New bearded dragon not eating.

[tcolar]

Hi, got a baby bearded dragon on Sunday, one of the bigger, sturdier ones.

I prepared him a 4x2x2 enclosure before I got him.

The first evening he ate some small/medium crickets(Sunday), ran after them and swallowed them, maybe about 6 or so, but I don't believe he has eaten anything since, he has shown no interest since then in crickets or veggies, probably he is just stressed but how long can he not eat before I worry, getting close to 48 hours.

He looks pretty active and healthy otherwise, he basks often, sometime on the rock sometimes on the branch and once in a while he will go in the water for a minute or two, I saw him drink some once or twice as well.

Here is his enclosure :

It contains:
- basking platform
- ZooMed 100W UV light (~7" from basking spot)
- Zilla T5 18" 15W UVB light. (was ~16" from from basking spot, not seen in picture, NOW MOVED CLOSER o basking spot ~7")
- Branch, driftwood from the beach, so it's been weathered and cleaned by the ocean.
- Feeding dish with greens and dried food
- Water dish/tub with 1/2" of water.
- Cricket bowl sometimes.

Questions:
- it's 4x2x2, would it be best to reduce the size for now ?
- The basking spot is ~105F (digital term) I think that's about right, but the rest of the cage is kinda cool ~75, I'm adding a 60W CIH tonight to bring that up some, the CIH will also be on at night because the night temp is ~65 which is kinda cool. Anyway can the cage being ~75 make him lose appetite (too cold ?)
- I realized the UVB fluorescent was too far from him, at top of cage, so 16-24" away, from what i read it's useless at that distance, I moved it last night to be next to the basking light, about 7" from the basking spot. Might that help ? I probably need o get a bigger fluorescent (3')for my cage too right ?
- is the setup too dark, would some extra LED light for brightness be a good thing ?
- Any suggestions if anything needs to be changed/improved ?

Overall he seems healthy and sleeps well (~9pm-7am) but he has not been eating since Sunday night, I did the bath thing, he enjoys it but didn't poop.

Here is a pic of him in my hand (my hand is ~7.5" long)

I haven't weighed him yet, need to get s proper scale first.

Here he is basking/waving:

And here doing push-ups:

I now added a blanket over the cage at night, because I think the giant furball might be stressing him out:

Thanks.

 

[CooperDragon]

If he's active, he's probably OK. Just keep offering him bugs a couple of times a day. The tank size is fine as are the temperatures. 75-80 is good for the cool side and 100-110 is good for the basking area with a gradient in between. You can use the ceramic heat emitter at night but you don't have to. I would use one that is just enough power to bump the temps underneath it into the high 60s or low 70s. Moving the UVB light was a good idea. You want that 6-8'' above the basking spot for best results. If you do upgrade, you'll want to get a 22'' T5 UVB which you can mount right to the ceiling. Those are much brighter and more powerful. If you want more visible light after that you could add a household incandescent bulb on the cool side (low wattage as not to add much heat) or maybe some LEDs as long as they are overhead rather than within his eyesight.

 

[tcolar]

I just ordered a 36" Zoo Med Reptisun UVB 10.0 HO Light, 30W" & fixture, because it seem the zilla as bad rep and too small for my tank anyway. By the way I also removed the zilla plastic cover last night, not sure why they would put it if it blocks the UVB ??

I know I'm going to need the ceramic bulb because in the winter my home(WA) is usually kept at 65 and at night the heat is off so it can get to 60 or even a little lower. Plus that should help getting the tank 5 to 10 degrees more than now(70-75) which should be good thing.

Anyway, hopefully he will start eating more.

 

[CooperDragon]

Taking the plastic off will help quite a lot. I think it's there to protect the bulbs. Not all bulbs used in those fixtures are for UVB.

 

[tcolar]

Quick update:
On Tuesday I added an halogen floodlight (60W) for extra brightness, it brought the temps up to 80-110 and also it's much brighter, he got more active right away.

He is still not eating very much, 1 to 6 crickets a day at most and a little papaya with calcium, that's probably not enough to grow but maybe enough to sustain. I'll weigh him tomorrow to see where he is at.

I added a large tupperware with low sides and plastic tape around the edges. I can stick some criks in there and they can't get out. The beardie can go in/out any time if he wants too. He seem to not eat f watched.

He does good at drinking water if i spray/bath him.

I'm going to install the Reptisun UVB 10 tonight so hoping that will help some more.

Overall he seems ok and active especially since the enclosure is brighter, he will jump from the rock to the branch (10" +) and such so he seems ok, but hope he starts eating more soon.

I also ordered some phoenix worms, maybe he will like those ......

 

[CooperDragon]

Give him some time with the new lighting and do keep an eye on his weight - maybe begin a chart. My guess is that his appetite and general health will increase with improved lighting.

 

[tcolar]

Installed the 3' reptisun 10.0 yesterday.

He still isn't eating very much.

Measured him:

Length : 9cm (3.5") snout to vent, 23cm (9") overall.
Weight : 22 grams.

I know there is a lot of variant in size & weight but is that in the acceptable range or do I need to try t feed in with a syringe ?

 

[CooperDragon]

He's still pretty small. I wouldn't try forcing food for now. Do keep track of his weight though. If it starts to trend downward you may want to try syringe feeding but I'd do it as a last resort. I suggest letting him adjust to the changes for a bit first as long as his weight remains stable.

 

[tcolar]

Update:
He still isn't eating much, but yesterday he was 23-24 grams so at least he isn't losing weight so far, also he is pooing about once a day.

Saturday I got him wax worms, I know they are fatty and not ideal but until I receive the phoenix worms I wanted him to eat something. He ate about 6 of those Saturday and one cricket.

I thought, at least he likes those but yesterday he only ate one of them and that's all he ate :-?

I have seen one of his legs twitching a few times, maybe he has MBD, he now has the reptisun 10.0 so hopefully that will get better.

Question:
He frequently closes his right eye (almost never the left one), he will close it for 30s to a couple minutes at a time then reopen it for a couple minutes. The eye itself looks fine to me, but the eyelid might be swollen, I'm not sure how it should look like, does it look ok ?? Could he be starting shedding maybe ?

Thanks.

 

[CooperDragon]

It's good that he isn't losing weight. he looks healthy in the photos. I don't see signs of MBD but having a good UVB light will help him digest and absorb nutrients so that's a good improvement. Closing the eye could mean it's irritated (by something physical like shed skin as you mentioned or by intense light light) or it could mean he's closing you out if you're getting too close (probably the most mild form of "please go away") or it could mean he's just relaxing while basking.

 

[tcolar]

Another update:

He still does not seem to eat all that much, I will put some crickets or worms in he will run aggressively after one or two and devour them, but then he will stop and star at me as if saying "ho right, I forgot, you are trying to poison me aren't you"

Anyway so he has been eating maybe 2 or 3 crickets and 2 or 3 worms a day (wax/phoenix), and I think he eats a bit of the salad veggies / fruits.

I have been feeding him some squash//turkey baby food once a day (~1 or 2 teaspoons), with the calcium & vitamins mixed in. At first I had to put it on it's nose drop by drop, but now if i keep the spoon in from of him when he licks the first drop, he keeps licking from the spoon, so its getting easier.

He is now at ~28 grams so he gained ~7grams this week, so i guess that's not too bad, 7 grams is not that much but then again that's 1/4 heavier in a week, and his belly and tail base are visibly improved.

Seems he'll be ok but very far from an insect gluton.

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a pretty significant weight gain. I'm glad to hear that he's getting something in his belly. Hopefully he'll keep putting on weight and will start hunting on his own soon.

 

[tcolar]

He is still not eating much.

When i get him something new like phoenix worms or dubias he will really go after a few, say 6 or so but then that's it, next day back to maybe eating 1 or 2.

I have been feeding him the baby food (squash turkey), he is still at 29 grams and NOT lethargic bt he just does not seem interested in food much.

I think his toes and legs got longer and stronger though.

Today he is definitely shedding. On his head (nose / eyelids), I misted him and gave a bath, he even did the throat/eye bulging thing, and rubbed some skin off on his branch. I know that can affect the appetite but how long does that last ??

Thanks.

 

[CooperDragon]

Shedding is a good sign. It means he's growing. It can last from several days to a few weeks.

 

[tcolar]

All of last week he still wasn't interested much in food, he stagnated at 27 grams.

Last Sunday we made him a new setup, I replaced the bricks and branch with a platform we made (foam+grout+shellac), I was a bit concerned with the branch because never was sure what kind of wood it was, but most likely evergreen around here which I know can be not good, i had bleached it but could not bake it (too large).

Another change is I moved the UVB tube from the wall to overhead (~6" from platform) , that seem to have helped, he rarely closes his eyes now.

He seems to like those changes he has been very active and seem to enjoy the added platform area which is all 90 to 120F).

A couple days ago I started feeding him repta-aid (~2cc a day) and he seem to really be gaining appetite, maybe about 7 medium PW/dubias and 6 medium crickets that he goes after on his own, he takes a few bites of his salad as well, definitely an improvement, not much weight gain yet (31 grams) but it's definitely nice to see him go after the food more eagerly.

Also his tail is turning very very white, I guess it's shedding soon.