LizardGiblets
Member
Hi,
Our new baby bearded dragon was purchased about a week ago. He (I call him "he" even though we obviously dont know) is very young and now looking back I wish we had gone with an older and larger baby. However now he is mine and I'm very attached to him. Anyway, he was about 4 weeks old (maybe only 3) when we purchased him. He is now about 3-4 inches in length.
Here is a little summary of Giblet's first week with us:
Last Saturday (the first day we had Giblet), he did not eat much more than a cricket or two. However Sunday (day 2) until Thursday (day 5), he was eating anywhere from 12 to 15 crickets a day (6 to 8 before and after work). Thursday after work he ate 7 crickets, and then we left him to bask under his light for a few hours before bed. Before turning the light off before bed, we were looking for non-eaten crickets so we could remove them. When we shook one loose from his basking spot, little Giblet ran after the cricket and ate it. The tank had already cooled considerably from the basking light being off during our cricket search, and Giblet was already getting sluggish and tired. We use a 50 watt I/R heat lamp at night because our house is so cold, so we turned that on and left the UVB bulb off and let Giblet go to sleep. His belly was looking pretty fat from having just eaten a cricket before bed, and for the first time since we got him, Giblet slept on the "cool" side of the tank (averaged about 70 degrees F).
The next day (Friday), he ate no crickets. He ate a few bites of some collard greens. Today (Saturday), he has eaten nothing, not even any greens.
I hear so much about baby bearded dragons eating a LOT and it really worries me that he is not eating. I have quite a few worries:
Did we impact or hurt Giblet somehow by letting him eat the cricket before bed and not letting him digest it? Especially since he slept on the cold side of he tank?
Should we not be using the 50 watt infared heat lamp? Is that keeping him up at night? We tried one night without the heat lamp and the temp was about 68 degrees F throughout the entire tank. With the heat lamp (we leave it on one side of the tank, in the same place his basking light normally is), the temperature is about 70 degrees F on the cool side and 75 to 78 on the warm side.
Is he just still stressed from his initial move to his new home? I have read that it can take a week or two for baby bearded dragons to get used to their new environments and get into a healthy eating schedule.
Another thing, there are little tiny bugs that seem to get into our house. They are like little fruit flies. I have seen a few get through the screen on top of Giblet's tank. I have also seen him snap at them once or twice. I know about the danger of fire flies and they are DEFINITELY not fire flies. But I wonder if maybe these little fruit fly-esque bugs are hurting him.
My boyfriend and I have made an appointment with a vet for tomorrow who specializes in reptiles and bearded dragons. However, I am worried that the stress of going to the vet is going to make things even worse. Not to mention that the cost of setting up Giblet's "haven" has made us barely able to afford the cost of a veteranarian.
Let's see what else I can tell you. He is in a 20 gallon long tank. He has a reptisun UVB 10.0 light, a 75 watt spotlight heater and we are using papertowel as a substrate. He has pooped every day, sometimes more than once and his stool is solid with both the dark and white parts. During the day, the cool side of his tank is about 75 degrees F and the warm side is about 95 degrees with the basking spot topping out at anywhere from 100 to 110 degrees. Baby Giblet also seems to have periods of great activity when I put my hand in the tank, he will rush around and climb up his little basking spot... however, for the most part he just lays (completely flat) on his basking spot. Before (when he was eating) he would have his head and chest raised.
Arrgh, I can't think of anything else to tell you. I really apologize for the length of this post and I hope it is not too confusing. I really hope that someone has some ideas. We called the local specialty reptile store where we got our baby, and they told us "dont worry about not eating unless it continues for a week." That is REALLY hard for me to believe so I wanted to get some other opinions. We are really trying our hardest to do the right thing with our new baby, and it is so difficult for me to see him not feeling well. Even though I have only known him a short period of time, it is very obvious to me that something is wrong and it is absolutely killing me not to be able to help him.
Here is a pic of our new baby from the first day we got him.
Our new baby bearded dragon was purchased about a week ago. He (I call him "he" even though we obviously dont know) is very young and now looking back I wish we had gone with an older and larger baby. However now he is mine and I'm very attached to him. Anyway, he was about 4 weeks old (maybe only 3) when we purchased him. He is now about 3-4 inches in length.
Here is a little summary of Giblet's first week with us:
Last Saturday (the first day we had Giblet), he did not eat much more than a cricket or two. However Sunday (day 2) until Thursday (day 5), he was eating anywhere from 12 to 15 crickets a day (6 to 8 before and after work). Thursday after work he ate 7 crickets, and then we left him to bask under his light for a few hours before bed. Before turning the light off before bed, we were looking for non-eaten crickets so we could remove them. When we shook one loose from his basking spot, little Giblet ran after the cricket and ate it. The tank had already cooled considerably from the basking light being off during our cricket search, and Giblet was already getting sluggish and tired. We use a 50 watt I/R heat lamp at night because our house is so cold, so we turned that on and left the UVB bulb off and let Giblet go to sleep. His belly was looking pretty fat from having just eaten a cricket before bed, and for the first time since we got him, Giblet slept on the "cool" side of the tank (averaged about 70 degrees F).
The next day (Friday), he ate no crickets. He ate a few bites of some collard greens. Today (Saturday), he has eaten nothing, not even any greens.
I hear so much about baby bearded dragons eating a LOT and it really worries me that he is not eating. I have quite a few worries:
Did we impact or hurt Giblet somehow by letting him eat the cricket before bed and not letting him digest it? Especially since he slept on the cold side of he tank?
Should we not be using the 50 watt infared heat lamp? Is that keeping him up at night? We tried one night without the heat lamp and the temp was about 68 degrees F throughout the entire tank. With the heat lamp (we leave it on one side of the tank, in the same place his basking light normally is), the temperature is about 70 degrees F on the cool side and 75 to 78 on the warm side.
Is he just still stressed from his initial move to his new home? I have read that it can take a week or two for baby bearded dragons to get used to their new environments and get into a healthy eating schedule.
Another thing, there are little tiny bugs that seem to get into our house. They are like little fruit flies. I have seen a few get through the screen on top of Giblet's tank. I have also seen him snap at them once or twice. I know about the danger of fire flies and they are DEFINITELY not fire flies. But I wonder if maybe these little fruit fly-esque bugs are hurting him.
My boyfriend and I have made an appointment with a vet for tomorrow who specializes in reptiles and bearded dragons. However, I am worried that the stress of going to the vet is going to make things even worse. Not to mention that the cost of setting up Giblet's "haven" has made us barely able to afford the cost of a veteranarian.
Let's see what else I can tell you. He is in a 20 gallon long tank. He has a reptisun UVB 10.0 light, a 75 watt spotlight heater and we are using papertowel as a substrate. He has pooped every day, sometimes more than once and his stool is solid with both the dark and white parts. During the day, the cool side of his tank is about 75 degrees F and the warm side is about 95 degrees with the basking spot topping out at anywhere from 100 to 110 degrees. Baby Giblet also seems to have periods of great activity when I put my hand in the tank, he will rush around and climb up his little basking spot... however, for the most part he just lays (completely flat) on his basking spot. Before (when he was eating) he would have his head and chest raised.
Arrgh, I can't think of anything else to tell you. I really apologize for the length of this post and I hope it is not too confusing. I really hope that someone has some ideas. We called the local specialty reptile store where we got our baby, and they told us "dont worry about not eating unless it continues for a week." That is REALLY hard for me to believe so I wanted to get some other opinions. We are really trying our hardest to do the right thing with our new baby, and it is so difficult for me to see him not feeling well. Even though I have only known him a short period of time, it is very obvious to me that something is wrong and it is absolutely killing me not to be able to help him.
Here is a pic of our new baby from the first day we got him.