Not eating regularly

[Dragon Mike]

My little beardie is not eating regularly. I keep a salad in his cage everyday and offer roaches every day as well. But it seems like he eats a bunch of roaches every 3 days or so then nothing. Is this normal? What can I do?

 

[Hdrydr31]

My little beardie is not eating regularly. I keep a salad in his cage everyday and offer roaches every day as well. But it seems like he eats a bunch of roaches every 3 days or so then nothing. Is this normal? What can I do?

Sorry your having some concerns, can you fill us in on age, enclosure, temps, what lighting, substrate, how long you've had him...
Alot depends on age, temps, lighting As a baby typically eats 3-4 times a day, where a juv will eat 1-2 times a day and an adult may only eat every other to every 3 days..

So more info is needed so we can help. pictures help too..

 

[Dragon Mike]

He is only about 3 months old. I had him for about 2 weeks. The enclosure is a 75 gallon with a screen top. The temps are 105 baking and down to 80 at the cool end. I have the light on for 12 hours and no light or heat for 12. Substrate is newspaper.
The cage looks a little dark but I think it's the camera. I think maybe if getting a florescent hood and light as well.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Eavlynn]

He's probably still adjusting, but his enclosure needs some modifications. Your basking temp is good. You definitely need a hood fixture with a reptisun 10.0 T5 HO fluorescent tube style bulb. It will provide UVB, which is crucial for a beardie. Without it, they will start developing metabolic bone disease, which is not something you want to have happen. If the husbandry is off, they won't eat because they aren't capable of digesting properly. If you get UVB on that baby, you should see some improvement pretty quickly. The enclosure is pretty large for such a tiny baby, but if he eats after you add the UVB light, you should be fine. If you still have issues, you might want to downsize the enclosure until he's big enough for the 75 gallon.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Dragon Mike]

Just got the florescent light. The light is a T5 and has two bulbs but they are only the 7 and not the 10. Do you think that would be okay?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Can you post a picture of the light I don't know what you mean by the two bulbs and are 7??
You may want to take a look/read of the links below several of our comments as we've put together general care info for new comers.. this may help...
Lighting is key proper UVB
Heat, get yourself a temp gun as those gauges are very inaccurate I would use a temp gun and or probe style
The tank size is fine you just want to put more stuff in there like logs, hides, things to climb on as he/she grows you can take things out... But he may be a bit scared as there are not many places for him to hide.

 

[Dragon Mike]

This is the light

 

[Hdrydr31]

View attachment 15466 This is the light

Very interesting I don't know anything about that UVB hood/set up.. But T5 is the way to go.. hopefully someone with more lighting knowledge will chime in...

 

[Dragon Mike]

Thanks for your help Hdrydr31. He seems do be dong better already. He went to his hide tonight instead of sleeping on the hammock. He also was drinking alot. Hopefully he will start eating now. I'm still hoping someone could chime in about the hood, however the woman at the pet store seems pretty knowledgeable. She said the 10.0 reptisun means its 10% UVB and this is 7%. Not sure if she is correct, but maybe someone here can confirm it.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Thanks for your help Hdrydr31. He seems do be dong better already. He went to his hide tonight instead of sleeping on the hammock. He also was drinking alot. Hopefully he will start eating now. I'm still hoping someone could chime in about the hood, however the woman at the pet store seems pretty knowledgeable. She said the 10.0 reptisun means its 10% UVB and this is 7%. Not sure if she is correct, but maybe someone here can confirm it.

I do believe that is correct.. most of us have the Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 fixtures/bulbs. I do believe that we put info on lighting and there is a link to a long article on the technical side to it.. you can find the link to the thread under my comments..

 

[Hdrydr31]

Nope we didn't here ya go if you want to read it..
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Health/Habitats-Care/Reptile-Lighting-Information/

 

[Dragon Mike]

Nope we didn't here ya go if you want to read it..
http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Reptile-Health/Habitats-Care/Reptile-Lighting-Information/

Thanks.
A lot of great info.

 

[PatsyB]

My guess is going to be that the 7% is not enough. Most of us use the Reptisun 10.0 bulbs but there is a brand called Arcadia that is very good and the Arcadia bulb is 12%.

 

[Dragon Mike]

My guess is going to be that the 7% is not enough. Most of us use the Reptisun 10.0 bulbs but there is a brand called Arcadia that is very good and the Arcadia bulb is 12%.

Thanks for the info. I'll defiantly get one. The good news is my little guy is eating more regular now. I think he is finally adjusted.