What can I do to get my baby to eat? I have been having him about 3 weeks..and never has been a huge eater. Not sure of age but if I had to guess I would say 2 months old. I offer variety of veggies every day..plus different types of insects. I just got in an order of small BSFL and he will not touch them...what can I do? Do I just wait it out?
Temps are good, I just replaced coil UVB wuth repti sun 10.0 tube. Any advice is welcome..this is stressing me out!!
What is the tube you got? A T 5 or a T 8 ? It is common to not eat a lot but they should be eating something --- lets get the UVB situated and the basking temps correct--- how are you taking basking temps NO stick ons and what are they ? they should be 105-110 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer
Karrie
T5 with 10.0 bulb. Temp in basking spot is between 105-110 with digital thermometer. He seems to take the repti boost from the 1ml syringe ok. I don’t know if I should continue doing this if wait for him to eat in his own.
Is it ok to put T5 fixture with 10.0 bulb inside tank? I bought this specifically because it say can work on top of tank. I did not buy the T8 fixture for this reason.
Since your screen is a fine mesh it does need to go inside the tank -- all T 8's need to go inside the tank regardless ---- that bulb is not strong enough --- w/ your screen being a fine mesh it does need to go inside if the screen had been a wide hole type it could of gone on top
Karrie
Ok, I just don’t want him to be exposed to to many UVB rays. I could cut the screen fir the light to go through or replace it with the wider screen. Do you think that would work?
Yes just have your UVB directly above and 12-15 inches - he will be fine -- if you use wider screen and have it sit on top then it needs to be 8-10 inches directly above the basking decor
Karrie
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me. I truly appreciate it. Will try that and see if his appetite pick up.
When I put the BSFL our for him he just looks at them for a bit and the runs away. I have also tried hand feeding and feeding a I a different enclosure but it did not seem to help...maybe because of UVB light setup? I would never have guessed that the lighting affected appetite so much.
Yes the UVB synethsizes the calcium absorption- if they aren't getting the UVB rays to do that they won't eat-- that and basking temps need to be correct- those two things are the MOST IMPORTANT things in the tank
Karrie
Checking in today to say that moving light seems to have made a difference! Eating much better today.
I am so glad you were here to help me out. Thanks again Karrie!
Hiya, just any other quick update..dragon is more active and eating better. I shared this information about the fine screen mesh blocking the UVB (using t5 hood and 10.0 bulb) in a bearded dragon group. (This is where I had originally learned about the setup). Well of course they are telling me it’s fine, and that is way too powerful to go under screen no matter distances etc. all I can say is I am glad that I came here and asked, and followed your instructions, my beardie is better for it. If anyone else is reading there is A LOT of misinformation out there!
Thank you Karrie for helping me out.