Not eating???

[danielleroberson38]

I have a 7(ish) month old bearded dragon and she was eating fine but the past couple weeks she has only been eating 1-3 crickets a day. She eats her veggies in the morning and eats most of them and I feed her seperatly from her tank but she eats about one cricket and then she's done. Any advice? She's still growing like a weed but I'm worried she's not eating enough.

 

[kingofnobbys]

SHe's a happy girl .... pretty too.

I hand feed all my lizard children .... I enjoy it , they enjoy it, and it's a great way bond.

Maybe she's bored with the usual feeder insects , a new feeder insect might be all you need to tweek his interest .... he wont starve himself.

Question - are you giving her the greens and veg before she gets his bugs ? .... I found my babies (Peppa and Toothless) were pigging out on the greens and veg and come time to their bugs, not really interested as too full.
So I simply held back the greens and veg until they had at least two big live insect meals .... problem solved.

My Peppa and Toothless at the same age were eating
about 12 medium gutloaded dusted crickets at brekky and 6-8 medium crickets at diner time EACH + greens and veg and this was each day.

Might be also something needs tweeking with the uv or heat and lighting schedule.
To help us diagnose this we need very detailed information about the current setup, the diet, cohabitation (if sharing tank or can see another beardie) , feeding schedule and other husbandry aspects .
Might be a very easy fix .

Photos of the tank and showing substrate and lighting will help too.

How heavy is she?
...... are you weighing her regularly (weekly say)?

Can you give us a good rundown on the setup and schedules (light and feeding) :


... TEMPERATURES ?
........daytime warm zone
........overnight
........basking spot
........ how are you measuring your temperatures ?
........ TOO COLD = SLEEPY DRAGON

... UVA AND UVB ADEQUATE ?
........COMPACT & WATTAGE ?
, T8 ?
, T5 ?
OR MVB ?

It's brand ?
....(IMPORTANT ,some are horrible Chinese knockoffs)

........is the uv rated AT LEAST 10%UVB ?

........is it covered ? == BAD
........is it sitting ontop a mesh top ? == BAD
........how far from basking spot ? too far and the UVA and UVB WILL BE TOO DILUTE.
........UVA FLUX TOO LOW where dragon is ==> a very lethargic dragon w/ a very poor apetite just in the short term ,
and neurological problems if this persists , not to mention MVB if UVB flux too low long enough with inadequate metabolisation of dietary calcium or inadequate intake out calcium

... TANK
....... size (L x W x H) and construction , photos of the setup are often helpful .

... SUBSTRATE ?
........is it sand ? == BAD AND IF CALCISAND EXTREMELY BAD/LETHAL
........is it particulate ? == BAD

... SHARING TANK ? == BAD

... TOO SHORT A PHOTOPERIOD (lights are not kept on long enough each day , will make beardie think it is winter , recommend at least 14 HRS PER DAY)

... FEEDING SCHEDULE
(I recommend at least 2 hrs lights/heat on before first live feed and after last feed of the day)
....... when are you offering live feeder insects ? what are they ? how big are they ?
....... when are you offering greens and other veg ? what are you offering ?

... What season is it (there where you live)

and

... weather can have an impact on your beardie's behavior, so what had the weather been like in the problem period ?

 

[danielleroberson38]

I just moved her into a 40 gallon tank with new lights. The UVB is the same brand I've been using for both of my beardies I'm not sure which but it's from petsmart. The basking side of her cage stays right in the 100's and the cool side stays around 85. I noticed she hasn't been sleeping well so I started turning her night light off because I read it can mess up them sleeping. She has the carpet stuff as her floor. For veggies I usually give her Kale, carrots, and sometimes strawberries or watermelon, sometimes squash. She loves her veggies but I know at this age she should be eating mostly protein. I feed her crickets because that's all that is available at the pet stores around here and I'm not really sure what else bearded dragons this young can eat. I don't weigh her but she seems to be getting bigger everyday. She's grown soooo much in the past month and she pees and poops everyday and it's like a good amount of poop.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I just moved her into a 40 gallon tank with new lights. The UVB is the same brand I've been using for both of my beardies I'm not sure which but it's from petsmart.

<<< I hope it's not All Living Things brand , these like Zilla are made in china and are very poor UV lights .
Zoomed , Arcadia and ExoTerra uv lights are good.

The basking side of her cage stays right in the 100's and the cool side stays around 85. I noticed she hasn't been sleeping well so I started turning her night light off because I read it can mess up them sleeping. She has the carpet stuff as her floor. For veggies I usually give her Kale, carrots, and sometimes strawberries or watermelon, sometimes squash. She loves her veggies but I know at this age she should be eating mostly protein. I feed her crickets because that's all that is available at the pet stores around here and I'm not really sure what else bearded dragons this young can eat. I don't weigh her but she seems to be getting bigger everyday. She's grown soooo much in the past month and she pees and poops everyday and it's like a good amount of poop.

Best feeder insects for her are
Black soldier fly maggots (in USA marketed as Phoenix Worms)
silkworms
crickets
roaches
locusts

most keepers don't buy their insets at petshops , the insects are ordered online , often in bulk.

 

[danielleroberson38]

I'm about 90% sure it's the exxo terra one I think. I ordered a new uvb bulb, the good one that's long I forgot the brand (it's early sorry) but it came all smashed up so I'm waiting on a new one