New beardy rescue need advice

[Elfhame]

Hi all. I'm new here, but i could really use some help. Yesterday i was at a pet store called pets plus. I came across this orange hypo het Trans (I'm not sure what those morphs are). He was super friendly and gorgeous to look at. He's about 10 to 12 inches from nose to tail. Only problem is he's a little skinny (well he was living in a pet store). I've gotten him home and set him up in a 40 long. Temps are between 100 and 105 on the hot side and 80 to 85 on the cool at 35%humidity. My uvb is a dome until my new hood and reptisun 10.0 comes in the mail.

My situation is he's refusing to eat and would really like to bite me. This is the first time I've rescued a beardy. I'm calling it a rescue because to be honest no pet store takes care of the animals right. It was also implied that some of the care takers would only feed him iceberg lettuce. My other beardy is a normal citrus, but I've had him since he was a salamander and never had a problem with him. I'm trying to convince him that smaller super worms and Phoenix worms are tasty. I also provide him a little mixture of collard and mustard greens with some diced green and red peppers and diced butternut squash. I'm no stranger to relocation stress, but he's to skinny to go a week without eating. What should i do?

I've a decent amount of exp with bearded dragons. I've had one live to be 14. My toothless is currently 3 years. My leopard gecko is 2. I also rescued a 3 ft iguana from a home where the owner beat her mercilessly all the time, and not even she has given me issues like this. She's a nasty bugger but she's 5ft now and healthy as a horse. We have made decent progress with her attitude problems, but you know...iguanas.

Anyway i digress. Please any advice would be great.

UPDATE: i misted dunkelzahn this morning and he decided it was food time thanks for all the help guys.

 

[CooperDragon]

It sounds like stress to me since he's not eating and acting a bit aggressive. They all have different personalities and adjust to new homes at different paces and in different ways. I would use a kitchen scale to document his weight and track his progress. Keep offering the foods you've been offering. If he continues to refuse food and his weight decreases you could try dropping some green bean or squash baby food on his nose and see if he licks that up. That will give him some hydration and a bit of nutrients for now.

 

[Elfhame]

Thanks for the tips. I really appreciate it. Like i said I'm not a stranger to relocation stress. It's just his current weight that troubles me. You can nearly see the bones at the base of his tail. So I'm understandably rather concerned. If he doesn't eat by tomorrow I'm going to give that baby food idea a try. I never considered that. Thanks again.

 

[vulcan2016]

if that does not work try syringe feeding ( i have never done it but read a lot of peoples posts on here where they needed to and did it successfully)

 

[Elfhame]

Do you think if i put a bug in my finger and let him bite me to trick him into eating might help? I've had so many reptiles throughout my life the biting doesn't bother me. I usually wash my hands, take care of them and some of the more skittish ones bite the heck out me. Usually after about a week they realize i don't respond with violence or shouting and tend to stop. If i have to get bit to make sure he gets what he needs i can do that.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah hand feeding may be a good idea. If he goes for the bug then it may help him associate you with food and be less afraid over time. The baby food option is the same as syringe feeding. It's just using a plastic syringe or dropper to put a bit of baby food on his nose and try to get him to lick it up. I've done a bit of this with all of my rescues and it tends to work well but I save it as a last resort.

 

[Elfhame]

I've also got those beardy pellets. My others love them so i got him the juvenile ones. Smell like fruity pebbles so I'm hoping they interest him. I guess I'll just keep laying out the buffet and if i have to then the baby food. Hope he perks up. Force feeding had screwed up trust for me in the past and I'd really like to avoid that.