ILoveMyBeardies2012
Member
I have a 9 month old female bearded dragon, her name is Xena. I have had her since she was 8 weeks old and she was bought from a reptile shop.
When I first got her she would eat greens, crickets and waxworms (waxworms only once a week) . She had a very good appetite and never went a day without food. Around 4 months ago, she decided that she was never going to eat her greens again and never touched them for weeks. However she would still eat the crickets. I then moved away to University and she stayed at my family home where my mum took over the role of Mother to her. A week after me being away my Mum rang to say that she was refusing to eat anything. No greens or crickets... after a few days of eating nothing, I told her to get some baby food and syringe feed her to get some vitamins etc inside her. She loved it and ate a lot of the stuff. My mum and dad eventually managed to get her back on to the crickets, and the only way she would eat greens is when my mum would syringe her some baby food and my dad would throw some in to her mouth. Other than that, she wouldn't touch her veg.
I returned from University a few weeks ago, when I first got back she was still not eating her Veg and only eating crickets. A few days later she refused to eat crickets, so I bought some waxworms, which she ate no problem. I then tried her with crickets again, and she shut her eyes and moved her face away. Still not hungry for them. I changed the way I feed her, so instead of feeding her crickets in the morning, I just gave her fresh veg. She has started to eat a few pieces of veg in the morning but not enough to be a healthy dragon. I then try to feed her crickets at around 1pm and she will eat one and not eat anymore. I bought some mealworms, and she will eat them fine, along with waxworms. But I know that these are not a healthy diet as they are mainly fat and the mealworms aren't too good for digestion. I just wanted to see if she was hungry or not. Which she obviously was.
She is growing in length but I don't think that she is fat enough, she is skinny in my eyes. Her behaviour is normal. She wakes me up at 10am every morning glass dancing until I get her out and put her in bed with me, she spends around 3-4 hours out of the tank a day because she loves sitting on my windowsill looking out at everything. I do put her back every 15 minutes so she stays warm though. She sleeps fine at night, but she does sleep quite a lot in the day. But if I get her out she is very alert so it seems like she is healthy and just really lazy when she is in her Viv...
Is she just an extremely fussy eater? I need some help! My other two bearded dragons are not like this and they are the same age. I am not sure what else to do. So far I have tried;
- Reptile fruit jam which I spread on to her veggies
- Putting mealworms/waxworms in to the salad so she gets some greens in her when picking out the live food
- Butternut squash, strawberries, rocket salad, baby leaf, cucumber, blueberries etc
- Hanging the veg from different places in the tank
- Pulling it around on the floor to see if she'll chase it etc
Nothing is working. I need help!
Vivarium set up:
- 3ft x 2ft x 2ft
- Calci sand (Which is being replaced by tiles asap)
- Two logs
- Two rocks
- Food and water dish
- Silk and plastic plants
- Hide which is placed upright in the corner, she sleeps behind it and climbs on top of it
- Exo Terra Repti-Glo 10. UVB coil bulb (Which is being replaced by a tube asap)
- Exo Terra 60W White basking bulb
- Two vents
Her crickets are dusted with calci powder once a day and her veg is dusted with calci power three times a week. She is also bathed once a week and when shedding every 3 days. (She LOVES to go underwater and swim around for ages, which is something I never knew beardies like, my other two don't like going underwater)
Her substrate was originally calcium sand, which I then took out due to finding out about impactation and she was only young, she was using the wooden flooring of the viv for a week and she was sliding around everywhere. I replaced the wooden flooring with calci sand again a week ago, as she is older and doesn't tend to lick everything anymore. I am carefully watching her and check her intestines for impactation every day to make sure, she is fine. But the sand is going as soon as I get hold of some tiles to replace it.
The coil UVB bulb is also going as I have recently found out that they can cause damage to the beardies eyes and other health issues. I am replacing this with a tube bulb instead.
If anybody has any answers then please let me know, I am running out of ideas to make her eat her veggies.
Front set up:
Left side:
Right side:
Pictures of Xena:
1. Baby food stained chin
2. Baby food on her nose
3. Sitting on the window sill
4. Length of her
5. Close up
When I first got her she would eat greens, crickets and waxworms (waxworms only once a week) . She had a very good appetite and never went a day without food. Around 4 months ago, she decided that she was never going to eat her greens again and never touched them for weeks. However she would still eat the crickets. I then moved away to University and she stayed at my family home where my mum took over the role of Mother to her. A week after me being away my Mum rang to say that she was refusing to eat anything. No greens or crickets... after a few days of eating nothing, I told her to get some baby food and syringe feed her to get some vitamins etc inside her. She loved it and ate a lot of the stuff. My mum and dad eventually managed to get her back on to the crickets, and the only way she would eat greens is when my mum would syringe her some baby food and my dad would throw some in to her mouth. Other than that, she wouldn't touch her veg.
I returned from University a few weeks ago, when I first got back she was still not eating her Veg and only eating crickets. A few days later she refused to eat crickets, so I bought some waxworms, which she ate no problem. I then tried her with crickets again, and she shut her eyes and moved her face away. Still not hungry for them. I changed the way I feed her, so instead of feeding her crickets in the morning, I just gave her fresh veg. She has started to eat a few pieces of veg in the morning but not enough to be a healthy dragon. I then try to feed her crickets at around 1pm and she will eat one and not eat anymore. I bought some mealworms, and she will eat them fine, along with waxworms. But I know that these are not a healthy diet as they are mainly fat and the mealworms aren't too good for digestion. I just wanted to see if she was hungry or not. Which she obviously was.
She is growing in length but I don't think that she is fat enough, she is skinny in my eyes. Her behaviour is normal. She wakes me up at 10am every morning glass dancing until I get her out and put her in bed with me, she spends around 3-4 hours out of the tank a day because she loves sitting on my windowsill looking out at everything. I do put her back every 15 minutes so she stays warm though. She sleeps fine at night, but she does sleep quite a lot in the day. But if I get her out she is very alert so it seems like she is healthy and just really lazy when she is in her Viv...
Is she just an extremely fussy eater? I need some help! My other two bearded dragons are not like this and they are the same age. I am not sure what else to do. So far I have tried;
- Reptile fruit jam which I spread on to her veggies
- Putting mealworms/waxworms in to the salad so she gets some greens in her when picking out the live food
- Butternut squash, strawberries, rocket salad, baby leaf, cucumber, blueberries etc
- Hanging the veg from different places in the tank
- Pulling it around on the floor to see if she'll chase it etc
Nothing is working. I need help!
Vivarium set up:
- 3ft x 2ft x 2ft
- Calci sand (Which is being replaced by tiles asap)
- Two logs
- Two rocks
- Food and water dish
- Silk and plastic plants
- Hide which is placed upright in the corner, she sleeps behind it and climbs on top of it
- Exo Terra Repti-Glo 10. UVB coil bulb (Which is being replaced by a tube asap)
- Exo Terra 60W White basking bulb
- Two vents
Her crickets are dusted with calci powder once a day and her veg is dusted with calci power three times a week. She is also bathed once a week and when shedding every 3 days. (She LOVES to go underwater and swim around for ages, which is something I never knew beardies like, my other two don't like going underwater)
Her substrate was originally calcium sand, which I then took out due to finding out about impactation and she was only young, she was using the wooden flooring of the viv for a week and she was sliding around everywhere. I replaced the wooden flooring with calci sand again a week ago, as she is older and doesn't tend to lick everything anymore. I am carefully watching her and check her intestines for impactation every day to make sure, she is fine. But the sand is going as soon as I get hold of some tiles to replace it.
The coil UVB bulb is also going as I have recently found out that they can cause damage to the beardies eyes and other health issues. I am replacing this with a tube bulb instead.
If anybody has any answers then please let me know, I am running out of ideas to make her eat her veggies.
Front set up:
Left side:
Right side:
Pictures of Xena:
1. Baby food stained chin
2. Baby food on her nose
3. Sitting on the window sill
4. Length of her
5. Close up
