New Beardie Family

CAYGRAY

Member
Hi everyone,

First time bearded dragon owner here looking for feedback/advice. My son and I did a ton of research before bringing a baby beardie home last week. He ate a decent amount the first few days. We are aware of relocation stress but he seemed to be getting acclimated pretty well. My son and I started handling him for a minute or two at a time every now and then to the point where he would actually walk to our hand and climb right on so we felt pretty confident that he was adjusting well. However his appetite hasnt been great over the past few days. I believe his enclosure is set up correctly and we are using the right lighting and heat. Im just looking for a little feedback about his enclosure or any advice as to whether or not we should be worried about his appetite at this point. I could just be overthinking it and he may just need some more time. What do you all think?
1000003143.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250116_212355.jpg
    IMG_20250116_212355.jpg
    315.8 KB · Views: 41
  • 20250112_160059.jpg
    20250112_160059.jpg
    239.1 KB · Views: 41
  • 20250112_160047.jpg
    20250112_160047.jpg
    218.8 KB · Views: 40
  • 20250113_171344.jpg
    20250113_171344.jpg
    159.1 KB · Views: 38
  • 1000003125.jpg
    1000003125.jpg
    239.1 KB · Views: 38
  • 1000003141.jpg
    1000003141.jpg
    249.7 KB · Views: 39
  • 1000003142.jpg
    1000003142.jpg
    256.1 KB · Views: 40

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Wow, beautiful set up , you did your homework ! Your son looks so happy and I see the little dragon, a very small one there on his shoulder. But yes, it's normal for beardies to go through a little stress. How big are the insects he eats ?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 5
Hi everyone,

First time bearded dragon owner here looking for feedback/advice. My son and I did a ton of research before bringing a baby beardie home last week. He ate a decent amount the first few days. We are aware of relocation stress but he seemed to be getting acclimated pretty well. My son and I started handling him for a minute or two at a time every now and then to the point where he would actually walk to our hand and climb right on so we felt pretty confident that he was adjusting well. However his appetite hasnt been great over the past few days. I believe his enclosure is set up correctly and we are using the right lighting and heat. Im just looking for a little feedback about his enclosure or any advice as to whether or not we should be worried about his appetite at this point. I could just be overthinking it and he may just need some more time. What do you all think? View attachment 95923
Welcome to the forum - surface basking temps and uvb- are crucial to the dragon- you need two digital probe thermometers to get accurate surface basking temps for babies 105-110 - the uvb is a T 5 can you tell me the brand and bulb please? I see he is sporting stress marks we need to get his lighting / temps on par - please no more big worms he needs appropriate size for his size- are you feeding a staple insect like crickets or dubias roaches or bsfl-? Are you offering salads?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Oh I didn't see the pic with the superworms, those are way too big ! Hopefully he didn't eat ones that size, they can cause impaction . If he's able to digest them it may take a while and cause his loss of appetite.
 

CAYGRAY

Member
Original Poster
Welcome to the forum - surface basking temps and uvb- are crucial to the dragon- you need two digital probe thermometers to get accurate surface basking temps for babies 105-110 - the uvb is a T 5 can you tell me the brand and bulb please? I see he is sporting stress marks we need to get his lighting / temps on par - please no more big worms he needs appropriate size for his size- are you feeding a staple insect like crickets or dubias roaches or bsfl-? Are you offering salads?
The UVB is a reptisun 10.0. The basking spot temp is consistently between 100-105 but i dont think we have seen anything higher than that. We are currently primarily feeding dubias and crickets. He seems to prefer the dubias so far. He also actually seems to like the salad. We put out fresh greens every morning before going to work and have found bits and pieces of salad in his basking spot.
 

CAYGRAY

Member
Original Poster
Oh I didn't see the pic with the superworms, those are way too big ! Hopefully he didn't eat ones that size, they can cause impaction . If he's able to digest them it may take a while and cause his loss of appetite.
He hasn't paid much attention to anything other than dubia roaches so he did not eat the worms
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 5
The UVB is a reptisun 10.0. The basking spot temp is consistently between 100-105 but i dont think we have seen anything higher than that. We are currently primarily feeding dubias and crickets. He seems to prefer the dubias so far. He also actually seems to like the salad. We put out fresh greens every morning before going to work and have found bits and pieces of salad in his basking spot.
Ok sounds good - if your getting temps w/ a digital probe thermometer that's great- if your using only stickons your getting ambient temps - please make sure your uvb is directly above the basking decor 12-15 inches- dubias are a better feeder please feed insects no bigger than the space between his eyes- he should acclimate to his tank faster w/ all temps a uvb on par- I would only hold him in his tank a little at a time - his stress marks will eventually go away
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
He hasn't paid much attention to anything other than dubia roaches so he did not eat the worms
Oh, thank goodness. So be sure the dubias are smaller than the space between his eyes and only feed him a few at a time. And great to hear that he eats some greens already ! Your lighting seems good. Don't worry too much about stress marks, it can be from just excitement.
 

xp29

BD.org Sicko
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Ruby, Sinatra, Zsa Zsa
He is adorable 😍. Looks like he is translucent. Maybe hypo also.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

He is very cute! The tank & setup look quite nice as well. I'm happy that you spent so much time
making his home.
Can he get within 8 or so inches of the Reptisun 1 tube bulb?
They tend to take a bit of time to fully adjust so give him a little more time. Hopefully his appetite
will start to pick up soon.

Tracie
 

CAYGRAY

Member
Original Poster
Any advice on how to encourage him to eat a bit more or advice on some feeding techniques? We have been putting the roaches out in a bowl and walking away for a little while. We have tried dropping the roaches and crickets right in front him but he doesn't seem to pay much attention to it. We tried placing him in a different feeding enclosure but we figured that may be too stressful for him. I do believe he is still eating his greens as we find bits and pieces of them around the enclosure here and there. I guess we would just like to see his appetite increase a little but also realize that he may just be really stressed out.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 5
Any advice on how to encourage him to eat a bit more or advice on some feeding techniques? We have been putting the roaches out in a bowl and walking away for a little while. We have tried dropping the roaches and crickets right in front him but he doesn't seem to pay much attention to it. We tried placing him in a different feeding enclosure but we figured that may be too stressful for him. I do believe he is still eating his greens as we find bits and pieces of them around the enclosure here and there. I guess we would just like to see his appetite increase a little but also realize that he may just be really stressed out.
His eating will pick up once he acclimates to the tank and surroundings - he may be running thru his food bowl spreading the greens - did you get the appropriate size insects - please get him some BSFL www.symtonbsf.com - use your white bowl for these and put them on top of greens - go w/ medium size larvae - add 20-25 on top of the greens right in front of him - see if that will spike his appetite
 

CAYGRAY

Member
Original Poster
His appetite hasnt increased much in the past week. He is very active and seems very comfortable being held. He constantly approaches the window when we get home. We try to take that opportunity to feed him but he seems to want to just hop on my hand and interact. He will eat the occasional mealworm or roach once or twice a day but not much more than that. I've tried to hand feed him since he seems to be comfortable hanging out on my hand but nothing seems to jump start his appetite. I'm hoping it is still just relocation stress. As I mentioned, he seems happy and active for the most part.
 

Attachments

  • 20250128_194145.jpg
    20250128_194145.jpg
    239.2 KB · Views: 22
  • 20250121_173227.jpg
    20250121_173227.jpg
    199.8 KB · Views: 25
  • 20250128_194130.jpg
    20250128_194130.jpg
    276.6 KB · Views: 22

CAYGRAY

Member
Original Poster
His eating will pick up once he acclimates to the tank and surroundings - he may be running thru his food bowl spreading the greens - did you get the appropriate size insects - please get him some BSFL www.symtonbsf.com - use your white bowl for these and put them on top of greens - go w/ medium size larvae - add 20-25 on top of the greens right in front of him - see if that will spike his appetite
I tried the BSFL today. He was very curious about it. He took a couple pokes at them but didn't end up eating any of them.
 

Members online

Still Needs Help

Latest resources

Latest profile posts

Mirage is feeling sPiCy
Does this look like a healthy beardie
LarryTheLizard wrote on ForLeonard!'s profile.
Aww your profile picture is precious ❤️‍🩹
Hey! I'm planning on ordering a 4x2x2 for my next beardie but I'm worried about lighting. I have a UVA and a UVB but they are small (the UVA just being a bulb and the UVB being 12 ish inches?) My house is drafty so I need a strong light that puts off quite a good amount of heat, any suggestions?

Forum statistics

Threads
157,642
Messages
1,276,944
Members
76,994
Latest member
kubet11co
Top Bottom