hmarie186":15guvu4e said:
We just got our new (and very first) baby from a breeder yesterday. He is much tinier than I anticipated even though he is 7" long and proper size for his age. I know he is super stressed and terrified but is also shedding. I have everything setup in his cage (I've been reading this forum for months) but he refuses to eat, bask or do anything but hide or if he's out in the open he smashes himself as far in the corner as possible. What do I do with an already stressed out baby who is shedding? He's looking dis colored and dull but none of the skin is flaking off. Do I try to soak him and keep him
hydrated or just keep offering salads and bugs? Should I just mist him? Even though my husband and I prepared really well for this, it's pretty terrifying and I feel not prepared at all. He's so small we're afraid we'll hurt him or if he doesn't eat he'll start losing weight and die. I can't see his hip bones I don't think. The breeder said he ate really well and was eating salads too. When should we start to worry (even more than we are now)?
Thank you for any advice! My experience is in leopard geckos which are totally different and at least have fat stores in their tails. This little peanut has nothing!
Hello,
I am literally going through the identical thing and I have had my little guy now for 10 days. He's my second beardie, the first I got from petsmart and adjusted in a matter of days, but I got him from a breeder in California and I had him over nighted to me in Chicago. He was in a box for 14 hours, talk about stressful. He came in full shed and was completely dull. 10 days later he is still hiding and avoiding me at all cost and wont eat much when I feed him, a couple Dubia Roaches here and there. After trying everything possible I actually made some pretty big changes today and I hope they will help, but heres a basic rundown of what I did and how it ended up working out.
1. I had a very nice elaborate tank that I set up for a couple days - This turned out to be a problem as it just gave him tons of places to hide which is bad. Slowly but surely I started removing pieces but he would still find places to hide.
2. I thought the same thing and gave him a
bath the second day and he did not like that at ALLL. - it was probably good for him but might of stressed him out too much.
3. He was with his sisters and brothers with the breeder and immediately saw his reflection in the glass and wouldn't move from the corners and glass so this was not helping at all.
4. I have been leaving greens in his tank everyday and he wont eat them when I am around but he does when I'm not home. Also I tried for the first week to feed him Dubia Roaches and he wasn't having any so I would leave a little Tupperware with slick sides with a few Roaches in it and leave it in his tank and when I would get home they would be gone. When he gets hungry he will eat, just make sure the food is available. Hes now just starting to eat a couple from me but nothing like my other bearded dragon.
5. I didn't handle him too much in order to not completely stress him out but he hasn't gotten too much better. When I did handle him he wouldn't run he would just sit and stare but he was obviously just scared.
6. He eventually also started shedding a couple days after he arrived so don't worry about misting him because they might stress him out more.
After Everything I finally just said ok its time for tough love. I completely took everything out of his tank and replaced it with the minimum so he couldn't hide. I also put paper towel on the glass so he can't see his reflection anymore. The less he has to hide behind the better he can adjust, and no reflection to see will help him not stress as much.
His tail also didn't finish shedding so I soaked him in a
bath for 15 minutes and hes already started shedding on his tail so as much as he didn't like it it was good.
I also put in a piece of a used shirt that I wore yesterday on his log so he can get used to my smell and I am starting to handle him in small increments but a couple times a day.
So all in all give him a couple days to adjust and get settled but if it keeps up than you might want to try the couple things I am doing. I'll keep you posted on how its going with my guy and let me know if you have any questions as well about yours.