Beardie not eating?

[arieligoe]

Hey! I have had my six month old beardie for about a week. I have had a bearded dragon in the past, but its been awhile. He's actually a pretty small guy, his name is Ajax. His body is about the size of my hand and his tail goes all the way down to almost my forearm. The first day or two I had him I left him alone, due to his stress marks, but i would put a superworm in front of him & see if he ate it, and he gobbled it right up. The next day I gave him about 11 medium sized superworms, but kept it to the minimum. he ate them. After that, I decided to try and give him some greens. I gave him lettuce, (don't hate me for it, haha, it was something simple.) and chopped up some bananas and put a couple mealworms in the middle. went fpr the worms, did not eat any of the greens. I've tried the papertowel thing, and all that. I would love to feed him dubia roaches, but there is no way that will be happening, because I still live with my parents. As soon as I go to college though I will start him on dubias. Right now we are about to go buy crickets, (horrible, i know.) because he refused to eat any of them and they are all pretty much dead. he now hasn't eaten for two days, except for one superworm today and still refuses veggies. his basking temp is usually around 99°-101°, and his other side of the tank is around 86°. At night time the temps drop to around 72°. his humidity is around 30%. i sprinkle calcium on half of his meals. i refill his water everyday, but he never seems to drink it. so i spray him with a spray bottle and he usually licks it off himself, which is good. i'm not sure if its stress, because he always gladly jumps on my hand when i go to get him out of his tank. (he is in a 40 gal, long, for now.) he always likes to sleep on my shoulder and cuddle. he loves to chase my cats laser. he only has "stress" marks or turns dark when he is basking and absorbing the calcium. as i type this, he is cuddled up and sleeping on my stomach. he always lightens up when i take him out of his tank or the basking spot. i guess what i'm asking is how do i get him to eat, and are there any issues? and i know, once again, i wish to feed him dubias, but i cant for now. i try to give him a variety, and i plan on occasionally giving him silkworms, maybe grasshoppers for a treat, but definetly not as a main feeder. i also know that he is too young to go through brumation. so i guess what i'm asking is, are crickets, superworms, mealworms, and salad my only option? and how do i get him to eat, and is this normal? i can't figure it out. thanks!

 

[Hdrydr31]

Crickets are fine, yea dubia's are really good, lettuce is really only water it can make him have diarrhea collard greens, mustard greens, kale, dandilion greens are way better options that will give nutrients as well that they need. Bananas should be at a on occasion.. here is a good resource on foods mealworms are hard to digest due to their shell

http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[arieligoe]

Crickets are fine, yea dubia's are really good, lettuce is really only water it can make him have diarrhea collard greens, mustard greens, kale, dandilion greens are way better options that will give nutrients as well that they need. Bananas should be at a on occasion.. here is a good resource on foods mealworms are hard to digest due to their shell

http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

thank you so much!! yeah i get the whole meal worm thing. i just fed him about 15 crickets, which is really good progress! he ate two supers, and then i tried to give him some of the kale, and he looked at it, and just ignored it. slowly but surely. at least he ate more today. we moved him up from small to medium crickets. i'm sure he'll slowly get more onto the greens. since hes six months, he needs about half insects and half greens. any suggestions for getting him to actually eat his veggies? once again, thanks!!

 

[Hdrydr31]

What I do is I put some of the veggies in with the bugs in her glass bowl so when the bugs move around it draws her attention to the movement, and a bonus is whatever the insects eat also goes into her when she eats them Just keep offering the salads in a bowl and in time he will eat it I know some others add bee pollen to the greens I believe patsyB does this..