Baby Beardie Not Eating

[ReptimomPSU]

Hey everyone. I’m getting a bit worried over here. I got a baby bearded dragon on Thursday evening from PetSmart (I know, not ideal). He is TINY. I don’t have a scale so I can’t tell you how much he weighs but he is tiny. They told us he was eating about 10 crickets once daily. Since reading and researching prior to purchasing him I understand it is supposed to be 2-3 times daily as much as he will eat in 10 minutes. Thursday evening he ate 4 crickets, Friday he ate about 13 crickets total, and yesterday he ate 26. He won’t eat today however and is completely uninterested. He still has energy and has had a bowel movement. I feel no hard mass in his stomach. He has a basking spot with a temp of 105 and his cool end is about 79. He seems generally okay with few stress marks. He has a UVB tube (it’s all living things brand. I have a ReptiSun 10.0 on the way.) His substrate is reptile carpet.

Any ideas or help?

 

[BeardedHippy]

try raising your temps a few degrees

 

[ReptimomPSU]

Well I may have figured it out. I changed his basking bulb yesterday because it blew. Turns out the new bulb was making his basking spot a whopping 126 degrees and my thermometers weren’t accurate. I purchased an infrared heat gun which gave me that reading. Poor kid must have been so toasty!

I exchanged the bulb for one that is reading about 109. Here is to hoping this fixed it and tomorrow is better.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Well I may have figured it out. I changed his basking bulb yesterday because it blew. Turns out the new bulb was making his basking spot a whopping 126 degrees and my thermometers weren’t accurate. I purchased an infrared heat gun which gave me that reading. Poor kid must have been so toasty!

I exchanged the bulb for one that is reading about 109. Here is to hoping this fixed it and tomorrow is better.

Oh my!! Yea I'd say that would do it.. Can't say enough about IR guns they are the most accurate.

 

[BeardedHippy]

they are a fantastic invention ,I get so much use out of mine....
knowing the correct temperature= almost invaluable
messing with the landlords cat=priceless

 

[ReptimomPSU]

He ate today. It was the temps. I feel so bad, but glad I figured it out quickly.

 

[PatsyB]

Glad you got it figured out! IR temp guns are the best. Our furnace went out and I’ve been using mine all over the house to check how cold it’s getting LOL! Don’t worry, reptiles have their own electric radiator and their lights, keeping them nice and toasty.