New BD and he/she wont eat

[Arsh]

Hello, first of all I got my new bearded dragon on jan 10 and he ate about 10 crickets that night. The next day, he ate about 4 crickets and some spinach. Today he doesnt seem hungry at all. He just ignores the crickets and slaps them away when i put them in his face.

My questions are

Is he still stressed?

Is he being shy?(he ate infront of me before)

Should i try other foods?

Thanks

also he is about 11-13 inches from head to tip of tail. Im not sure about age but I think hes 4-6 months

 

[tiffanycannon]

They can have relocation stress for a week or two. Do you know what he was eating before? Also your lighting can cause it. What is your baskin temp? Are you using UVB? Mine did the same thing I was so worried. Do you know what they were feeding him before? Try switching up the foods. I give mine a mix of mustart and collard greens those are best for them and sometimes i add in pieces of carrots, turnips or apples. Also Ive heard roaches seem to be well liked I havent brought myself to try those yet I give mine crickets and wax worms, meal worms, or phenoix worms as a treat just to switch it up.

 

[Arsh]

the place i bought him from fed him crickets. i watched him eat a few the day i seen him. His basking temp ranges from 90-107 and on the other side of the tank is a reptiGLO 10.0, temps on the cool side range from 70-85. The tank is a 40g breeder.

Also I read about stress marks on BD's bellies. Are their bellies supposed to be all white? My BD has some black lines on his belly and some of his beard is black.

Also, sometimes when I look at my BD for awhile he closes his eyes, sometimes just one eye.

 

[tiffanycannon]

Yes stress marks arent always as bad as people make them out to be but he is new to you and his home so give him time i waited to pick Dino up for the first 3-4 days and then started to pick her up 5 mins at a time and then gradually made our play time longer to let her get used to me. You don't want to over do it you are way bigger then her and it can be a lil stressful. Try feeding her little treats wax worms greens whatever but do it by hand then she will reconize your hand as a good thing. Hope this helps. Being a Bd parent can be full of worrie but you came to the right spot.

Tiffany

 

[Arsh]

thanks for the help tiffany. I'll go out and buy weezy some new treats. Hopefully he'll warm up to people not just me

 

[tiffanycannon]

Oh he will they are great! Mine has never tried to bite me not once. Just give it time and earn its trust. once it gets used to the idea of big things (people) arent so bad he will do just fine.

 

[Arsh]

Okay. I offered him meal worms and he loves them, he kinda goes crazy for them. Also he ate about 2 crickets this morning. I guess its a slow process haha.

I am going to buy some mustard or collard greens today to see if he will take them from my hand. He tasted an apple from my hand before.

 

[tiffanycannon]

Thats great! See just give it time. Are you dusting with calcium and vitamins? I dust my crickets and when Dino wants to be stubborn and not eat crickets I put it on her greens and she loves it!

 

[Arsh]

yea the ones that weezy ate were all dusted lightly. Im going to offer wax worms. mmm