When am I allowed to panic?

[sbattisti]

OK, so we've had Khalil since noon on Sunday, which means about 2.5 days. I've been feeding him fresh salad every day, and offering crickets 3 x day outside of his terrarium, in a tupperware container. So far, as far as I can tell, he hasn't eaten anything. My son insists he ate some salad, but if he did, it was so little as to not make a noticeable dent in the pile of greens.

Tom at TND Dragons (where I got Khalil) says not to worry about it until at least Day 4. He also says that there may be some adjustment from non-MVB to MVB. But I'm having trouble fending off the panic. He grew up on crickets and collard greens, and that's what I'm feeding him, so it's not like he doesn't like those things. He's probably not used to being fed outside of his viv, but I'm afraid to put too many crickets in the tank with him.

He seems alert, and he wakes up in the morning and climbs up in his basking spot. The temps seem pretty good. About 105 / 82. It plummets pretty quickly when I open up the tank, since it's in the 20s here, but it climbs right back up. He definitely has stress marks on his belly, and he definitely seems scared of me. (Understandably so, I AM kind of big.)

Thoughts?

Steve

 

[Jiffy]

I know it is definitely hard to not worry!
They say that relocation stress can last a week or so. I have been very fortunate with all 3 of my beardies, and none of them went thru relocation stress.
Hope your baby starts to eat for you soon.

 

[Jasper's Mom]

It's OK Steve. Like Jiffy said, it's just relocation stress. After a few days, he'll snap out of it and become an eating machine. :mrgreen:

 

[fresnowitte]

I'll third that! Relocation stress my dear. :wink:
I don't think the MVB to non or the other way around is the issue.

 

[spurlee01]

I agree but I know how nerve-wracking it is! Lilly went through a stage where she wouldn't eat and lost a substantial amount of her body weight. Anyway, how is his behavior? Is he basking? Alert? Does he move around much in the tank? He's keeping his eyes open during the day?

 

[Freeie]

You can try a glass dish for the crickets they cant climb up the sides you can put the dish in the viv and see if that helps. Kinno refused to eat out of a tub outside of the viv. I had to swat every single one of his crickets so they couldnt get away from him in his viv. The things we do for our babies.

 

[sbattisti]

Yeah, he's alert, very frisky when he sees me or Mike coming. Lots of skittery noises.

He's down for the night now!

 

[spurlee01]

As long as he's alert and not having eye problems I wouldn't worry! Okay, I'm totallly lying, I know that I would worry, but you shouldn't! Were you able to get any PWs ordered? I will admit I did babyfood with Lilly when she was going through her anorexic phase, but that can have it's own issues with beardies becoming dependent :? .

 

[ColoradoRiverRafter]

I agree with all of the above!
I am not looking forward to going through it.

 

[sbattisti]

How high of a glass dish would I have to try? These crickets can jump like crazy, and if it's too high I don't think Khalil will be able to get in there!

Anyway, so, today is day 3. I haven't gotten any phoenix worms yet: it's either the crickets or nuthin' right now. (Well, and the salad.) We'll see how it goes.

 

[jewelmick]

had same issue with our new BeeBee Maxxly. We got her the week before Christmas. She did eat a little right off the bat, then the second day she stopped eating for 3 days. Now she eats like a champ! It was the funniest thing the other day...my Daughter usually feeds her in the morning before school, but we got up late and she we had to really hot foot it to get her out the door on time. She went to say goodbye to Maxx and ran out the door. Maxx came right up to the viv door and was looking around for her....like, where'd she go? where's my breakfast? where's she go? pacing back and forth in the front of the viv.....was WAY cute. I did feed her once I got settled and she ate great, but was stress marked until after she pooped and I took her out for morning romp around the living room. She loves to explore and always turns creamy white...always turns our grumpy puss happy.

So, stick with it! Maxx is spoiled and always eats better when hand fed. She does pick at her salad throughout the day....then usually poops in it! Little snot. Did the breeder give baths/soaks?

 

[fresnowitte]

Steve try placing the crickets your going to offer him in the frig for a few seconds...this will slow them down a bit maybe then he would be interested. Also if you pull off the back legs they can not get away as easy. I can't imagine crickets staying in a dish unless they are dead. Those boogers I find everywhere in my house. I don't even feed them to my adult beardies and I find them inside their enclosure all the time. :?

If you get to worried you could always resort to some baby food just enough to get his appetite moving. :wink:

Just had another thought???? Are you soaking him? Babies will become dehydrated quickly when not eating well so I highly suggest baths if your baby isn't eating well. Once they become dehydrated they loose their appetite. You also can drip droplets of water off his nose he may drink some for you. :wink:

However I'm sure he will snap out of the stress any day now and then you will have a little eating machine on your hands.

Just breath , try to be patient, consistent, and persistent. :wink:

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

when i first got my baby he and i went through the relocation stress... i know its not fun and it will worry you to the extreme, but after about 5 days i think it was phoenix started eating very well! he did keep his stress spots for a few extra days but they colored down a little each day. just give your baby time, it will all work itself out... it always does!!

 

[sbattisti]

Surprisingly, the crickets stayed in the glass dish, although it's a little high so unless Khalil is smart he may have trouble getting in there (he can get there easily from my shirt or from his rock, but not if he's standing right next to the glass dish). But, he hasn't eaten any of them.

I THINK he may have eaten some fresh salad this morning, although he wasn't tempted by the butternut squash I added to the mix. It's so hard to tell.

I'm going to order some Phoenix worms just for the heck of it.

Just taking deep breaths. I did give him a bath the night before last, and was considering doing so again tonight. But I'm also trying to minimize the # of times I mess with him, because I don't want to add to his stress. I just realized that my thermostat keeps going down to 62 during the day, which makes his basking spot drop under 100. I figured that out at lunch today, and hopefully that will help. He's still alert, and gets right up on his basking spot in the morning. I rarely see him anywhere else.

 

[RolandKyramere]

Did you give the squash to him plain or cooked? Mine prefer it to be soft and cooked over the hard and crunchy.