MY NEW BABY BEARDIE WONT EAT BY HIMSELF!!

[TinyCreaturesRescue]

Yeah I probably won't ever be able to feed him dubia roaches bc my mom HATES them so.. yeah.
Um, overall he is seemingly ok, but I know that beardies tend to hide their symptoms until it is often too late so I'm also probably bringing him to the vet soon.

 

[kjbolanos]

With MBD, my little beardie had an acute form of it when it was still in its early stage. His legs and head were "shivering" for a few seconds due to the lack of UVA/UVB light. I see that beardies tend to have their own symptoms. And yes they can hide their symptoms but sometimes you gotta look real closely for these tiny symptoms.

If you suspect that your Beardie has MBD, try to arrange your tank in a way that your UVB/UVA light is close to the basking light where they are most likely be. And put some kind of place where he can climb up closer to the light like a branch or something. Mesh tends to block out some of hos needed rays so I have mine directly in his tank (once you arrange it, itll look messy but its a good temporary when you get something bigger for him when he grows up) ofc, Idk what you are using. I use a Reptisun 10.0 hood and a seperate basking light.

Also make sure you are dusting his vegetables and insects with multivitamen and Calcium with D3.

It does not hurt to take him outside into the direct sunlight for an hour a day. What I do when I am unable to take him outside is to open the window, let the sunlight stream in and comfortably put him on a towel in the sunlight.

I just suspect MBD because of his weakness in his limbs. My local reptile shop person described MBD along the lines of "trying to walk after excersizing too much. Their bones are not well developed".

Above is just a routine i do everyday to prevent MBD even though he has lost all symptoms and is doing really well. I would really advise you visit your local vet since he seems very weak. Prolonged MBD can result in permanent damage to your little guy and extra calcium supplements might be needed.

 

[JessPets]

Ok, I'm ordering some pinheads from Josh's Frogs this weekend I think. But is there a better company or something? Also what is BSFL?

Just make sure that the crickets are no bigger than the space between your little guy's eyes. Too big can cause all kinds of trouble. And I would put a hold on dubia roaches, even the smallest ones. Even though those are very nutritious, filling and prevent parasites (crickets tend to carry parasites), they are quite big. Even for your baby, 1-2 is perhaps too much since 1 dubia can amount to 5-6 cricket serving. By the time you go through your supply of dubias, they will already be too large for your beardie to handle. Its a bit too early for dubias, is what I'm trying to say.

I get my crickets at the local reptile shop where I bought my first little guy. I continue to go there every few days to buy their bred crickets. Make sure your crickets get adequate heat otherwise there may loose quite a few crickets.

I have to disagree. I use small/extra small for my little guy and he LOVES them. They are much better than crickets and as long as they are not bigger than the space between his eyes they are fine.

 

[kyleena29]

I highly suggest getting black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) I think they would be your best choice. You just wash some off cause they come with soil and make sure you dry them off and put them in a little dish. If there is any moisture they will crawl out. Here is a link where I get mine from, it's the best I've seen so far and very fast shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Symton-Feeding-Grade-Black-Soldier-Fly-1000-Small-Calcium-Enriched-Larvae-/262746980493?hash=item3d2cf0c08d:g

I would start out with the small ones and in a month maybe get the large. My 3 month old can eat the large ones just fine. They are very active and wiggly and will get his attention.

 

[TinyCreaturesRescue]

Hey guys, so I just wanted to give an update because I did say that I would.
It's been a couple months now and Oscar is better than I could have ever hoped for. I've got some pictures of him here,

the first is of him,

the next is of him around the time when he wasn't eating,

and lastly is him now, eating so much I can't keep up, so I'm deciding to go into cricket breeding. I've got three adult American toads, three green anoles, a turtle and my beardie, so the crickets will not go to waste but I'm still worried that I will have too many crickets to feed off and I won't have anything to do with them. I may give/sell them to one of the pet stores nearby, ( I know the manager and co-manager well so they may take them ).

 

[seandeangelis]

I just read through the whole thread lol, it's really great how much work you put in to help him out! I would suggest a dubia roach colony instead, they are easier to breed (I tried a cricket colony once and it failed miserably, although that was a while ago and may have been my own incompetence), are quieter, don't smell as bad, and have a harder time escaping. I'm not sure if your other animals can eat them, though.

 

[TinyCreaturesRescue]

Sometimes a read the entire thread too lol! It's like a book!
But I'm, yeah I would already have a colony of dubias except the fact, my mom, she can't STAND roaches of any kind. So I'm stuck with the stinky, loud, obnoxious, expensive, crickets. )':