I bought my baby beardie at a pet store about 1 1/2 weeks ago. He started out eating okay but has since stopped eating and is starting to get skinny. I have him in a 40 gal tank and I know I need to get a new UVB light, I had bought a separate fixture and bulb, but the bulb did not fit so I am waiting on a replacement. I believe he may have been over stressed from being handled and bathed too soon, but am not sure and don't know how to correct the problem. I thought maybe the tank is too big for him to get the crickets, so I tried placing him and the crickets in a separate box to eat but he will not eat any of them. What should I try to do?
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Baby Beardie Not Eating
- Thread starter flgirl352
- Start date
It's good your replacing the UVB- what did you get? Distance and placement is required for certain bulbs+-- he's going thru relocation stress- so I recommend letting him acclimate to the tank--- and surroundings- as long as he's eating that's good as the relocation stress will effect that---- if he quits eating there is a issue-- I recommend you get a digital probe thermometer as IR guns are good but they will not give accurate temps off of certain materials like hammocks- are you feeding salads? Make sure he stays hydrated- rinsing his salads before serving will do that along w/ feeding gut loaded insects- when you get the UVB please post back and I will help you get it placed- I also can post websites for insects/ worms and a nutrition website
Thank you so much for your reply! I currently have a 22in Reptisun 10.0 T5 HO bulb and the fixture should be arriving today. I was going to place inside the tank using command strips from the basking lamp side across the top, about 2/3 of his tank. I currently chop up a mixture of rinsed collard, mustard, and turnip greens. I also offer him about 1/2in gut loaded crickets that are also eating the greens, dusted once a day with calcium and once a week with multivitamin. I have misted him with water about once a day and have bathed him twice in the week and a half I have had him. I had ordered my crickets from Fluker Farms and they have done well so far, but I would definitely like your recommendations. When he gets a little bigger, I will start adding in a mix of live prey, like the Dubia roaches maybe, and fruits and veggies. Unfortunately, he quit eating at all for the last three days and is quite lethargic. I do also believe it is relocation stress as he had been probably over handled to soon after arriving. I am trying to use a playing card to open his mouth and force feed him some baby food, but I will be bringing him to the vet after work today. Thank you so much for helping me. I have seen your replies to others and we greatly appreciate your help in assisting us with the best care for our Beardies. I have raised one already and just love them. I am open to any other tips you have. I have seen some discrepancies in my research regarding bathing and how often his food is dusted with calcium and vitamins so please let me know your thoughts. I have just given my crickets those cubes for moisture, a food block with calcium, and greens. Can I do better?
Not eating is not good --- please make sure your basking temps are taken w/ a digital probe thermometer and the UVB is directly above him 12-15 inches from decor piece -- relocation stress is NOT going to cause the completely NOT eating and lethargic behavior-- please no more baths for now -- what I recommend is getting some food / water into him -- he needs to stay hydrated --- make a slurry of veggies w/ water so hes getting the hydration --pinch of calcium in it and use a syringe and administer about 1/2 ml -- go very slow so he does not aspirate -- I would put in some crickets as well - you may haft to buy a new blender unless you have a extra on hand -- but you need to keep his strength up and I would get a CHE ceramic heat emitter over the tank to keep it warmer at nite --- NO colored bulbs please -- temps around 80 at nite to keep the immune system up- DO NOT let the vet do a enema --- they are too dangerous and can kill him or paralyze him take a stool sample in w/ you ---- is the vet a reptile vet?
What are you using now for a UVB? If its a coil that would be my first guess for the lethargic behavior--- please get the UVB placed as soon as you get it --- the basking temps and UVB are the two MOST IMPORTANT thing in that tank --they control the overall health and behavior of the dragon
Ok, thank you so much for the advice. I do have the coil UVB light but it will be replaced tonight. I will also get the digital probe as recommended to be sure my temps are accurate. We live in Florida and I keep the house 78 so I had not thought the ceramic heat would be necessary, but may need to check into that. I will make up a slurry right away instead of the baby food and yes, I am def using a herp vet and will make sure they do not give him an enema and thankfully has still been pooping so I can bring
Ok you want 3 temps in the tank--- cool side 80 during the day-- 90's middle of the tank 105-110 basking side- 65-75 at night no colored bulbs-- please feed him 3 times / day
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Where did u guys get him if I may ask? I live in FL and in the 352 area that's funny, small world, most beardies sold by petco, pet super market , etc. have poor health to begin with cause the people there know nothing about lizards
he's probably gonna have a couple hurdles to get through, please make a slurry for him as Sadie said this will get him on the right track 
, he's probably been without proper uvb for a couple weeks, this will be his life line please get him a tube uvb, relocation stress can make them not eat, if I can make a couple recommendations (I got a beardie from pets mart as well) put up some kind of background inside the tank beardies hate seeing their reflections especially babies, if u can put more hides in the enclosure that'd give him more security, if u can get a soft dishrag and rub it on your clean body and put it where he sleeps this will help him acclimate to you the food cubes for crickets are Garbo but the moisture cubes are good, I feed my crickets carrots, potatoes, romaine lettuce, grapes n watermelon, along with roach chow.I never got a notification about your message and just saw your reply. Def a small world, I am in Tavares, never thought someone here would be in Lake County, lol. Thank you so much but that beardie ended up passing away a few days later I did end up getting another one from Petco, a little older to start, prob 3 to 4 mths old and (she I believe, but not sure yet) is thriving. I did get a T5 reptisun UVB and have it attached to the back wall inside the aquarium. I have also added a background for the tank and hammock so far. Temps are great and she is a voracious eater. Easily eating 60 crickets a day or more if I would give her more. She does not like being handled though. At all. I have hand fed her and she loves to eat, especially the wax worms but I use tweezers. I have had her almost a month now and did not handle her at all for the first 2 weeks and also because she had just started the shedding process when I got her. When I reach my hand in low, approaching from the front or side, she will back away or run and hide under the hammock, open her mouth, maybe hiss, her beard will turn black, but she is not aggressive, no tail whipping or biting and she doesn't really puff up too much but she will get spiky. She def wants no parts of being picked up. I am def going to use the soft washcloth trick you just mentioned. Any other ideas? On crickets, I think I have a good set up, I give them the water cubes and a high calcium cricket meal. I don't have believe I have too many losses. Where do you get your feeders from? Thanks so much for your advice!!
I did end up getting another one from Petco, a little older to start, prob 3 to 4 mths old and (she I believe, but not sure yet) is thriving. I did get a T5 reptisun UVB and have it attached to the back wall inside the aquarium. I have also added a background for the tank and hammock so far. Temps are great and she is a voracious eater. Easily eating 60 crickets a day or more if I would give her more. She does not like being handled though. At all. I have hand fed her and she loves to eat, especially the wax worms but I use tweezers. I have had her almost a month now and did not handle her at all for the first 2 weeks and also because she had just started the shedding process when I got her. When I reach my hand in low, approaching from the front or side, she will back away or run and hide under the hammock, open her mouth, maybe hiss, her beard will turn black, but she is not aggressive, no tail whipping or biting and she doesn't really puff up too much but she will get spiky. She def wants no parts of being picked up. I am def going to use the soft washcloth trick you just mentioned. Any other ideas? On crickets, I think I have a good set up, I give them the water cubes and a high calcium cricket meal. I don't have believe I have too many losses. Where do you get your feeders from? Thanks so much for your advice!!Your T 5 should be moved off the back wall and placed directly above her basking decor 12-15 inches please --- keep working w/ her she needs to learn to trust you -- and please NO more wax worms -- they should be fed very sparingly too many and too often can cause liver damage they are very fatty--- please use BSFL large www.symtonbsf.com DO NOT dust them --- super worms horn worms and butter worms --- those are all good treats - also discoid roaches for a staple feeder if your in FL --- use those to hand tame her -- tongs is ok I used both when hand taming mine --- but you want her eating out of your hand or fingers --
Thank you for the advice! I did measure the space from the light to her rock and it is 7" away. I will not give her the wax worms anymore and I have a few questions relating to feeders. If I start feeding her the Large BSFL, which I did see on that site, I no longer need to feed her crickets at all, correct? And they are so high in calcium that she would not need any additional calcium supplement, is that also correct? I typically dust the crickets once a day with calcium and I usually give her a multivitamin, Repcal Herptevite once a week on Saturday. If I switch to the BSFL, would I still need to dust them once a week with the vitamin? On to worms for treats, I of course have read so much that you shouldn't feed any thing wider than the space between their eyes and the hornworms are so big. Are they ok to feed her while she is young or should I wait until she is adult. I had also read the tough exoskeleton on the super worms and mealworms are harder to digest and can cause impaction. Your thoughts? I have also thought about doing the Dubia roaches and I looked up those Discoid roaches and they seem great too, but is size a factor as well? And I am not sure how to keep and care for the worms and roaches so I will need to do some research on that as well. Currently I just made a container for the crickets. I have about a 20 gal plastic container and I cut out the top and one side and put screen over them, not sure if roaches can get out of that. I wouldn't think so but I wonder if having two screens in the container would not allow enough humidity for them. No clue how to keep worms. Also, I want to ask if Bearded Dragons need to be dewormed regularly like some other animals. I haven't seen anything on that but I worry about parasites from what she is eating. Your thoughts? Roaches are probably the only creepy crawly that give me the Heebie Jeebies but I know how nutritious they are for ehr so I don;t mind feeding them but I don;t know if I can bring myself to touch them. I may have to work up to it. LOL! I can def hand feed the worms and crickets though. Please let me know any other thoughts and I hate to be a bother but I do want to take the best care of her that I can
Ok so make sure the distance for the UVB is 12-15 inches -- 7" is too close for a T 5 bulb--- next keep feeding the crickets as the main feeder but I would go to the discoid roaches - they are going to be easier to care for than the crickets -- are you in Florida? I believe Skybug is in Fl she would have better insight on the care of the discoid--- look at this site for them and care https://www.thecritterdepot.com/products/discoid-roaches-for-sale#:~:text=natural attack mode.-,Are Discoid Roaches Legal in Florida?,roaches to their beautiful reptiles.
Please start dusting the main insect feeder w/ your vitamin 2 x per week --- do not dust the BSFL and yes when feeding the main insect feeder crickets or discoid dust them w/ the calcium D3 or the vitamin -- you will need to feed the BSFL ALOT to get rid of the calcium D3 - I fed both dubias and BSFL to Blaze as a baby but not the main feeder BSFL so the dubias were dusted 5 x per week - ONCE PER FEEDING- lightly coat them do not make them look like a powder donut-- super worms come shipped different ways some suppliers send them in bran some do not- you would need to look on the suppliers website how they are shipped - I have gotten them in a box w/ just paper some in plastic containers w/ food some in a tube w/ just a egg crate -- so you need to pay attention how they come - I have saved alot of plastic containers that roaches and worms have come in they have lids w/ holes and then just wash out and reuse them - I have also ordered bran and feed carrots for hydration for the super worms - he is too young for meal worms supers are ok small ones you might get away w/ a mediums feed only 1-3 on top of his salads use them as lures along w/ you BSFL to the salad bowl --- you will want a bowl like this
https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
feed salads first thing in the morning http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Ignore the kale thing its a great staple feeder --
add your BSFL on top hand feed a couple then put them on top of his salads add as many as you want then supplement the your staple insect about a hr or so later put them in the bowl too - crickets are a little harder to do pull a leg off of them so they cant jump - the discoid roach use tongs to move them --
I would start w/ smalls for roaches and go from there - when he looks like hes handling the eating and not struggling w/ them to eat them and hes eating a ton then its time to move to the next size --- for now depending on how many BSFL he eats will depend on how many roaches hes gonna eat - he will of coarse eat less roaches than crickets as they are more filling -- Blaze was eating probably 20 BSFL on his salads and about 10-15 dubias as a baby - that was in the morning then I was adding 1-3 supers and small silk worms 1-3 of those -- by the time he was about 5 months he was only eating one time per day - the second feeding of the roaches NOT dusted phased out -- he was still full from breakfast --
your dragon should be checked for parasites 2 x per year I take a fecal in to the vet NO ENEMAS and drop it off - once in the spring and once in the fall -- they make a yearly visit into the vet once per year -- as of now he is too young to go unless hes sick --- usually good basking temps and good UVB will keep the vet away -- unless he was sick when you got him or for some other reason ---- there are signs of parasites / worms -- a healthy dragon is eating basking active and pooping ---- they do get lazy but your little guy should be doing everything I just posted -- they will have periods of not eating like maybe shedding - that makes them cranky -- or too many parasites / worms will also make them not eat --- make sure you change your UVB out once a year I recommend a month prior to for a T 5 -- a T 8 every 6 months one month prior to --- please ask more questions or if you need websites for worms / insects --- the insect should be no bigger than the space between his eyes length wise - if in doubt post a pic of his head and the insect beside him -- and yes hold off on the horn worms for now --- they will out grow him faster than he can eat them --- butter worms they are spendy silk worms and small supers and the BSFL are good feeders for him now silk are another good staple insect -- the butter and the silk worms are soft
