new beardie, not eating

[jennwhittingham]

Hello all,

I'm a new beardie owner (11 days) and my little girl is stressing me out!

I bought her from a breeder at a trade show on Jan 25 so I know she's from good stock. she's in a 29gal clear plastic tub with screen lid, repti 10.0 UV and a heat, rock hide, climbing vine and plastic plant. substrate is paper towel. Temps are: basking 110, hot side 90 cool side 80 overnight 75. temps are taken with a digital probe therm.

I bought some crickets from the trade show which she will not touch... the odd one here and there but not enough to call it eating... more like it wanders in front of her and if she feels like it she will lick it. if it sticks to her tongue it gets eaten but several times she just licks the calcium/ multivitamin powder off. she will eat the odd mealworm but these are a last resort as I know they are not good, I have tried butter worms and wax worms with no luck. I did buy her 2 horn worms which she ate but at 1.50$ each its not an option for a regular diet. when I say no luck I mean she will eat 1 then get bored and let whatever it is that's being offered (crickets/ worms) crawl all over her. I feed in a separate non-clear tub (crickets) and put worms on a margarine lid and put in her tank (until they manage to crawl out of the lid and hide under the paper towel). I offer veggies every day which she never touches. She gets sprinkled with water twice daily and baths every other day.

She is active and curious and is always watching what I'm doing whether she is in her cage or on my shoulder. Her poops are regular, once daily in the mornings. they are very dry and compact, almost like she's constipated, if that's possible.

I can get photos tomorrow if you need them. I'm just wondering what I'm doing wrong... is this still relocation stress? :help:

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Is the uvb a coil/or compact? Also is the basking light bright white? You may want to either up the baths or drip water on her nose to get her to drink as she sounds a little hydrated.

 

[jennwhittingham]

UV light is a 24" florescent T8 bulb
the heat bulb is a 150 clear utility (looks like regular household) bulb

will getting her hydrated help her eat or is that a separate problem all together? *sigh*

 

[jennwhittingham]

she will not drink water dripped on her nose. will not open her mouth, it just rolls down her chin onto the floor

 

[destiny1998]

Do you have a dropper or syringe? Mine drink that way. Have you tried Phoenix worms? Those you buy on line and when mine were little they loved them. You don't need to dust them since they have enough calcium. Just the vitamins 2x a week. Mine love the hornworms too, but only order them as treats since they are expensive. Dubias are also a good option if you don't live in Florida. Hopefully in a day or 2 she'll be eating like crazy. If not you can try some chicken, squash, turkey, sweet potatoes stage one baby food.

 

[jennwhittingham]

U gave her a nice long bath today and she pooped in the water. Hard to say what it looked like cause it absorbed the bath water and turned into a weird grey string of poop lol she is still bright eyed and bushy tailed so to speak and she ate a cricket. she lunged for another one but then got bored once she missed it.
one thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that her body has turned a different colour than her tail. her body is still a nice bright redish orange but her body is kinda a weird grey colour. is this the beginning of her shed cycle? maybe that's why she isn't eating?

Ill look into the phoenix worms but Im up in Canada and with 4 major storms in the last 10 days who knows when the weather will warm up enough to actually ship anything. Dubias are illegal so there goes that idea unfortunately.

Thanks for all your replies!

 

[jennwhittingham]

any ideas?