Please help! Scared new dragon mom!

[Jojoturnip]

My dragon is pretty young. He (or she--we can't tell yet) is about 7 inches long. His name is Despereaux, and he is my first dragon. I got him a few weeks ago and he was nervous when we brought him home, but he ate plenty of crickets, mealworms, and greens (no fruit). PetSmart had even told me that he had a big appetite when I bought him. Now, he has warmed up to the family pretty well, and he comes running to me when he is scared of something (thunder or his reflection). But, now he refuses food. He won't touch his greens or fruit, he runs from mealworms (and fly larvae), and crickets crawl on him and he just ignores him. He ate only one cricket yesterday, and nothing today. He still has high energy and loves to go explore in the area outside his tank that I set up for him. He has pooped fine every day, but today he only let out one white blob (no brown).
He has a 40 gallon tank with lots of different stuff to explore. He basking spot temp is just over 95 degrees, and he has plenty of shaded spots too. He has the reptisun bulb. He has the reptile carpet.
He did go through a period of time where he refused every food but crickets, and PetSmart employees advised us to hold off on the crickets for a few days. He still had fresh salad, pellets, fruit, mealworms,(and some freeze-dried crickets and mealworms in a buffetblend mix) in his tank everyday, but he ignored it all until he got some crickets. Now that he won't even eat those, he is getting thinner. I am worried. What should I do?

 

[Patti]

I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. From what I’ve heard you shouldn’t take PetSmart’s advice, as they really don’t know what they’re talking about, just for future reference. As far as him not eating goes I would continue to offer him food every day. Greens and insects being what you offer him the most. Maybe try some fruit like banana? If all else fails you could feed him with an eye dropper and baby food. If you go to a vet they can give you this powder mix which is chock full of vitamins and nutrients. You mix it with water and feed it to your beardie using an eye dropper. One of my beardies would not eat unless I hand fed him, I would do this with greens, but not with live worms and insects cos they could easily mistake your finger for one and chomp down. You can use tweezers for those. If he’s still not eating after a few days I would suggest taking him to a vet because it could be something more serious like parasites. Do you feel any hard lumps in his stomach to indicate impaction? Keep an eye on him the next few days! I hope something changes.


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[Jojoturnip]

Thank you for the info! I tried the banana, and he licked it, but wouldn't eat it. I will continue to offer him food. I felt his stomach, and there are no lumps, but sometimes it does feel a little bloated before he goes to the restroom. I hand feed him, and leave food in the bowl. He is not interested now. I may need to look into going to the vet. Thanks again!

 

[Hdrydr31]

My dragon is pretty young. He (or she--we can't tell yet) is about 7 inches long. His name is Despereaux, and he is my first dragon. I got him a few weeks ago and he was nervous when we brought him home, but he ate plenty of crickets, mealworms, and greens (no fruit). PetSmart had even told me that he had a big appetite when I bought him. Now, he has warmed up to the family pretty well, and he comes running to me when he is scared of something (thunder or his reflection). But, now he refuses food. He won't touch his greens or fruit, he runs from mealworms (and fly larvae), and crickets crawl on him and he just ignores him. He ate only one cricket yesterday, and nothing today. He still has high energy and loves to go explore in the area outside his tank that I set up for him. He has pooped fine every day, but today he only let out one white blob (no brown).
He has a 40 gallon tank with lots of different stuff to explore. He basking spot temp is just over 95 degrees, and he has plenty of shaded spots too. He has the reptisun bulb. He has the reptile carpet.
He did go through a period of time where he refused every food but crickets, and PetSmart employees advised us to hold off on the crickets for a few days. He still had fresh salad, pellets, fruit, mealworms,(and some freeze-dried crickets and mealworms in a buffetblend mix) in his tank everyday, but he ignored it all until he got some crickets. Now that he won't even eat those, he is getting thinner. I am worried. What should I do?

How is your dragon doing today?
First I would bump up your basking temp as babies need to be up towards 107F Temp plays a HUGE role in feeding/digesting/mood. If they are too cold they won't eat as they can't digest properly.
Take a look at the links below several of our comments as we have put together tons of info for how to care for this critters. Once you increase his temps and have the UVB overlapping with it as they need both for digestion. I would nix the pellets as they are live food eaters, try different live feeders like Dubia, crickets, BSFL (black solider fly larva), silkworms. Mealworms are very hard to digest as their shells contain chitlin. Freeze-dried anything serves no purpose as they eat live and they get the moisture they need from the foods that they eat.

 

[PatsyB]

i agree with Hdrydr31, bump that temp up to at 107 degrees. I bet he starts eating again.

 

[Jojoturnip]

Sorry for late response, guys! Despereaux is doing great now! But, I want to finish the post for other new dragon moms. He has a giant appetite and is growing very quickly.
We took him to the vet, and everyone loved the little guy because he was so full of energy. They said since he was so rambunctious, it was largely an attitude problem--nothing to do with his environment. He thought he was too manly to eat, and had also been through a large shed recently. The bloated tummy was to him trying to him holding his breath and trying to make himself bigger so as to frighten me. Luckily his manliness quest ended a few days later, and he ate like crazy--so long as it was food he liked. He still won't touch fruit, but he loves his greens, veggies, crickets, meal worms, horn worms, and grasshoppers.
Anyway, thank you all for your help! To all the other scared new dragon moms out there, a local vet can be a big help. All dragons are different and it seems that their personality is closely related to their health and how to need to care for them. The whole family loves Desi, the big handful that he is!