Bought my baby beardie 5 days ago, she has since eaten one cricket. And that was on the day we brought her home. She is already a tiny little thing, definitely the smaller of the ones who were in the same cage as her at the store. Now when standing on all fours, she is the width of a green bean. We tried to feed her by syringe (plastic) and I know how to open a bearded dragons mouth, but she just won't open up. The heating is perfect, UVB is a ReptiSun 10.0 Bulb, not tube, we provide crickets that she sees but doesn't acknowledge as well as vegetables and occasional fruit. We get the whole 'adjusting to its environment' thing, but she is dying. She has her eyes closed most of the time, doesn't move much unless I bring her out and lay her on me. Help, I've already had to give a baby beardie away because he had psychological issues. I do not want to try this a third time.
Hi. You need to replace that uvb bulb with a tube. Those coil cause appetite and lethargy problems. How are you taking the temps? What size is the enclosure? She probably has relocation stress that can last a week or 2. She still should be active thats what's concerning.
Thanks for replying so fast, I'm crazy scared for her. I measure the temps with a digital probe thermometer, which have mainly showed to be perfect. As for the UVB bulb, I had a beardie before her that was totally fine eating and activity wise. Does it vary from dragon to dragon? Her vivarium is 40 gallon, and she is 5 inches long, super small. How is she going to survive without eating for so long? Can she really make it 2 weeks? It seems like she has 0 interest in everything I put in front of her, whether it was worms, crickets, vegetable mix, fruit, and those weird pellet things that you add water to. Actually, she doesn't even show interest in water, so I've been misting her daily and bathing her every other day.
Those coil bulbs do not put off enough uvb. A tube puts out a nice even range. Sounds like you're taking the temps properly. I'd switch out the uvb and see if she improves. If she doesn't start to eat in a couple of days you can give some stage one baby food like chicken mixed with squash and mix some calcium with it. You can get a syringe to feed her or drop it on her nose. Hopefully she'll eat some. The reason why she has her eyes closed is the uvb is bothering them. I'd turn it off for a few days to let her eyes recover.
Poor little one....can you post a few pics of her and her set up ? Here's how : https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/
It sounds like it was a sickly baby to begin with, very tiny and fragile. The light itself may not be the main problem, but if it's too close it can hurt the eyes.