How to know they are eating enough

[dracospike]

I am a new beardie owner. We got two beardies two days ago. According to the employee they are about two months old. Length is approximately 5 inches. We are feeding small crickets twice a day putting 6-8 in at a time. Generally we find one left after they have fed. We were told that they should each eat about 4 crickets twice a day. At this point they are not eating the collard greens we have provided. There is so much conflicting information between what the pet store said, what the book we read says and what I have read online. How am I sure that they are getting enough. Also one of them rarely goes in the basking spot and feels cool to the touch when I pick him up. Should I be concerned about this? Hopefully I am just overreacting but any help would be appreciated.

 

[Mediabandit]

Are they housed together?

 

[dracospike]

At this time yes they are. We were told that they would be fine together for awhile so we only purchased one enclosure. As soon as possible we will be buying a second and separating them. I was able to get the smaller of the two to eat 5 very small crickets this evening by hand feeding him and he is sitting in the basking spot more. We decided to change the set up of the enclosure so that there was more space in the basking spot. At this time it seems to be working.

 

[dracospike]

They each have very distinct personalities. The smaller one is very mellow and seems to love being held and picked up. The larger is more jumpy and doesn't sit still when being held.

 

[SpitFyre]

You can't house them together. Period. Look around the rest of this site, and you'll see some of the horror stories that have come of cohabitation. Most commonly, it results in missing limbs. Here's a useful thread for you to look at- http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=154908

 

[dracospike]

Well apparently all the pet stores disagree about housing them together which made no sense because I was going to be spending a ton of money for a whole new set up. Of course I can not separate them tonight because the sales associate said I could use the dual dome with the 150watt basking lamp. As I was setting it up I looked at it is only safe up to 100watts. So irritated. As it is now the smaller of the twois still not eating much and I am worried about him.

 

[SpitFyre]

He is most likely stressed. Pet stores generally aren't very knowledgeable about reptiles. Or pets in general, actually.

I would PM drach613 with your question- she will be able to answer. :3

 

[dracospike]

Well I have come to the conclusion that Spike the smaller is a morning eater and Drako is a night time eater. They are now separated and Draco seems to be adjusting to his new bigger enclosure quite nicely. We decided that moving Spike would only cause him more stress. As of now he seems to enjoy having the basking spot all to himself. Other than chasing the uneaten crickets to get them out of the enclosure after the 15 minutes they both seem to be eating regularly.

 

[dracospike]

I realized that last sentance made no sense! Long day. What I meant to say was that Feeding is going well other than have to chase the uneaten crickets around to get them out of the enclosure.

 

[SpitFyre]

Wonderful you separated them.
Good luck!

 

[Esther19]

You might try feeding them in a separate tank or clear plastic tub. Less chasing.

 

[GingerBeachy]

I agree about feeding in a separate tank or tub. It eliminates moving all the furniture from the viv, let's you move the dragon when he/she is full and definitely makes keeping track easier.

I find it easier to grab the crickets, put them in the bag for dusting with vitamins or calcium and then I drop 2 or three at a time so I can keep count of how many our beardie has eaten. You may still lose count by a few, but at least you will know how many they've eaten.

In regards to knowing how much they should be eating, when we got our beardie from the pet store, we were instructed to feed 5-6 crickets a day, make sure there were greens available and you should be fine. I did that they first day, but it seemed that he was still hungry so the next day I gave him about 10 crickets. Then I started researching how much to feed and began to feed him twice a day and as many crickets as he could eat in about 10-15 minutes, as many here on the boards have stated. He began to eat at least 25 crickets a feeding each time I fed him. One day it was about 100 crickets.

I've had our beardie about 7 weeks now, an estimate that he is about 4-5 months old. His eating has slowed down a bit the last week or so, which at first was due to shedding, but now seems to be a semi-brumation as he is enjoying some long daytime naps in his cave the last few days.

I hope that helps in some way

 

[dracospike]

Very sad news today. Spike out smaller beardie passed away while we were at work and school. My son is devastated and I am so confused. What could have gone wrong? I did everythingI was supposed to. He was fine this morning and even ate like crazy! It breaks my heart not only because I have spent the last 6 days watching over him but because my son is so sad.

 

[SpitFyre]

My guess is that the stress if cohabitation finally caught up with him. If you want to be certain, take him to a qualified vet in your area and have an autopsy.

 

[dracospike]

I would have thought he would have passed away when they were together not after I separated them! Now I feel lbad like maybe I should have left them together.