Juvenile Not Eating

[Luxylibra]

So I had gotten a beardie about three weeks ago, the previous owner had said she is about 7 months old, but she is only eight and a quarter inches in all. Lately she has been extremely picky about eating. She ate three worms yesterday and she used to eat roaches but now she uninterested and

she never eats crickets. Also she refuses to eat anything but bok choy and now she won't eat that either. She still poops everyday around the same time though. I've been giving her baths and water out of a dropper because she was extremely wrinkly and seemed dehydrated when I got her. Her eyes are also black and the tip of her tail has always been curled up. She had just finished shedding when I got her, but it's been extremely cold here lately and it's been difficult to regulate the temperature. I had put the thermometer right under her light to check the temp and it says it's 105 on her basking spot. She's very sweet and likes to sleep on my chest, but she is breathing pretty heavy before she sleeps. She's extremely sweet and I just don't want to lose her, I feel like I'm doing something wrong, please help.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. She's cute. Can you give a rundown of the set up? Is that a red light in the picture?

 

[Luxylibra]

Thank you! She's just finished shedding so her colors are really pretty right now. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I will post some when I get a chance. She's got two basking logs, a hammock in the warm side and a hidey hole on the cold side with another basking area. The half of the tank where she's got food has reptile carpet and the other half has calcium sand. I know everyone says it's bad, but she never eats on that side of the tank and I've checked her poop for any sand and there's never been and she has healthy, regular poop. She does have a red zoo med 100watt bulb, it was the only one they had at the reptile store at the moment and they said it should be okay, the last owner only had a 50watt for a 45 gallon tank. She's also got a hood lamp for uvb, the 36 inch from zoo med.

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Hey Luxylibra,

She is a super cute dragon! I'd love to see more photos!

As far as the setup it sounds pretty good but I'd like to make a few suggestions:

Use your best judgement on the sand - Some people have had success with this substrate, but I personally think the cons outweigh the pros. Whether or not they are eating on the sand side of their tank doesn't necessarily stop it from being ingested. Lizards taste their environment to identify things. Even tiny tastes here and there could result in build up and lead to impaction.
The other thing is it can harbor bacteria, can get into their eyes, and into their airways. I'd personally rather be safe than sorry when it comes to this, but again it's purely my opinion. If you need an alternative there is always full repticarpet, non-adhesive shelf liners, or my favorite, tile.

Please replace the red light with a white basking light when you are able. The lighting in an enclosure is meant to best simulate the natural sunlight and dragons do have color vision.

It's possible both these things could be impacting this little cutie's appetite. I know it can be frustrating to offer food, especially live, and have it be denied. If she's showing signs she's active and healthy, she will eat eventually. If she doesn't after a week, you can syringe feed her mashed baby food chicken/squash with some calcium. I have also had success getting an appetite back with Repti-Boost

 

[Luxylibra]

Hello! Thank you for your reply. Miss Vixen has temporarily ended her hunger strike and ate FIVE crickets today! That was a huge victory in my book, we will have to see if she's up to another feeding later though. Today after work I'm picking up a new 100 watt

white basking light, the reptile store finallly called to let me know they were back in stock. I'm also going to pick up some repta boost and other veggies she may or may not be interested in eating. And it's bath day, I haven't used the toothbrush yet, but I'm going to try to gently scrub away some of the stubborn skin left over from her last shedding. I'll include some more pictures and just a couple more questions, baddest on your experiences, how much should a dragon her age be eating typically? And do you have any recommendations for tile?
Thanks again!

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Great news! I'm so glad she got over her hunger strike, whether it was pride or not :wink:

Once that white light is in, she might pick up even more, which would be great! 5 crickets compared to nothing is definitely a big improvement, especially when you get worried sick about their health.

I have a 4 month old right now who can eat around 40-50 small dubias a day. I recently purchased 300 small dubia and he ate them all within about a week, causing me to dip into my own starting colony along with some crickets here and there from petsmart.
He's currently in shed and kicked back to about 20 or so, but when I first got him I was lucky to get him to eat at least 1 cricket a day, but that was relocation stress. After a week of not eating I started to force feed repti-boost through a tiny curved syringe by placing it between his little lips on the side of his mouth. He hated it but it bulked him up and got him eating and now he has 0 issues eating

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

I didn't see the photos while replying - what a cutie!
She has good weight on her so she isn't in danger. It looks like she's got some shed going so that might be impacting her appetite as well

***EDIT***
I completely disregarded the question regarding tile, my bad!
I actually made a thread about it a bit ago: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=229670

You can get tile at a home improvement store, I used Home Depot, and depending on your tank size and how you go about it, they will cut your tile for free