both of them jumo into that container and go mental. :?:

 

[AHBD]

Yes, lots of beardies seem to enjoy a little swimming.