HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bearded Dragon not eating!

[mazais]

so i asked this pet shop owner, who has kept many reptiles, and has 36 years of experience. He said that he doesnt think my beardies are rankins, and that they are probably smaller because i dont feed them that much. (i feed them as many mealworms they want but not more than 10 mealies, and spring greens, every day. I watched videos of rankins yesterday, and they look nothing like my beardies. i'll describe my beardies;
Baltumins
hes a light beardie, (when not absorbing heat) With some light orange, yellow, and red lines around his markings on back. his markings are sort of a line along his back with some small markings that look like spots. He has a beard, and on the bottom of it theres a bit of black, he has alot of spikes.
Mazais
he has ALOT of orange, yellow and red colors, and very vibrant, and bright. Hes very colorful. he doesnt really have describable 'markings', but he has a line on his back, with an thick orange outline along the line. he also has a beard and alot of spikes

 

[w0554096]

There are a few things that you should definately do asap for your beardies. They may still grow quite a bit, though I would think that they'll always be somewhat stunted.

The first thing is to pick up a digital thermometer with a probe. You can get one at walmart for under 10 dollars, they are the indoor/outdoor thermometers. This is very important. The kind of thermometer you have can be off by up to 40 degrees.

Is your UVB mounted inside of the tank? If not, the screne is filtering out up to 50% of their UVB. This can also be fixed very easily with some 3M command hooks. These can also be found at walmart for under 10 dollars.
The next very important thing is to replace the red bulb. A normal household bulb will work perfectly fine, though you may have to pick up a few more with different wattages to get the temperatures right. These are usually sold 4 in a pack for about a buck.

SO, so far you're up to around 20 dollars, with everything being easily found at walmart.

I guarentee that with these small changes along with your new Reptisun, you will notice a huge difference in your dragons.

I would so reccomend that you start feeding them more. Is there any particular reason that you don't feed them more than 10 mealworms?

Even if you find that the mealworms aren't causing any impaction issues, you should keep in mind that they are really not nutritious. Therefore, if that's what you intend to keep feeding, they're going to need more than 4 or 5 per day to grow into healthy dragons.

I'm again going to highly reccomend that you change out the substrate. There are many options that pose zero risk to your beardie that look very nice in the enclosure. Please consider it. I know you want what's best for your babies.

 

[mazais]

thankyou, i ordered more crickets and dubia roaches, and i will be feeding them 5 mealworms, along with crickets and dubias. I cant buy the probe thermometer because my nearest walmart is 1 hour away by car, and i cant replace the red bul i think that the analog (now i know how they are called) and stick-on thermometers are 'off' because you cant measure temps were the beardie is sitting, but only near/higher. so, maybe i should just put my therm on their level, or were they usually are, when basking, or on cool side, and i should get an pretty acurate reading. or are the analog just inacurate, in general?

 

[w0554096]

They are just inacurate in general. There was a member on here that did some testing on them. The test included putting the thermometer directly on the basking spot, and it was even more inacurate than it was on the wall of the tank.
If you'd like to read their research, here is the thread.
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=167279

I'm sure if you looked you'd be able to find a spare lightbulb somewhere in your house.
Home and garden centers, home depo, lowes, and some big box stores should also carry those thermometers. You can also order them from online.
As I mentionned, it is extremely important to have accurate temperatures, and the only way to be sure is with a proper thermometer.

 

[mazais]

so, the crix and dubias came today, and i will start feeding them more variety. How big do you expect them to grow, i think that maybe they'll reach about 16 inches now since they are about 8 inches too small, but will they grow bigger? I will start feeding them as many crix they can eat in 10 min, some days, and some days i'll feed them 8-10 mealworms, and dubias as treats. (2-3 times a week) Also, i will give greens in the morning. Will this help with their growth? Will they always stay small? :?

 

[w0554096]

They will probably always be somewhat stunted, but they will still grow, especially once you start feeding them more. Did you get the UVB mounted inside of the tank?
The picture link did not work for me.

 

[allisonm]

so, the crix and dubias came today, and i will start feeding them more variety. How big do you expect them to grow, i think that maybe they'll reach about 16 inches now since they are about 8 inches too small, but will they grow bigger? I will start feeding them as many crix they can eat in 10 min, some days, and some days i'll feed them 8-10 mealworms, and dubias as treats. (2-3 times a week) Also, i will give greens in the morning. Will this help with their growth? Will they always stay small? :?

Your plan is better but you should feed as many crickets as they can eat in 10 min, and if you wanna switch it up feed them as many dubia as they can eat. You statedyou would feed dubias as a treat. Dubias is probably the best staple feeder out there. They are better than crickets and especially meal worms. I know you live far away from a pet store and that's wh both y you said you feed mealworms instead of crickets. You can order crickets on line and its soooo much cheaper. You can get a good variety of sof bodied worms. You can

 

[mazais]

you can just copy the link, and paste it on the search bar, and it should work.