Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so yeah, she basically doesnt eat anything that doesnt move. she doesnt really even eat anything that's not a cricket. thoughts? comments? she's about 4 and a half months old and was 50g. about 3 weeks ago, i dont have a scale so i cant really weigh her. she is extremely alert, seems happy in general. She wont really eat more than a few crickets a day though.

Sometimes when they are young they are less interested in greens, though not usually.

Can you tell me what they temps in the cage are? If the temps are not hot enough, she won't eat as much.

Also, when I have a dragon that isn't really into their greens, I try to give them a day or two in the week in which they are not offered crickets and only greens are in the cage, they usually take to them quickly after that.

Phil

At about 50 grams she should be eating crickets no larger than a 1/2". She should be eating more than a few a day. She needs to be fed crickets at least twice a day. I never worry if they don't eat salad at that size. I would just continue to offer it and she should start eating it in her own time.

I would double check your temps. Cooler temps. mean slower digestion and therefore less eating and slower growth.

ambient temp in the NEW cage is around 80, 85, there's 3 clamp lights providing the heat for the whole cage, a 50 watt night glow bulb, a 60 watt red heat bulb and a 100 watt red heat bulb. she basks under all of them and seems to enjoy all the little spots i made for her, she still sleeps on a branch that's been in her cage since she was little, but she doesnt seem to try to get as close to the bulbs as she used to. I dont have a thermometer for the basking temps, i only have one of those sticker ZooMed guages.

Get rid of the red bulbs and replace them with standard household bulbs... the ambient temperatures are fine for the hot end of the cage but you need a basking site that reaches between 100-115F for young dragons. Do you have UVB light as well?

I am assuming these 'red heat' are the colored bulbs...and not some brand name..as i never use brand name heat bulbs for my lizards, I don't know the fancy names they carry... I just use standard flood or spot style house hold bulbs..they are often much cheaper and last just as long if not longer than the more expensive petstore brands.
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PHLdyPayne

i get all of my bulbs at the pet store, and yes there's also a 36" UVB light. why is the red light bad? i keep them on 24/7, have been her whole life, the only light that turns off is the big UVB light.

If the red light is just a red colored bulb, it doesn't provide the brightness to stimulate natural sunlight as a regular white or soft white household bulb does. All lights should be off at night with no more than 14 hours of daylight. It is better for the basking light to be bright, like the sun..as dragons instinctively will climb up into the light or lay out in direct sunlight to warm up. When they are warm enough, they will retreat to less directly light up areas (ie shaded areas, or a hide or cool end of the tank) when they start to get too warm.

If temperatures in the room drop below 65F at night, then you can use a blue night bulb or ceramic heat emitter to provide additional heat, but its only required to bring the temperature in the cage up to about 68-74F no more. If its too warm at night, it can be stressful for the dragons. A under tank heater can be used, but keep it on a thermostat so it doesn't get too hot.
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PHLdyPayne

none of the bulbs are just colored ones, they are all special reptile heat bulbs. in fact i believe they're all zoomed ones.

Ah that is different... as long as they do produce regular clear light and heat, they are fine. Over priced but fine. I don't use the brand name bulbs because they are often 2 or more times the cost of a standard flood or spot light style bulb you can find at Walmart or any home hardware type store.
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PHLdyPayne

yeah, i kinda figured alot of pet store stuff was way more expensive so i got all of my actual light fixtures at the hardware store, just the bulbs at pet stores, she actually sleeps on a branch directly under the 50 watt blacklight heat bulb at night. every once in a while she'll retreat into her box hide and sleep but not too often. my whole cage set up is probably a nightmare in the eyes of the experienced, but it seems to do the trick for her. one of theese days i'll get a picture up.

I don't really understand. But anyway ZooMed sells blue glass bulbs that are meant to be daylight bulbs. They also sell red glass bulbs that are meant to be night bulbs. They claim that reptiles cannot see the red light. I have tested this and their advertising is just wrong. BD's can see the red light and it disrupts their sleep. ESU Reptile and Exo Terra make black nightime bulbs that emit far less light than Zoo Med's red bulbs. The black nightime bulbs are the only ones I would consider using at night.

In arid areas the temperature is hot during the day when the sun is out. Reptiles bask in the sun to get their core temperature up for digestion and absorb the UVB from the sun to metabolize calcium properly. At night these dry area are quite cool. These are the conditions a Bearded Dragon is designed for.

Therefore, as stated earlier unless your house drops into the low 60's at night, no light or heat should be on for the 10 night time hours. If your house does drop below 60 then a black bulb or Ceramic Heat Emmitter should be used to bring the dragons enclosure temp. to 65. No higher than 70.

A dragon the size of yours should be eating at least 40 crickets a day between 2 meals. If he/she is not then some changes in husbandry need to be considered