HELP New Beardy Owner With Concerns.....

[MrMerle]

So after a lot of research i bought my first dragon Saturday.....at what point should I become concerned about her not eating? I had her in the large aquarium and she seemed fine....perched up on a high spot on the wood and sat in the mercury bulbs beam.....but with a 150w ceramic heater, 100w mercury bulb, and one 160w mercury bulb the warm side of the tanks temp only reached low 90's......and cold side mid 80's.....she had no interest in any of the small crickets i had for her or any of the chopped up greens.....she did eat one mealworm I have for feeding another lizard though... but have read I should only feed them as a treat.....my thoughts were maybe the cage is too large right now and the combination of the temp not reaching the 100's might not be helping in her adjusting to the new environment. So I moved her to a spare 15 gal I had and put down paper towels, basking branch, and a bowl with some greens and a little water mixed and used the 160w mercury bulb on one side and the temp raised to high 90's and low 100's with a cool side....she again seemed happy and active.....but had no interest in eating......part of me is telling myself i am looking too much into this but the other part wants to double check that I am doing the right things and just need to be patient......but today she was awake but not as active...she basked on her branch most of the day and only moved locations maybe three times. I decided to give her a bath and she was active then till i put her back in the cage......I have some reptiworms on the way in hopes maybe they will get her appetite up.... Do i need to exercise more patience? My wife and i have already become pretty attached and just want the best for her....please any advice would be helpful ....

 

[sheri85]

it took a few days before i could get Archer to really eat anything. he took a while to get settled, but soon found his appetite. and only in the last week has he shown any interest in his greens. how old is your beardie?

might want to be patient with her while she's still adjusting to her new surroundings, but keep offering her the crickets and greens.

 

[MrMerle]

She will be a month old on the 6th. I haven't noticed her drinking on her own....I have been dripping water on her nose and she licks that.....I just know that all I read talks about how at this age they eat so much...... <----- this guy seems to be an over protective father

 

[beardie parents]

I wonder what are you taking your temps with? It seems as if you have quite a lot of heat into the tank. BTW: what size is your tank? You said you had Mercury lamps. Are those MVB bulbs that give off heat and light? Do you have both of those bulbs on at the same time? The CHE only needs to be used at night when the temps in the tank get below 65 degrees fahrenheit.

 

[MrMerle]

Currently I am using two digital thermometers one on each side "hot/cool". Yes, the mercury give both uvb and heat but a only using the smaller zoomed one. I have the smaller aquarium she is in now sitting on top of the 55 gallon aquarium. The ceramic heater is off to the side facing down below to the larger aquarium but still giving enough heat to the smaller aquarium to keep the proper "warm side" temp at night and during the day when the mercury lamp is on.

 

[jjh1]

Thats just relocation stress she just needs time to adjust to the new surroundings. Mine did that when I first got them it took about 1 week for my male and about 9 days for my female.

May I just make a suggestion as to not feed your little one mealworms they have to hard of a shell and can cause impaction. Crix reptiworms are better for it. Criz should be the width of the space between the eyes.

What kind of substrate are you using?

Also what I use for UVB is a repti 10.0 and I use a flood light thats a 150 watt which gives about 100-120 because mine are now 1 years and 1.5 years I have raise the lights up abit as my beardies like it between 100-98f and the cool side is 80's.

my vivs for the beardies are 48x24x20 Athena was in hers when she was 2 months old and she did well loves to climb and loves her hammock.
Striker my male loves his viv hammock and tiki hut.

My baby will be house in a 18x18x18 tall exo terra viv until she grows as well.

As for drinking they will drink if you put drips on the tip of the nose. But the get thing to do as well is soaks in the tub kitchen sink they absorb water through their vent ( Butt) and skin sometimes they will even dip their nose in the water for a drink. Just make sure its not hot hot or cold it needs to be on the warm side. and only up to the shoulders of your beardie.
Never leave your beardie alone in the water either.

hope that helps
Joanne

 

[sheri85]

She will be a month old on the 6th. I haven't noticed her drinking on her own....I have been dripping water on her nose and she licks that.....I just know that all I read talks about how at this age they eat so much...... <----- this guy seems to be an over protective father

lol don't worry. i'm quite overprotective too, and just with my beardie. my turtle and cat i've had for years, so i know what to expect with them, but Archer's still new to me so i panic over every little thing.

 

[MrMerle]

May I just make a suggestion as to not feed your little one mealworms they have to hard of a shell and can cause impaction. Crix reptiworms are better for it. Criz should be the width of the space between the eyes.

What kind of substrate are you using?

As for drinking they will drink if you put drips on the tip of the nose. But the get thing to do as well is soaks in the tub kitchen sink they absorb water through their vent ( Butt) and skin sometimes they will even dip their nose in the water for a drink. Just make sure its not hot hot or cold it needs to be on the warm side. and only up to the shoulders of your beardie.
Never leave your beardie alone in the water either.

hope that helps
Joanne

Thank you Joanne! I dont plan to use any more mealworms. Her substrate in the small cage is just paper towels and in the larger cage i plan to move her to when she is older it is textured tiles. Yes, I gave her a bath in warm water yesterday for about 7-10 min before she wanted to get out....how often should I do this?

 

[lauraj1055]

Thank you Joanne! I dont plan to use any more mealworms. Her substrate in the small cage is just paper towels and in the larger cage i plan to move her to when she is older it is textured tiles. Yes, I gave her a bath in warm water yesterday for about 7-10 min before she wanted to get out....how often should I do this?

When they are babies, they dehydrate more quickly than older beardies. A baby beardie should be given soaks 5x a week, for about 10 mins each time. Or if you can make sure she gets water orally by licking drops off her nose, that is good too. For my babies, I orally feed them water 2x a week, and a bath 3x a week.. but they slurp up the water off their noses so I know they are getting enough...

For adults, I only bathe mine 2x a week, 3x at the most...

 

[MrMerle]

still trying to be patient.....gave her a large plate of reptiworms and she didn't even flinch.....one week will be tomorrow.

 

[lauraj1055]

still trying to be patient.....gave her a large plate of reptiworms and she didn't even flinch.....one week will be tomorrow.

When is your vet appointment? When I got BOTH my babies, they ate immediately.. With the runny poo, she/he might have pinworms which will make them not want to eat...

 

[MrMerle]

Honestly, dont have one yet. Guess I had not got that far.....

 

[MrMerle]

Her poo has not been runny....she has gone twice and it has been pretty firm

 

[lauraj1055]

Her poo has not been runny....she has gone twice and it has been pretty firm

I'm sorry... I got you mixed up with another post, with someone having the same issue...

Where did you get your beardie from?

 

[MrMerle]

I got her from TND dragons at the Baltimore Repticon show