picky or just not eating..

[ErinMeetsMachine]

Spot has been with for about three weeks now. It's been like Katie Perry's song "hot and cold"
One day she'll eat 60 or so crickets, the next day and sometimes two, she'll eat NOTHING.
I can't figure her out!

It's driving me nuts, the vet visits came back great.
her heating and temps are perfect but fluxuate.

She's been chasing her relfection in the glass lately so I put up some plants against the glass and aslo a coconut husk climbing wall.

The days that she doesn't eat she seems extremely stressed with dark stress marks and black beard

How old is your dragon? 5 going on 6 months
How long have you had your dragon? 3 weeks on saturday
How long is your dragon? 11 in
What is the sex of your dragon? female
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 29h
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? newspaper and a peice of repti-carpet
Do you use UVB lights? yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? reptisun 10.0
How old is your UVB bulb? 3 weeks
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 12 in
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? yes; 150 floodlight
What are the basking temps? 107-110
What is the cool side temp? 85ishDo you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? digi termometer with probe
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? right now. 109.5
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? no
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. gutloaded crickets dusted with calcium/vit d3, collard greens
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? 2 -3 times. 11am and latest is 6pm
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? yesDo you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? both, repcal, 7x
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? very regular. 1-2 a day regardless of eating
Do you bath your dragon? How often? yes; once a day.. she's ready to shed
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? no
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? no
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? vet check - yes, breeder did fecal right before i recieved her and things were great.

 

[peera]

Everything looks good, she could just be like that. As long as she is eating, don't let yourself get to worked up. I do have one more question though: What time does her basking light get turned off? They need at least 2 hours of basking after the last feeding to digest, so if her light is going off at 8 she might not be spending enough time under it beforehand and her tummy might hurt the next day because the food's been sitting in it all night. If that's the case, then I'd give consideration to either turning off her light later or feeding earlier.

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

the lights come on around 8 or 9 and go off around 10

I figure that as long as she is pooping she is healthy. Maybe what is stressing her out is her shed.

thanks.

 

[JailBirdStripes]

Stripes seems to be on the extended- "I'm not going to eat what/when you want me to" thing...

Vet visits have been fine. Nothing out of the usual- I'm going to chalk her not eating live feeders (except superworms- only 2 as dessert after dinner) up to a quasi-brumation. (that's what the vet said) Though she's not sleeping ALLLLLL the time, she'll definitely take every chance she gets to take a nap when she's out of her viv. She's been slow in and out of her viv, doesn't use her rock hide (but loves being under her bush). She's alert and will take a stroll around the apartment to find a comfy spot to snooze.

She's only eating about 2 dusted crix a day, maybe a few bites of salad, and then at least a tsp of "syringe mix" (from the vet) and a superworm or two after dinner for dessert. Water is given through a syringe- around 2 tbsp a day (Chinese water torture, if you ask me). It seems nothing in comparison to before the weather cooled off when she was eating 35-50 crix a day PLUS Salad PLUS a worm and some water...

Like I said, I'm hoping it's just the "quasi-brumation." I'm not looking forward to when/if she decides to actually brumate, she's kinda driving me nuts lately trying to make her happy- foodwise...

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

exactly.. sucks. except mine isn't in any kind of brumation.. she's eating really good now. Just wish she would hurry up and finally shed. Her lights are fine, it's just another thing that I'm worrying over.

how old is you BD that is "brumating"

 

[diamc]

Hi, I saw a few things in your setup that I'd like to mention to you. The Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent should actually be 6 to 8" from her when she is basking. At a distance of 12", she's really not get much benefit from it, if at all. Also, the basking bulb and UVB should be placed next to each other so she can get benefits from both bubs while basking.

Is the basking bulb a white or colored bulb? A 150 watt floodlight seems like a lot of wattage for a 29 gallon tank. Do you place the probe end so that it is actually resting on the basking area, then wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before you get the final reading? The cool side temp is a little too high. It should actually be about 80 or it doesn't allow her to thermo-regulate properly.

That's good that you're using the Rep-Cal brand supplements. For a 5 month old beardie, you should be dusting the live food with calcium 5 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day and with vitamins the other 2 days a wk, but only 1 feeding a day.

If you have any other questions, let us know. :wink:

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

From her basking spot she's probably 5-6" in away from her uvb light. She spends most of her time there. Right now my tank is a 29h, that's why she's further away from the uvb everywhere else. Don't really have too good of a solution to get it closer... I'm looking into getting a 40 or 50 g breeder soon, so the problem should be resolved. The basking bulb is right in front of the uvb. I'll post a picture soon.

My floodlight is a white light. The reason I have a higher wattage is because our house regulates heat A LOT. We use a wood burning stove for our heat in the winter so there is no way to set the house to one temperature. My basking light has a rheostadt and I regularly check the temps, it never gets above 112* on her basking spot. I keep her digi themometer with a probe on her basking spot at all times. A couple times a day I remove it and place it back in to make sure the temp is being read correctly. The probe on her hammock, directly in the basking spot.

Since I orginally posted this, Spot stopped being picky or whatever it was she was doing. She's eating me out of house and home as she should be and is even eating her Collard Greens and occasionally some baby food. She's also starting her first shed with me!! I'm very excited

Let me know if you have a remedy for my uvb... She's seems to be quite happy and healthy in her enclosure, but please continue to let me know if there are ANY changes that I can make.

the uvb is usually right in the center, was moved before this shot.

 

[diamc]

Hi, I'm glad that she's eating better now. I noticed in the pictures that the probe end is actually dangling in the air. In order to get an accurate basking temp reading, the probe has to be touching (laying right on) the basking log. I suspect the basking temp is actually higher than 112. Please do me a favor and double check the temp with the probe right on that area. Also, let me know what the reading is on the cool side.

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

it actually has a suction cup, attached to the glass, but that does make sense. I'll move it right now.. same thing with the cool side - I'll move the suction cup to something physical furniture.

Let you know in about an hour

 

[diamc]

Ok, sounds good. Can you actually remove the wire & probe from the suction cup and just lay the wire/probe right on the exact area you want to test?

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

i did that. I removed the suction and taped (the wire not the probe) to a spot in the direct light on the basking log. same on the cool side. directly on the substrate