Frustrated and Worried!! Baby Beardie not interested in food at all!

[Beardieluv1981]

Hello all, I am new to this forum and new to bearded dragons and reptiles in general...Soo let me start from the very beginning...We bought a baby bearded dragon from Petsmart (I know, dont lecture me).. We knew very little about these animals at the time of purchase and trusted the Petsmart employee for all the info about how to care for him. (Big Mistake)...They sold me the wrong lighting, did not even mention that they need calcium for proper health and bone growth etc etc.... I did not realize we were doing a lot of things wrong until I started getting deep in research on these guys...The light that the girl at Petsmart handed me was a All living things tube bulb that was discontinued and on sale for $3...Anyways we had him 2 weeks before we realized that he is supposed to have calcium dust on his feeders....He was a good eater in the beginning...As time went on, he started eating less and less and his legs, arms and head started twitching..Im assuming from the calcium deficiency and crappy uvb light...Longer story short, he died a week later.( We had him for 3 weeks) However, I think he was sick when we got him because all he ever did was lay around, he was not active at all..At the time, I thought thats how they acted...Poor guy, Sigh

We missed him so much that we decided to get another one, fingers crossed... We got this little girl at Pet Sense..(Again, I know, I did research these petstores and read horror stories on how they receive and care for these animals AFTER we got the second one...We will NOT go back to a petstore) This one Will Not eat anything! She is not interested or motivated by moving food and she will not eat her salad..Store said she was about 6-8 weeks. I did a ton of research when the first guy was ill and changed up alot of things unfortunately it was too late for him...I did get the Reptisun 10.0 light and Calcium dust with D3.. I have the repti carpet as substrate, The temp is kept around 110-113, Humidity is around 30s to high 40s...I have basking rocks, hiding spot, a hammock, a water source (just incase)...We have had her for 5 days, She is in a 35 gallon tank...I have been force feeding her live crickets dusted with the calcium powder, I usually stop at 2 or 3 just so I know shes not starving to death...I spray her about 2 or 3 times a day, she has had 1 bath...I just dont know what else to do, or if I keep doing what Im doing by force feeding, or how many is enough or if she needs more Or if I should just leave her alone etc. Also am I supposed to be giving vitamins??...Btw, She is alert and active. She is tiny..I have pictures of her and her tank if I can figure out how to post them...
Also let me quickly give you a run down on how she was kept at PetSense incase any of this is affecting her now.
She was kept under a red light, she was getting mealworms and crickets, the girl said 3 each a day (there was another baby in the tank) They were spraying them with water every HOUR.. Luckily I did research before listening to this person beacause everything she was telling me I knew was not correct.
Can anyone help me please, I dont want to lose another one!!!

 

[mamaof2dragons]

she/he may just need a little time to settle in,getting a new home is stressful for them. just keep offering dusted crickets and fresh greens, he will eat when he's ready too. yes you should give a multivitamin at the very least once a week you can put it on the greens or dusted crickets.

 

[Beardieluv1981]

Thanks for answering...I have read about relocation stress and to give them time to adjust, but wondering how long do I wait for her to eat by herself..or how long is too long? Will they starve themselves before they will give in and eat? She is loosing weight slowly, thats why Im getting concerned.

 

[mamaof2dragons]

if after a week of not eating it is adviced to have her checked by a reptile vet. you can also try other bugs then crickets such as hornworms, butter worms, dubias roaches, black soldier fly larvae, silk worms or wax worms. you can order them online from rainbow mealworms or mulberry farm.
but if only to help ease your worries take her in for a reptile check up and have them do a fecal smear for parasites. that can cause a lack of appetite in beardies and crickets can carry parasites that can pass to the beardie.
my Stryker came from pet smart and had some parasites that were treated with medication for them that was 4 yrs ago and she hasn't had any symptoms since, of course I dont feed her crickets any more unless I run out of other bugs first but I am cautious and watch for signs of parasites such as very smelly stools and lack of appetite and lethargy. keep us posted I'm praying for you and your beardie..

 

[Beardieluv1981]

Forgot to mention, I also have been offering wax worms but shes not interested in them either. She has been pooping everyday, its not runny or smelly..It looks normal. I will give her a little more time to adjust and take her to a vet if needed, thanks

 

[Beardieluv1981]

I have a camera on her during the day while Im at work, today I noticed that she was very active (more than usual) and jumping from her basking rock to her hammock and then back again...She was also climbing around on the tree..So maybe thats a positive sign that she is feeling good atleast. You can see the setup in the pics in the first post, its a good leap for her, I was going to make her a bridge but apparently she likes jumping across lol..

 

[mamaof2dragons]

she is so cute. be sure to leave her some fresh greens when your at work she may eat them when no one's watching her, a bashful eater. give it a try and keep us posted on how she doing.

 

[Beardieluv1981]

I fix her a fresh salad before I leave in the morning so hopefully shes nibbling on something, I gave her a bath yesterday and she is still very alert and active so fingers crossed...Will keep you updated, thanks for answering and helping

 

[mamaof2dragons]

your welcome. beardies are wonderful but sometimes perplexing critters at times but well worth the effort.

 

[JasperMoon]

It does take a while to get a baby eating. I honestly thought that my daughter's dragon was gonna die cause we couldn't get her to eat. I'm pretty sure it took something like two weeks or more til we finally got her eating good. We bought her some black fly larvae also known as Reptiworms or Phoenix worms and she liked those. I bought my juvenile dragon from Petsmart so definitely no judgement here. He's done very well for me ever since I bought him. He was an impulse buy... we were in Petsmart getting supplies for my daughter's dragon and he locked eyes with me and was just so gorgeous and on sale for only $37.50 so I went home with him that night. That's him my avatar pic.

I've been told that you can try sprinkling bee pollen in their salads and coating bugs with it. It's supposed to stimulate their appetites and be really good for them. I've never tried it. I also saw some appetite stimulant (a bottle of liquid) in a pet store once and was gonna buy it and try it but then my daughter's dragon started eating finally.

 

[HaggridTheBearded]

It does take a while to get a baby eating. I honestly thought that my daughter's dragon was gonna die cause we couldn't get her to eat. I'm pretty sure it took something like two weeks or more til we finally got her eating good. We bought her some black fly larvae also known as Reptiworms or Phoenix worms and she liked those. I bought my juvenile dragon from Petsmart so definitely no judgement here. He's done very well for me ever since I bought him. He was an impulse buy... we were in Petsmart getting supplies for my daughter's dragon and he locked eyes with me and was just so gorgeous and on sale for only $37.50 so I went home with him that night. That's him my avatar pic.

I've been told that you can try sprinkling bee pollen in their salads and coating bugs with it. It's supposed to stimulate their appetites and be really good for them. I've never tried it. I also saw some appetite stimulant (a bottle of liquid) in a pet store once and was gonna buy it and try it but then my daughter's dragon started eating finally.

Yours is adorable! if I saw one like that at PetSmart/Petco for that cheap I likely would take it home. As it was any time I go in there I want to save all the poor tiny beardies, handfuls of them, in various sizes, in the tank with some HUGE crickets. But I know that is not possible so I just avoid the stores so I don't get tempted.

BeardieLuv1981 yours is SO tiny! and so cute!!! You mentioning her jumping around in there when she does not know anyone can see her is great. Makes me think we should use one of the random camera systems we have around our house, but never use, to set up a camera on Hagrid. I know he mostly eats salad when he thinks no one is watching. Unless he is taking it from a tweezers or some one's hand.

We kept our tank very simple, pool for water, basking light over a basking rock, cooler side and that was it for at least a month while we gave our beardie a chance to adjust.

 

[JasperMoon]

so I just avoid the stores so I don't get tempted.

Me too!!

 

[Beardieluv1981]

Thank ypu guys for posting! I didnt get a notification about new posts, weird....I was actually getting on here to update the thread...I bought some Pheonix worms today, She ate 3!!!!!! I know thats not much, but I definitely call it progress...So happy <3....She is 6 inches long and weighs 7 grams so I dont know how much her little belly will hold...Jasper, yeah I spy on her while Im at work to see what shes doing lol...I caught her drinking out of the water bowl twice..I notice when she gets her full 10-12 hours sleep that she is very active the next day, jumping from the rock to the hammock and then running around the bottom of the tank then back up again lol....But hopefully these pheonix worms will stimulate her appetite so she will start eating like shes supposed to...Im so obsessed with this little girl, its crazy.

 

[JasperMoon]

...Im so obsessed with this little girl, its crazy.

Yep, that sounds all too familiar. They sure do steal your heart.

Just FYI, if you want to hang out in more active groups, there are a ton of Bearded Dragon groups on FB. My two favorites are: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2188973148095597/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1840692722621659/

 

[Beardieluv1981]

Thank you JasperMoon, will check them out! I just thought of a question...Does anyone know how many pheonix worms is equivalent to 1 cricket? I read it somewhere but cant find it now...And the cup actually says these are calci worms, but I read they are the same thing as Pheonix worms basically..