I need advice on how to....

[zelphos]

get my bearded dragon to eat on his own. When I got him in December he wouldn't touch his foods so I'd hold them and he would lick them and id have to stick them in his mouth because he won't grab them on his own and so I have to stick them food in his mouth until he spits it out or shakes his head. I left a variety of greens, watermelon, squash and parsnip in his bowl one day and didnt hand feed him and he didnt touch the food at all. He's so lazy I have to put the food in his mouth, I think I've spoiled him too much, his tank is usually 98-100 degrees with a 36 inch reptisun 10.0 fluorescent bulb 7 inches from the top floor of his terrarium. It has 2 floors the bottom I dont have a light in yet because I feel itll be fine till I get time to put a small one down there that doesnt give off much heat since its well insulated from all the foam, I even have foam under the tile on the bottom so it doesnt get cold. Here's a picture of the enclosure I just finished this weekend. The set up is correct he just doesn't eat that much at all, not like how everyone else says their dragons eat them out of the house, I'm not sure how to get him to eat on his own and to make him eat better, he's my first dragon so I'm not very experienced with them, any tips would be appreciated!

 

[Chirple]

How old is he ? How many live feeders / what kind does he eat ? Will he hunt those down ?

I offer greens starting early in the day - give it a few hours so some munching happens, and then dump the bugs in a salad so some greens are also accidentally eaten during the bug hunt.

 

[zelphos]

the person I bought him from said about a year, I got him off Craigslist cause the guy didn't want him anymore and the set up he had for him was terrible, he had an exotic terra heat bulb that wasnt bright in the least bit and a solar glo coil uvb and he was in sand with a few rocks, no place to hide so i had to buy him cause I felt bad how he has taken care of. he used to eat super worms but won't anymore for some reason, I drop them by him and he just looks at them, won't move to get them, even tried feeding them off my hand, he used to chase after them but won't now. I was thinking about trying dubia roaches. He eats a little bit of greens when I hand feed him and lobes watermelon so i feed that quite often but he doesn't stick his tongue out to grab anything...I have a trip coming up so I'm afraid he won't eat it I have my mom throw in greens and roaches in for him >.>

 

[Chirple]

If you get dubia, it wouldn't be a huge problem to have them running around the tank to be eaten once he gets hungry (for when you're gone) - so that might be a good choice.

I can't promise that dubia will help, because it does seem odd to me that superworms don't get him hunting, but they do have "personal tastes", it seems. Mine would not touch crickets and loves dubia and superworms. I could hold a cricket in front of his face and he would turn away from it like I was bothering him.

Is he a healthy weight ? Has it changed at all while you've had him ?

 

[zelphos]

Yeah he used to eat superworms...now he turns away from the like yours does crickets lol. He just won't hunt or anything he's lazy. I'm just afraid I'm gonna buy the roaches ans he's not going to eat them >.> he weighs alot more that I have him,and maybe even grown a bit longer. since I've moved him into his tank I notice his stress marks have went away and he's more active and actually stays awake longer now just need to figure out what he likes, he's very picky and only seems to like greens and watermelon.