New to this

[Gravesdragon]

Hello all. Great site and Ive learned more in the hour viewing it than I did talking to several pet stores. My daughter is 11 and she has wanted a bearded dragon for a few years. I bought her one for Christmas and we are learning together. We researched together before buying, but all the research we did I fear was from "sellers" more than actual dragon lovers. We have a 40 gallon tank, a basking light, and a UVB light. Our dragon was bought from Petsmart, which I have learned may not have been the best choice.... anyway we have it now. Its about 6 inches long. The warm side of the tank is showing 90 degrees consistently, and the cool side is about 75. Weve had it two full days now. I bought tiny crickets at another pet store and dusted them with calcium. These crickets are tiny. Like 1/4 of the size of a veg pellet. The dragon doesn't seem interested in them at all. He did eat three small cubes of carrot today. The videos I have seen show the dragons actively chasing crickets and devouring them. Ours seems to have no interest. Could this be because its new environment and could be stressed? Or is it possible to have too small of crickets? I know general rule is smaller than between eyes. Also a light question.... I have the heat light set on a timer for 12 hours during day and then off 12 hours. Should this same type schedule be followed with the UVB light? In other words, at night it should be completely dark. Overnight the tank temps have stayed about 70 degrees. The dragon seems to be healthy and moving, looing around etc, but just doesnt seem to eat much. Just new to this and want to treat and care for the dragon the best we can. Thanks for the site and any advice!!!!

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. Congrats on your baby . Yes he probably has relocation stress and that can last a couple of weeks. As for the night no lights as beardies need complete darkness to sllep and a cool down period. 90 is not hot enough for him to digest food. How are you taking the temps? If its those stick ons those are very inaccurate. The best way to take the temps is a temp gun or digital with a wire probe placed on the basking surface.

 

[Gravesdragon]

Hi. Congrats on your baby . Yes he probably has relocation stress and that can last a couple of weeks. As for the night no lights as beardies need complete darkness to sllep and a cool down period. 90 is not hot enough for him to digest food. How are you taking the temps? If its those stick ons those are very inaccurate. The best way to take the temps is a temp gun or digital with a wire probe placed on the basking surface.

Thank you for the response! Yes its a stick on the tank thermometer by zoo med. So that could mean the thermometer is off or my heat bulb isn't a strong enough one huh? I have a rock he has been spedning most of his time on under the basking bulb. The rock is about 8 inches below the bulb. I will look for a probe style thermometer to check the temp at that spot.

 

[destiny1998]

What kind of uvb is it? Is it a coil/compact or Tube? Yes it might be too hot or if you are using a coil uvb those can cause eye problems and that could also be why he is hiding.

 

[Esther19]

I agree that you will need a tube shaped Repti-Sun 10 bulb if you have the compact. A probe thermometer can be found at Wal-Mart for about $12. At my store, they are in the light bulb aisle, with outdoor thermometers. Congratulations on your new little one!

 

[Gravesdragon]

I agree that you will need a tube shaped Repti-Sun 10 bulb if you have the compact. A probe thermometer can be found at Wal-Mart for about $12. At my store, they are in the light bulb aisle, with outdoor thermometers. Congratulations on your new little one!

Ok I got a better thermometer and the temp is 98 degrees under the heat lamp. 74 degrees on the cool side of the tank.

I got crickets (small) and the dragon just doesn't seem at all interested in them. My daughter and I have watched videos of juveniles tearing into crickets and if I am understanding correctly their diet at this age should be 80% protein and 20 percent vegetables, but he doesn't seem interested in eating anything... He did move to his water dish this morning and "swam" in it and seemed to be drinking. I got some turnip and collard greens and cut the leafy part into very small pieces as well and put in his dish. Lightly sprinkled the greens with the calcium powder. He just seems very un interested in eating. Maybe were just too too anxious, but since we brought him home Saturday morning he has only consumed 1 tiny piece of carrot (about the size of a pinhead).... any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[destiny1998]

Is that the basking surface temp? Babies like it warmer. 105 to 110 usually then when he gets older they like it cooler. What kind of uvb light does he have?

 

[Gravesdragon]

Just wanted to post an update on Bandit our Bearded dragon. I think his non eating issue for a while was due to the tank and new setting. He began eating crickets and veggies about a week later. Now he is eating every day very well. My daughter is loving it. He eats about 6-10 crickets at a time and a few quarter size pieces of greens. Seems healthy and active. Its amazing to me that we have his lights on a timer and when they go out.......he goes out. No matter where he is in the tank its like he runs out of gas and stays in that position until the morning. My daughter loves the dragon and I love seeing her so into it and learning so much. Thanks again for the site!

 

[Luv4animalz]

I'm so glad that he started eating! I am having a similar issue, I've had my little guy for about a week now, he's been eating here and there once or twice a day but like yours, doesnt really seem all that interested in the crickets. I think it was day 4 he devoured 5 crickets (Small-Medium size) over about an 8 minute period. It was the most we've seen him eat since we got him. He also had some veg that evening, and a bath and drank some water. Then the next day he had 1 cricket, and nothing else. Later in the evening I was kind of worried so I actually was able to syringe feed him a few ml's of Green Beans (Puree'd baby food) and he actually liked it. He was lapping it up from the tip of the syringe. I tried to give him more but he was done. I was worried he wasnt eating enough so the next day I put new fresh greens in there, and took him out to try some crickets again. This was the day he didn't eat ANYTHING. Right before his light was to go off, I decided to try one more time. He ate 1 small cricket, and just sat there and ignored the rest of them. Today he's had 1 cricket and a few bites of greens. I'm super worried that he's not eating as much as he should. And I'm wondering the same thing, could it be the new cage? We're actually going to be upgrading his terrarium tomorrow to a 55 Gal (Currently in a smaller 20 gal) and are worried that it will stress him out even more. But then we're also hoping that the extra room, more things to climb on, and the elevated surface (He's on the floor right now, in a 20 gal tank) might actually do him good and he would start eating normally. This is what we're hoping. but in reality, I think it might just prolong the moving location stress