New owner, Baby Beardie help?!

[buddy]

Hi

I became the owner of a baby beardie 1 week ago, I'm already very attatched!!
I just have a couple of questions which I haven't seen asked in the forums as of yet.

When I purchased my beardie, the shop also provided his food, which was some waxworms & some crickets.
I'm trying to avoid feeding him the waxworms, but he really struggles to eat the crick's, he'll have 5 at the very most.
At first I put it down to the stresses of having a new owner, then, 2 nights ago he had a huge feast (well, huge compared to his normal fussy eating) and gulped down around 25 crick's, followed by some veggies.
Yesterday i discovered he's shedding. He barely ate a thing! today he's eaten a small mouthful of dandelion, he played around a while as normal, now he's sleeping in his basking spot, waking from time to time to check up on me, so far he has never slept during the day.

I understand while shedding some beardies may be off their food, but i'm quite worried that he won't take his crick's. is there anything i can do to get him eating his crickets?
all he seems to want is worms, which i don't want to give him.

I researched alot before buying him, through these forums & other websites: poop is normal, once a day. temps: 110 basking, 85 cold. ReptiSun 10.0 uvb...hmm, think i covered everything.

Apologies my first post is such a long one! ha

 

[Fliehigh]

Hi Buddy

And welcome to the wonderful world of being a Beardy Slave.

With Beardy's, they go through something called relocation stress. This can last for a gfew days or weeks but with the proper handling you can make the time shorter. First off, I would not handle the beardy until he begins to eat reguarly and the stress lines on his belly disapear. Also is he has a glass cage you may want to cover all sides but one so he feels more safe and secure.

Also, when they shed they sometimes don't feel like eating (picture you haveing a sunburn on you whole body and a layer of skin peeling off).

Wax worms should only ever be fed as a treat, if you feed wax worms on a regular basis they will become addicted to them and refuse other food. But if you restrict them to just crix eventually he will be hungry enough to eat. Don't forget the salad and Calcium, vitamin suplements for him.

Here is a link to a list of foods you should and shouldn't feed him as well as how often.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id...MDRiODM5N2NiNTE0&hl=en&authkey=CI31zoUJ&pli=1

Hope this helps

Fliehigh

 

[buddy]

Hey Fliehigh,

Thanks alot for the tips, i'll cover the sides of his cage & see if it helps. I've been handling him once a day for the last few days, he seems nervous/unsure of it when i first pick him up, but after 5 minutes he gets settled & refuses to let me put him down!
I haven't handled him since i noticed he's started to shed, but have been squirting him with water a couple of times a day.

At the store i picked him up from he was kept on sand with a bowl of water & a giant bowl of worms, not sure if he'd ever even seen a cricket or salad before!

Printing the chart out right now

Thanks again
Buddy

 

[Bill]

Give him a good soak it will help his shed and it can take several days to shed his whole body.

 

[buddy]

Cool, thanks, i'm going to buy him something to soak/bathe in... he seems to have shed his body really easily, but his tail & head have barely shed at all

 

[buddy]

Hey, just giving a quick update on buddy (yes he shares my username!)

i took on board all the tips you guys gave me, covered the sides of his viv, bathed him in warm water (his tail went up at first, but then he settled into it).
he's now shed everything except for his chin & face.
Lastnight he had a massive feast on some crickets, finally!...and lots of salad today.
Today i was in work for the first time in 3 days...when i got home, buddy was covered in stress marks, they vanished about 20 minutes after i was home.
Then i went out for a few hours, when i returned, his stress marks had gotten so bad his underside was almost black! I checked everything & it was all fine, although he was on the cold side of the viv the entire time.
Over the course of an hour they vanished, came back, then vanished again, I couldn't figure out why...

Now they're completely gone & for the last hour (and for the first time ever) he's been basking, even with mouth open from time to time.

A bit stange with the stress marks, the only conclusion i could come to with those was some kind of seperation anxiety dues to my 3 days off work?
other than that, all tips have helped me out heaps thanks alot!

Buddy

 

[Bill]

Great to hear he is settling in.