New Beardie not eating much.

[Bre123]

I got a juvenile bearded dragon 4 days ago from a pet store. The first night I had him he ate lots of mealworms (before i knew it was not a good idea to give him them) and then threw them up the next day. He didn't really eat to much after that a few pieces of collard greens, a bit of papaya & maybe a couple of crickets. Today he had several pieces of collared greens, red cabbage and couple pieces of an apple. I have tried to offer him butter worms and crickets of several occasions but he seems to be more interested in the greens.

Also, he seems to only eat the greens if i offer them from my hand while he is on one of his branches or if i place a few on his basking rock. I have tried the same with bugs (using tweezers) but he doesn't seem to want them.

He is becoming very active (since yesterday) and loves climbing and jumping all around his tank.

I do realize he still seems a little stressed, his belly and chin has a black patter underneath it which has gone away several times but usually comes back when i have to move him to change his paper towel or offer him bugs. I also have seen him puffing his beard in and out a few times. I have been trying to handle him as little as possible but when i do he never seems to want to get off my hand.

Humidity, warm and cool temperatures are accurate & i have a UVB bulb as well as a Red one for the night. There is also several different heights he can bask under.

-I also do not actually know the sex due to young age-

Thankss!!

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. What is the name of the uvb? Is it coil / compact ot a long tube? How do you take the temps? Nix that red light. Beardies need complete darkness to sleep and a cool down period. If your house does not get below 65 then no heat source is needed. If it does then you need a ceremic heat emitter.

 

[Bre123]

Thanks for your reply ! I was told at a pet store to use the red light but I will stop using it

I will have to double check when I get home from work but the bulb is reptisun uvb coil 10.0? The basking lamp is the repti basking spot lamp in 100w. I have a digital thermometer on each side of the tank.

I took the temperate of the room he is in also the first day I had him and it was about 70F so it should be good over night but I will monitor it today to make sure it doesn't fall under 65

 

[destiny1998]

Thanks for answering. Yeah you definitely want to get a reptisun 10.0 tube. The coil and compacts cause lethary, appetite and eye problems.

 

[Bre123]

Thanks! I will grab a new light. I didn't use any lights overnight and he's passed out! His color is also back to normal. Still not eating more then a few bites of salad

 

[destiny1998]

Sure no problem . You can always post a picture of him

 

[Bre123]

he had a good 11 hour sleep lastnight for the first time! Also ate more salad then yesterday & drank a good amount of water from a syringe. Hopefully this is progress and he will stay eating his crickets! He let them crawl over him when I tried lastnight

 

[z0mbiebabykiller]

like some one else said, get rid of night time colored lights, if its too cool (under 65f) get a ceramic heat emitter bulb. and u need the reptisun 10.0 fluorescent tube, not coil. also have u dusted crickets with calcium powered? sometimes mine will only eat greens if they have the dust. also try roaches and bsf larvae. much better than crickets. mine never really cared for crickets but eats 25-50 roaches a day easy. www.dubiaroaches.com has red runner roaches 50% off til Friday. that's 500 for 15$ shipped, crazy deal.

 

[Bre123]

Thanks for your reply! I got rid of the night lights, my house drops down to 72 - 68 at the lowest. He had his first full nights sleep, finally. I also realized it's a compact bulb not a coil. I assume tube is still a better option though? I will also take a look at that site, roaches really really really freak me out but I'm okay with anything else!

Other then that he drank lots of water for me today and ate the most salad with calcium so far. No bugs

 

[destiny1998]

He's adorable . Phoenix worms (bsf) are excellent feeders you don't need to dust them with calcium. They are pricey. Thats why alot of people have a dubia colony. I don't get freaked out by them as much as crickets . Crickets I can't handle. Lol . Butter worms and silk worms are also very good.

 

[Bre123]

I will try the bfs! I left a few butter worms in his dish and they're always gone when I get home. Haven't tried silk worms yet I can't find them in pet stores. oh crickets are freaky little things, I use the cricket keeper so I don't have to touch them but it still really freaks me out.

 

[Rampagingraptor]

You get used to them pretty quickly. Or at least it does for most people.
I would definitely suggest trying to order stuff online if you haven't been doing that already. Much cheaper and way easier! We can always offer good suggestions for good places to order from (Dubiaroaches.com and ABDragon.com for me) but it all depends on where you are located, especially during the winter time.

 

[Bre123]

Thanks for the reply! Even the worms freaked me out at first but I'm almost over that, as long as I have tweezers to grab them! I'll check out both of those sights! Hopefully he's just a picky eater I'm very worried.

 

[z0mbiebabykiller]

you really need to try to get over your bug fears if you are going to keep reptiles. dragons need a balanced, varied diet and won't do very good on just crickets or pellets or any one thing. if u look at it as what's good for the beardie and insects definitely can't harm u and its not really fair to deprive your dragon of the nutrition he really needs to grow up healthy. compact is same as coil, a CFL compact fluorescent light, they cause bad problems for beardies even if a pic of ones on the bulb packaging.

 

[Bre123]

The only bug I have a issue with is roaches. So I'm certainly not depriving him of anything. He is still offered worms, crickets and soon silk & Phoenix worms. I don't like bugs regardless but that doesn't mean I do not offer them to him 3x a day. Anyways I made him an appointment Monday with a reptile vet.