Not eating, not too active... new home blues?

[imsarah]

How old is your dragon? I don't know, I think they said they were about a year
How long have you had your dragon? Picked them up sunday night
How long is your dragon?17 inches
What is the sex of your dragon? the female is the one I'm worried about
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 1foot wide, 1foot tall, 3 feet long
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? I think its walnut shells
Do you use UVB lights? all they had was a red light so I went by PetCo on Monday morning and got them a long florescent light and a basking light. I just bought what the girl at PetCo told me they needed.... uva and uvb
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? a tube and a bulb.....
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? the PetCo girl said to go with a 100w.
How old is your UVB bulb? Bought it this morning
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? She's just been sitting on her brick right underneath it... the bulb is right on the top of the aquarium, its a foot tall. So less than a foot away.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? ....100w
What are the basking temps? I don't know, I don't have a thermometer
What is the cool side temp? I don't know, I don't have a thermometer
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?.....
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?.....
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. I guess their core diet was superworms and a few veggies. And then she also gave me these little ham looking things called Nature Zone Bites for Bearded Dragons, she said were supposed to be an occasional treat. I bought Zilla Fortified Food Bearded Dragon dry food today at PetCo. Soaked it in warm water and put it in a dish, they weren't interested.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? I try to get them to eat whenever I can since she hasn't eaten yet.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? I have no clue what that means.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? The Nature Zone says its loaded with vitamins.. does that count?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? We cleaned poops out of the tank when I picked them up, I didn't see any today.
Do you bath your dragon? How often? I haven't yet, I don't know if I should wait until she's feeling better, wouldn't she get chilled when she gets out of the water?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? I gave them clean water last night when I got them home, and the waters still clean today since they haven't touched it.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? They've been tankmates since they were babies.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? Not yet


Okay so I brought them home last night and the last few times I've gone to visit and check them out, the boy is pretty alert and goes for the worms when they're thrown around the room. The girl not so much. The woman I got them from said that the female is more dominant when inside the tank, not so much outside. I've never seen her eat when I visit. So I bring them home last night and put a few worms in the tank and all the worms burrow under the sand before the dragons have a chance to care to go get them. I put them out on the carpet and put a few worms around within reach of their mouths, nothing. She just looks at them and looks up at me. The female spent the first night on the basking brick underneath the red night light, the male slept under the log. They spent today basking together on the brick, heads up, breathing seems steady, I'm just concerned about their appetite. Please tell me its normal for them to not want to eat after moving to a new home and that its okay for them to miss a few days meals and that its nothing for me to really worry about.

 

[nesta's mommy]

i would recommend taking the walnut shells out as it can cause impaction as well as tear their intestines/stomach lining.

also, what are the exact types of bulbs you are using? reptisun 10? 8? coil? compact?

 

[beardboy]

How old is your dragon? I don't know, I think they said they were about a year
How long have you had your dragon? Picked them up sunday night
How long is your dragon?17 inches
What is the sex of your dragon? the female is the one I'm worried about
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 1foot wide, 1foot tall, 3 feet long
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? I think its walnut shells
Do you use UVB lights? all they had was a red light so I went by PetCo on Monday morning and got them a long florescent light and a basking light. I just bought what the girl at PetCo told me they needed.... uva and uvb
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? a tube and a bulb.....
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? the PetCo girl said to go with a 100w.
How old is your UVB bulb? Bought it this morning
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? She's just been sitting on her brick right underneath it... the bulb is right on the top of the aquarium, its a foot tall. So less than a foot away.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? ....100w
What are the basking temps? I don't know, I don't have a thermometer
What is the cool side temp? I don't know, I don't have a thermometer
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?.....
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?.....
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. I guess their core diet was superworms and a few veggies. And then she also gave me these little ham looking things called Nature Zone Bites for Bearded Dragons, she said were supposed to be an occasional treat. I bought Zilla Fortified Food Bearded Dragon dry food today at PetCo. Soaked it in warm water and put it in a dish, they weren't interested.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? I try to get them to eat whenever I can since she hasn't eaten yet.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? I have no clue what that means.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? The Nature Zone says its loaded with vitamins.. does that count?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? We cleaned poops out of the tank when I picked them up, I didn't see any today.
Do you bath your dragon? How often? I haven't yet, I don't know if I should wait until she's feeling better, wouldn't she get chilled when she gets out of the water?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? I gave them clean water last night when I got them home, and the waters still clean today since they haven't touched it.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? They've been tankmates since they were babies.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? Not yet


Okay so I brought them home last night and the last few times I've gone to visit and check them out, the boy is pretty alert and goes for the worms when they're thrown around the room. The girl not so much. The woman I got them from said that the female is more dominant when inside the tank, not so much outside. I've never seen her eat when I visit. So I bring them home last night and put a few worms in the tank and all the worms burrow under the sand before the dragons have a chance to care to go get them. I put them out on the carpet and put a few worms around within reach of their mouths, nothing. She just looks at them and looks up at me. The female spent the first night on the basking brick underneath the red night light, the male slept under the log. They spent today basking together on the brick, heads up, breathing seems steady, I'm just concerned about their appetite. Please tell me its normal for them to not want to eat after moving to a new home and that its okay for them to miss a few days meals and that its nothing for me to really worry about.

well, first, congratulations on ur new beardies!


ok...im being nice when i say this but i see lots of things wrong...bearded dragons generally shouldnt be housed together, especially male and female combo...the male will try over breed the female and stress her out terribly...and its also not healthy to lay eggs and breed that often.. she could die from that...the enclosure is definetly too small...the recommended size is 4x2x2....for one dragon...the walnut shells can cause impaction if they swallow it...once again, could die...most people on here use tile, shelf liner, paper towels, some use newspaper although some inks can be toxic to ur bd...some use sand, just make sure its clean sand and that ur dragon isnt a licker....that can cause impaction too...if u could tell us the specific type of uv bulb that u have that would help...the good tube ones are reptisun 10.0, reptisun 5.0, and reptiglo 8.0...those are the only 3 tube bulbs i think anyone on here would recommend...as for mvb's, megaray and t-rex active heat are the 2 best....u definetly need to get a thermometer...the digital kind with a probe is best...if ur dragons are adults, u want the basking temp to be 95 to 100 degrees...cool side around 75...the superworms and veggies are ok to feed them...gutloading means what u feed ur feeders before u feed them to ur dragon...cuz whatever ur feeding the superworms ur dragon is basically eating to ya know? although ur food says its loaded with vitamins, u should still dust the feeders...i think a lot of ppl on here use rep-cal calcium...and they should be bathed a few times a wk, just make sure that when ur done, u put them under their basking spot so they warm up and dont get cold...and i would suggest getting a fecal done just so u can rule that out as to why shes not eating...and at night, there should be no lights on at all... any light will disrupt their sleep...if they arent sleeping well, u can end up with a crabby beardie and they also get sick easier...ooofta, i think thats all i got...if u have more questions, just ask! thats why were here!

 

[imsarah]

There was a poop on the rock today, I don't know if it was hers or his. She's sitting on the log now watching my dog run back and forth across the room.


The uva bulb I bought yesterday was a sunglo 100w and the florescent light I bought just says Reptile 7% uvb. I might clean out the walnut shells today. I'm building them a new enclosure, got the cave all put together yesterday and today I was going to start grouting everything.
They've been together since they were babies, wouldnt that stress them out to be separated now? They're buddies, and being separated now on top of the stress of getting accustomed to a new home? I don't think I could do that. I might try to feed them separately though, until I see she's eating.
Whats a probe thermometer? Is that expensive? Can I just get the sticky kind? Should I put one on both sides of the aquarium? Thats probably what I'll do. (I just finished moving into a new home too, so I'm somewhat broke at the moment)
How do I feed the feeder worms? They just come in a little tub filled with what looks like sawdust. What do the worms eat?
How long do they bath for? Maybe they can soak in the tub while I clean out the walnut shells today. Do I put them in water more on the warm side or just slightly warmer than room temp?

 

[imsarah]

Okay so I ran some warm water in the bathtub and put their rock in the shallow end in case they didn't want to soak, plus it was kinda dirty so it needed to soak anyway. I got all the walnut shells out of the tank, cleaned it out, dried it, put the lights back on, rinsed the rock, dried it put it in the tank, rinsed the dragons, put them back in the tank and then cleaned and filled their water and food dishes and released a bunch of superworms for them to eat if they felt like it. The worms are pretty much just wandering all over the place, and the dragons don't care.

They're on bare glass right now, is carpet okay to use until their enclosure is ready? I was thinking I should go get some.

EDIT They did seem to like the bath, they sat in the deeper end and I was a bit concerned for a second about them having their heads down with the water over their noses, but when I slid them a bit closer to the shallow end, they went back to where they were and again put their faces in the water and were drinking.

 

[imsarah]

I tried giving them some strawberries and bananas on a bed of collard greens... nothing, not interested. What other fresh stuff should I try? I bought frozen carrots and peas and some chopped spinach, is that okay to feed them frozen veggies? Thawed of course.

Aside from the not eating, they seem pretty alert and active. I let them roam my bedroom today for about two hours. I sat them in a patch of sunlight with the sliding door open (and the baby gate up) and they roamed my room checking the place out. I tossed out a couple worms for them to get, not interested. GAH!

 

[imsarah]

So I tossed a bunch of crickets in the tank this weekend before I left to visit my mom. Came home to one cricket hiding under the log. Put the dragons in a bath and she pooped.
Maybe she's just shy about being watched while she eats, cause theres got to be something going in if theres something coming out. She's pooped in the bath twice now since I've come back from my moms.

She doesn't seem to be fattening up much though. He's so fat and full in the face, is that normal for the females to be somewhat slimmer in the face than the males?