Reptile & Amphibian Forums

dusted crickets but will eat undusted crickets. I bought a oranges six inch BD from a local pet shop and maybe he is only used to eating undusted. All my temps are good. Any advice on what to do? Also, it seems like he is too focused on his reflection in the glass and he stares at himself all day. Any advice or tips would be very appreciated thank you.

Steven

What you could do is put couple of undusted crickets in at first just to get him intrested then drop a dusted cricket in. Hopefully he won't tell the difference and eat it. How old is the bearded dragon? young babies normally won't touch there veggies till there 1 years old. If your dragon will accept hand feeding try hand feeding him/her some veggies.

IF you dragon is looking at its reflection in the glass, try covering the glass. It may think it is another dragon and possibly be intimidated by the reflection.

My babies from week one have always eaten greens. Try to sprinkle the greens into a bowl, and the movement may get it to eat. Also try to put some super worms in a bowl and put the greens on top. The worms will move the greens around and make it much more interesting.
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www.moonstonedragons.com

dusted crickets but will eat undusted crickets. I bought a oranges six inch BD from a local pet shop and maybe he is only used to eating undusted. All my temps are good. Any advice on what to do? Also, it seems like he is too focused on his reflection in the glass and he stares at himself all day. Any advice or tips would be very appreciated thank you.

A few comments if I may
'my temps are fine' 'I bought it from a pet store'
This leads me to ask, could you please, so we may help you better, tell us
What are the temperatures?
What size cage?
Lighting?
UVB?
What size prey are you feeding?
How often does its bowel move?
Do you supplement lack of greens/liquid with bathes/water drips?
What kind of calcium supplement are you dusting with?

It might not eat greens because it has not seen them before.
Keep offering, eventually it will get the idea.
Try using a background to cover 3/4 of the walls of the glass tank.
I am sure if you answer the questions above, it will make any one else able to help a lot more...
I might have even missed some good questions, but bet the more information you can give them, the more they will be able to help.
Good luck, and we love pictures.

I have him/her in 40 gallon and the basking spot is around 112f. The ambient temps are 92 and 84. I am using reptocal for cal and reptivite for vita. I am using a mercury for uvb and nothing for the cool side. I live in so cal and it is hot here so I dont need additional heat for the cool side. I am feeding small crickets. I am hearing that some BDs dont eat greens until 1 year old and also hearing that there babies are eating greens already. I will cover the glass but it is going to be a hasle cleaning.

I use RepCal Calcium w/D3 and have tasted it. It has absolutely no taste. Perhaps you could try switching brands.

Babies don't eat a lot of salad. They tend to eat more at times when there are no crickets available, so I would keep it in there all day. I also leave crickets in during the day and the salad keeps them gutloaded.

My 2-3 week old babies seem to be eating it but I have not seen them so I can't really be sure. I feed them mustard and dandelion greens.

I have also left salads in there all day with crickets but the salads just get dry. I use collard, carrots, and squash. Where do u get dandelion greens? Thanks for the info by the way.

I get dandelion at the supermarket. If you check around you'll probably find it. I would not bother with vegetables at all for babies. I would also recomend against Collard greens. Collard greens are thick leaves and are harder for small dragons to eat. I would just do greens only. If you put a bottomful of water in the bowl the greens will not dry out.

How heavily are you dusting the crickets? They should look very lightly frosted, not as though they have been dipped in white paint.

I know you said all your temperatures are good but please let us know what they are. Use a digital thermometer with probe for air/ambient temperature readings and surface temperatures (or a temp gun for surface, which works much better). Find the temperature of your basking spot, and the air temperature there, as well as the cool end of the tank.

What size cage is he in? Do you have a UVB source? What substrate to you have? Pictures of your setup will be great as well.

As your dragon is about 6" long, he is probably under two months old, or a poorly fed older dragon. Pet stores tend to feed their dragons very little to keep them from growing, so they are more appealing to buyers. Good reliable reptile knowledgeable pet stores don't do this as they want healthy and thriving animals to go to good homes.

Tell us more information about how long you had your dragon, how often do you offer food? How many crickets does he eat?

What sort of supplements are you using (ie what brand of calcium powder and what brand of multivitamin?)
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PHLdyPayne