concerned newbie - eating

[mulletman9160]

Hello all

I am a new owner for about a month now. I got our bearded dragon at about 5-6 inches from petsmart. He is living in a 40 gallon with proper lighting, 110-115 in basking and 80-85 in cool side. He gets 15 hours of light and 9 of dark based on my schedule to feed him. Within the first week he ate like crazy. I was giving him about 40 crickets a day and he would also eat a few greens. He also has already shredded once which slowed the eating. It then picked back up again. Now he has slowed to barely wanting anything. He shows no interest in mealworms or crickets.

Should I be concerned by this behavior or am I missing something.

Thanks for any advise
Josh

 

[Germ]

As long as it is eating some, you should be ok. Their appetites can & will vary from time to time.

What would concern me is your lighting schedule. 9 hours is too short of a night for most BDs. The majority of us have found that a 12On/12Off schedule works the best.

A few good links to help get you started ...

Basic BD Care Sheet - A Place To Start

Bearded Dragon --- Exclusive Care Info Library

Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart

UVB Setup

Is Bearded Dragon Co-habitation a good plan?

How To Sex A Bearded Dragon

Good Luck

 

[mulletman9160]

So the lack of sleep could be effecting his appetite?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Germ]

It could be quite possible, not enough sleep can make them lethargic during the day, which would likely affect the appetite.

 

[gilliesexotics]

Hi, welcome to the forums. What is your dusting schedule and are you gut loading? If so, with what?

 

[mulletman9160]

I dust at least five times a week, it has been hard since he is not eating. I use Flukers calcium. What is gut loading?

I just brought him to the vet and he may have a small parasite. he is not on some meds for that. I will also be giving baths with petialyte.

 

[Dennis Cronin]

Look on craigslist for someone locally doing Dubia roaches. They're considered better feeders than crickets and now my guy pretty much won't look at a cricket. They live a lot longer and are easy to keep in spite of looking a bit creepy at first.

Dennis

 

[Bushmaster11B]

I know someone in TExas that has tons of small Dubias for sale. I use her and I'm really happy with her shipping methods. Her name is MiloO. PM her and she will hook you up. I would set that timer back so your BD gets at least 11-12 hours of sleep. Check out CoastalSilkworms.com for silkworms too, they are an excellent staple feeder! You will have to order from the Westcoast because East coast is out of stock. Hope this helps

What kind of UVB do you have and how low to his basking area is it?