Suddenly not eating?

[littleassassin2]

So my mom got a bearded dragon sometime last month and by got is he small... He's as fat as my pinky and maybe 4-5 inches long. Idk how much he weighs since we have a scale but im assuming the batteries as shot because all it does it blink when you turn it on and it won't weigh anything, but this is all besides the point. He's been eating, i'm assuming to be "alright" for his size seeing as he's pretty tiny. When we first got him he was only eating like 2-6 crickets a feeding, and i haven't really asked if that numbers gone up or down over time, but recently, maybe like a day or 2 ago, i think most likely yesterday, my mom made me aware that he's for some reason no longer eating.

It was really odd, and i assumed maybe it was because she has commercial food in there (just these tiny red pellet ball things about the size of those white parrels or w/e that you put on cookies or the things on top of the candy called sno-caps). I looked him over a few days before that and noticed that he has stress marks out of the wazzoo and they're really dark too making his entire underside essentially black. I haven't noticed them before, but they might have been there, or just very faintly.

Temps are pretty normal, they get up to maybe like 96-100 degrees, humidity is at 60% but it was like that for me for a while, but she also has water in the beardies cage, and the coolside temps i think are at like 80 now.

The other odd thing is is that we rarely see him move from the sun bathing spot that he uses. He keeps going back to the same place, every single day right under the basking lamp, and doesn't move. Once in a blue moon he will but for the most part he won't.

We're going to try feeding him in a seperate bin, but for now, here's some pictures on his setup and some bad ones of him (he was hiding in some branches where he slept) ALSO, we have that compact flouresence nonsense UVB light for both Phillipe (her dragon) and Leeroy (mine) and we've yet to see any problems with either of them health wise other than what my mom is experiencing now so we don't plan on switching them out until something more serious begins to develope, or until we get bigger cages so please refrain from pointing out that it's bad because we've even yet to see why. It's also a 29 gallon tank, same as mine.

you can see the stress marks in this one

 

[tweet0302]

First you need to get rid of the compact uvb bulb they cause eye damage get a reptisun 10.0 flourescent tube, secondly get rid of the those therms get a digital one with a probe and what kind of substrate are you using he should be eatin about 20 crics each feeding

 

[vampy]

You want something more serious than a baby not eating before you'll switch the lights?

The light could well be the problem. So could the humidity. Or his temps could be wrong if you're only using those dial thermometers, they are very inaccurate, you really need a digital one with a probe to get the correct measurement. Or he could have parasites.

Is he pooping okay?

My recommendations would be to take out the water bowl, get a decent thermometer, get a decent UV, and if he still doesn't improve, take a poop sample to the vet to check for parasites. In the meantime I'd get some chicken or turkey babyfood and syringe feed him to try and get some protein into him.

Are the feeders the right size for him? Smaller than the gap between his eyes? Even 2-6 at a time really isn't much for a baby. If she's had him since 'sometime last month', and he's still only as fat as a finger and 4-5 inches long, he's very small for his age. I think my babies were that size at about 2 weeks old, and they've been fatter than my pinky since they hatched (but then i have teeny hands). The more I think about it, the more I think you might wanna skip the waiting and get your vet to do a fecal asap.

ETA: If the temps get to 'about 96-100', and he's on his basking spot all day, chances are it's too cold for him to digest his food properly. For babies the ideal basking temp is about 100-110, and if you're using the dial thermometers then your temps may just be too low for him to be happy. I'd still recommend you get a proper thermometer, but if in the meantime you can get a higher powered bulb, that might help him.

 

[littleassassin2]

substrate is just regular repticarpet stuff, crickets all smaller than his head, my mom said she's seen him eating the commercial food but i'm not sure how often that is as i don't ask her about it. He's pooping fine, doesn't smell at all, i'll go and check the temps tomorrow to see if the dial thermo's are off, i'll see how he does with his other light on. He's also very attentive and i have seen him running around on some occasions.

He's also shed twice since we got him, once for his tail, the other for his head. We got him from petsmart or petco, along with mine (mine was from petsmart), and I think the group that my mom got hers from might have been, well, idk sick? Who knows, it's weird because the first time she went to go get one they said they couldn't sell her one, calcium deficiency i think.. Eventually she got 1 a few days later from 1 of the 2 chain stores but for a few weeks now both haven't had any bearded dragons in so idk what's up with that.

She dusts with calcium every day too so it's not a deficiency on our end. I'm also going to try giving it some of my vitamins that i bought for Leeroy too.

For now the light and thermo's are staying until it can be determined that it's the problem because i've read from multiple places that they fixed the compact bulbs and they've been tested and haven't shown any signs that they cause injury to the eyes anymore. My dial thermometers have been accurate for almost 2 months now so, it may be her 1 is too close to the light, but idk if that would have an effect on the temp being read.

I'll update you tomorrow on if any improvement is made because i'll be home for most of the day.

edit: my moms also told me he hangs out in the water bowl too so it shouldn't be dehydration

 

[snazzyglasses]

I second what Vampy said!

Also, the unfortunate thing about pet accessories is that there are not very many laws regulating what the companies can and can't say on the labels. So a company can "say" they revamped their UVB coil or compact; but most likely they're just BS-ing people into buying it/trying to get rid of a well-deserved bad reputation.
Anyone who has done their research will recommend the ReptiSun 10.0 Tube or the Arcadia 12% Tube for a bearded dragon, or a PowerSun MVB. Not just on this forum, but any bearded dragon forum or responsible expert you talk to. The coils and compacts and other brands may be okay for some critters, but they have repeatedly been proven unsafe for bearded dragons.

Just some food for thought. Good luck with your babies!

 

[littleassassin2]

Well we haven't had any problems with it yet so i can confirm from personal experience that they've done at least something since they were last taken off the market however long ago. Also, i plan on upgrading to the 10.0 tube when i build Leeroy's new cage but that's not for another month or so.

It also seems that i've been a little misinformed. My mom feeds Phillipe 3 times a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, once at night, and from what she's told me he eats from 2-3 a sitting so that's around 6-9 crickets a day, give or take. Today i sat while she fed him when i got home from school he ate 4 crickets in 1 sitting and my mom confirms that he does in fact eat the commercial food, and quite often so he could be filling up on that. I've also mislead you in the size, after seeing him more up close out of his cage i'd say he's around 5- 5 1/2 inches in length, maybe 5 1/4. He's also a little bit fatter. I'm starting to think Petco or w/e just sold him to us younger than they should've sold him.

He does move around his cage some, and he's shed more than twice apparently. Once his tail, body, head, and now his tail again.

Starting to think this was just a false alarm but i'll keep everyone posted. Oh, and the protein amount in the commercial food is 32% minimum but idk what the serving size is. It also has a bunch of other stuff such as vitamins i guess in it. Greens are also offered, Dandelion Greens to be exact.