Rescued/Adopted Bearded dragon. He's not eating much...

[amlee]

Hi there,

I rescued/adopted a bearded dragon last week. As far as I could tell, he was not abused, but the people who owned him didn't know what they were doing. They weren't using UVB light, they weren't giving him any supplements. According to what they have told me, he is under 1 year old. They also had him in a 20-gallon cage.

I have spent the last week really trying to set up a new life for him. I got him a 4 x 2 x 2 Mellamine cage, bought the Rep-cal Herptvite and Calcium supplements, and got him the proper UVB light (Reptilight 10.0). I am also using a GE Reveal heating bulb. I have thermograded the cage, so it's the proper temps. He just got moved into this cage 3-4 days ago.

My main concern right now is that he is really not eating that much. A few crickets here, a few superworms there, and he absolutely will not eat greens on his own. I have gotten him to eat a few pieces by holding it by his mouth and essentially force feeding him.

I'm by no means an expert on beardies, but he's not showing any major signs of distress. The woman who sold me the cage was a professional breeder and she checked him out for him, and said that other than a bit of dehydration, he looked relatively ok. Once again, I'm not sure how old he is, but from what I can piece together, he is under a year. He weighs .6 lbs and measures in around 16-17" from nose to tail. He's skinny for sure, but seems generally ok. He takes awhile to get up in the morning, but he does get a little feisty throughout the day, and then calms down at night. He gapes in heat, bombs his head, and uses his tongue a lot. From what I can read, these are all good signs.

But he just isn't eating much. I have still yet to give him dandelion/turnip/mustard greens (trying to find them here in Santa Barbara, CA, and plan to at the farmer's market tomorrow), but I've been doing kale and collard greens.

I suppose that there is the chance of brumation, but I think that he's way too active to be doing this. I am not sure...perhaps this is a build up to a shedding period?

Anyway, I wanted to ask all of you kind folks on this forum what I might be doing wrong, or at least provide some sort of an explanation as to what might be going on. As I said, he really isn't showing any overt signs of being sickly. I am letting him out occasionally to run around my apartment, which he seems to love.

Any help that you could offer would be greatly appreciated. I have grown to attached to this guy in the last week, and I just hope that there is nothing majorly wrong. I have seen all kinds of testimonies from people who have beardies that are not interested in food for whatever reason...what do you think?

Graciously,
Andrew

 

[zebraflavencs]

Andrew, this is actually normal and called "relocation" stress. I am glad you got this dragon and have it under proper uvb as well as got him a nice new, custom viv to live in.
Here are some links for you:
Feeding list:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
Daily staples are in green, the 1-2 times a week treats are in black. Ignore the rest.
As for not eating greens, you may want to get some silk worms or Phoenix worms ( don't use calcium as they are naturally packed, but do use the Herptivite)
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/
You can place the greens over a couple of these, for a moving salad. This action normally will get them interested enough to go poke the salad and eat some, more when they discover the worms !

Brumation is normally in Our winters ...

Yes a shed can indeed put them off their feed, but I am betting it is the relocation happening.

Do you offer this fellow baths ? This will not only help with shedding, but to rehydrate him as well.
Water up to his shoulders, temps 90-100*F, for around 15-20 minutes, supervised totally. You can place a clean wash cloth under him for a more secure purchase, or your hand for more bonding.

Let us know how he is doing !
Janie.

 

[amlee]

HI Janie,

Thank you so much for your helpful reply. I am definitely going to order some worms from Mulberry, given that I'm just a few hours south of them. That works out well.

I have been giving him a bath about every three days. But here is a question: how do you actually know when your beardie is shedding?

I am hoping that the relocation stress (if it is indeed that) will end soon. I can force him to eat a few pieces of greens, but that's it. He ate 1 superworm today. That's it. He's active though. He likes roaming around the apartment and isn't showing any major signs of sickness. When I throw crickets at him though, he just lets them pass by.

I am wondering when he'll actually approach the greens bowl and eat heartily. I will let you know about the Silk and Phoenix worms. Hopefully this will get him excited.

One final query: how unhealthy is it for a beardie to simply not be eating that much for days on end? He's still pooping, but not much. About 1 time/day, but just a little one. ;-)

-Andrew