Worried about Zoom Zoom's appetite and color of Poo

[beardie parents]

Zoom zoom has never had a big appetite. She ate about 13 somewhat small superworms on Wednesday, yesterday she ate about 8 or 9 phoenix worms and that's about it. Today, she ate one piece of butternut squash and nothing else. Usually when she skips a day she very hungry the next day. We have had colder temps the last two days, but as she's, I think, 4 months old now, I'm not sure how much that can be the cause. One time she ate about 28 or 29 crickets, but today she turned up her nose at the small supers we have for her. I did just notice she ate some collard greens we put in her viv in case she's hungry when we can't feed her, or, as today, we gave up trying to feed her. I'm just worried, she doesn't have the appeitie that most beardies have.

I am encouraged about one thing: She was 8" when we got her 60 days ago and when I measured her wednesday evening, she was 11 and 1/2 inches. She grew 3.5 inches in 2 months she has not gained as much weight as Speedy did in the first month we had her. She did go from 22 grams to 80 grams. Speedy is about 240 grams.

We got her the last Sunday of September, the 28th. She poops once per day, tho sometimes she will go for a couple of days between poops. When she does poop, her poops tend to be darker than the poops of Speedy and Redrock's ever were. We haven't had a fecal done on her for several reasons. We still need to do Speedy's follow up fecal. Speedy seems to eat at lot, tho not as much as Redrock did 2 years ago when she was 6 months old. I try to soak her but I'm lucky if I can get her to stay in warm water for longer than 2 or 3 minutes. Anyone have any idea why her poops are dark?

 

[dragons1222]

never heard of anything about dark poos being a problem hmmm

as far as food if she has parasites that could be why she is not eating much you are feeding baby supers correct?

they should be fine has she always been like this or just recently?

and are you sure she is 4mo? just wondering if maybe where you got her from just didnt tell you the correct age and she could be small due to improper care(not from you) and maybe she is going through brumation?

stanley has slowed down on eating and sleeps alot more now that it is winter and he is 8 months so perhaps she is just really early on brumating lol

i dont know hopefully someone can come on with more input

good luck

 

[beardie parents]

I bought her from lllreptile at the Tucson reptile expo that is always held in the last weekend in September. I'm assuming she was about 2 months at the time because she was 8 inches long when we got her. She's never really had a huge appetite and her poops have always been dark. I don't think she's really dehydrated, tho I could be wrong. The last time she did this with eating, we gave her some acidolphiliz+ by pet athority that we found online after our bought with pinworm eggs with Redrock, in August of 07. That seemed to give her an appetite. I suppose she could have a small problem with pinworms like Speedy did, but since she's not even 100 grams yet, I don't know how well the meds will do for her. I have never had a baby that small. We got redrock when her estimated age (from what the pet store we got her from said) was 4 months old. Redrock was just about 11" long then. Zoom is 11.5 inches long as of a couple of days ago. About one month after I bought Zoom I went on lllreptile's website to see if I could figure out how old she was and based on what I found, I just guessed she was probably about 2 months old. The web site has some labeled as "yearling red phase Bearded dragons" and they are supposed to be 7-9" and Zoom Zoom was 8" long when we measured her the day after we bought her. Her poops have always been a little darker than any of the other beardie's I've had. I guess I'm worried because her appetite is very different than Redrock's was at the same age. Yes, I do feed her smaller super worms. The two places we trust to give us healthy ones also can give us the smaller ones.

 

[beardie parents]

I had forgotten when I posted the above response, I wanted to share some pics.
Both of these were taken after she decided to jump from my hand to sit on top of our satelite remote.
This was taken a day or two after we first got her:

this one was taken yesterday:

I guess I shouldn't worry to much because she just finished with her second body shed since we've gotten her. I do know that if there is a problem, by the time you notice the problem it's to late. I'm just trying to make sure I can spot problems before they are really noticable.

 

[dragons1222]

well wait a minute i think iam confused lol

doesnt yearling mean they are around a year old?

if they are selling yearlings that are only 8 inches that is very small for a one year old

they should be MUCH bigger than that

maybe you can email them and ask them what age the babies at that show were

i believe yellow urates is a sign of dehidration not dark poos and if they are always like that i would say it is probably normal

i know alot of people use parazap? i dont remember what it is called but it is something you give every 2? weeks anyway it is a prevention that is supposed to get rid of parasites and then keep them away

people say they have seen alot of improvment after they started giving that to their beardies

 

[beardie parents]

The juvenile bearded dragons they have are said to be between 9 and 13 inches. Then they have adults. I, like you have never heard of the "yearling bearded dragon" as an age/size label. The acidoliphiliz+ did work as we gave her one-half of a syringe full this morning and she at 12 crickets the first feeding and later she ate 21 phoenix worms and 7 or 8 superworms. She also ate some vegies. This is the most she's eaten since Wednesday. As the above pictures state, she has grown as my satelite remote that she seems to like sitting on, hasn't changed in size.

 

[diamc]

I think Zoom Zoom looks great, you're doing a wonderful job with her. I would suggest that your try to get her to stay in the bath a little longer though. You could also try giving her drinks of water or diluted 100% juice like cherry, grape, apple or cranberry, diluting with 4 parts water to 1 part juice. Would suggest you use warm water to take the chill off. It's really cute the way their tongues go around in circles to get every drop of the juice.

 

[haleygirl272]

The juvenile bearded dragons they have are said to be between 9 and 13 inches.

So, is my Zinger an adult!!!? He's about 5 mos and 4 days and 16 inches....omgosh! my babys not a baby! :shock: *sob*

Ok, maybe she just wasn't very hungry. Zing does that sometimes. He'll go on a week or so without eating much.

 

[beardie parents]

Another question: How old do they have to be before you can tell what sex they are. I ask because sometimes Zoom Zoom looks like she has one lump on her tail, other times I see 2. I noticed some "femoral pores" starting to develop on her back legs. So it looks like I may have chosen a male. My husband didn't really want a male because they can be tempremental. However, I don't think Zoom Zoom is going to be one of those tempremental males. She tends to get scared when we take her(him) outside. I put her on my leg this afternoon and she looked scared. When I put her on my chest she wasn't so scared. She's o.k. after being outside for about 30 to 45 minutes. After that you can put her on the ground and she's o.k. She doesn't wander much yet. If I remember correctly, however, at that age Redrock would go into some tall grass/weeds we had then and sort of hide there. Speedy has been doing that some when she's of a mind to.

 

[dragons1222]

haleygirl

no yours is still a juvinile they go by age as well



anyway my guy was sexable at 3 months but i have heard you can be sure at 6 mo

post some pics of her tail lifted up and i can see if i can tell

as for males being agressive i have never heard of that before

i have a boy and he is a sweetheart

he does get grumpy every once in a while but never biting or anything jst puffs up sometimes like when i wake him up early lol

 

[haleygirl272]

haleygirl

no yours is still a juvinile they go by age as well

Oh, I know, i was jk. :mrgreen:
I wish he we're still tiny! =-( lol