Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to beardies and thought I had read enough and learned enough from the adults, I have some 1 week old hatchlings that i need some advice on getting them to eat, I read that they would eat everything in sight and that is not happening. Any help or advice would be great. They are eating but not alot. Thanks Rick

Some questions for you.
1. How many babies are in each enclosure? How big is the enclosure?

2. What are the temps?

3. What size crickets are you feeding? How many times are you offering them?

4. Are they being fed other food sources (repcal pellets, greens, formula etc)?

Approximately how many would you say they are eating a day? Are they showing any signs of illness (lethargic, diarrhea, etc)?

At one week of age mine are bursting with energy (most within 24 hours). Running up and down their cage, crawling on each other, knocking each other off rocks, waving, eating, swimming (when I spray them) and so on. Are yours active and alert?

I would think that if you are not formula feeding them they should be eating crickets by 1 week of age. Usually within a couple days they start and slowly increase and by a week are chowing down.

Keep in mind if you are feeding larger crickets they will eat less. I wouldnt feed crickets any bigger then 1/4" as a hatchling.

Some of the questions I asked above will help us hopefully help you. Lindsay
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Ok here is what I do. I keep whole clutches together in 55 gallon tanks that I have several extra of. I keep the temp in the basking spot at 115 F. For a 55 that takes a 100 watt standard bulb. I keep them on paper towels. The cool end in 85 ish. At night it goes down to 75. So feeding routine. About 1 hour after lights on I give them food proccesed veggies (collards or dandelion greens) I usually add some ESU calcium spray in with the veggies before food processing them, adds to the aroma. I also give them crickets in the morning. I say each beardie eats 5-10 and then eats the remaning crickets and veggies thoughout the day. I feed veggies again a few hours before lights out. I water my dragons every other day or so. To water I put them all in a container with a little water spray them then let them soak. Allows me time to clean the cage out. I use 1/4" crickets. I just sold some two week olds that the buyer thought were much older. All getting fat tails and bellies at two weeks. I also duat all of my crickets with repcal and once to twice a week with repcal herptivite. I find that the first few days they don't each much if any but should be alert and running around. At about 4-7 days old they start to eat crickets more readily and veggies to. At 2 weeks they start to try to eat you out of house and home. This is why I like wholesaling once they are eating like a pig time for them to go to the petstore and/or distributor. I have't lost a dragon yet and have/had 85 babies so far this year. hatching over 90% of the good eggs. Just my experience.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com