Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had my bearded dragon, Lelusha, seince Agust 2003, she is almost 2 years old now so she should have had her first winter shut down this past winter right? She did not seem to eat any less during this last winter, but she is my first beardie so I did not know exzactly what to look for. For the last few months my family and I have been extremely busy and I was not home for days at a time, so no one was there to take care of her, so she would normally eat every other day or every 3 days, but she would eat a lot at a time. Now I am making sure to be home every day, and have been offering her food every day and spraying her and doing everything like I should but she will not eat. Last time she ate was about 5 days ago, she had about 5-7 large sized crickets, every day since I have offerd her food but she will not accept it. I have even left worms and crickets in there for days to give her time to decide that they look appetizing, she only gets bored with them and competley ignores them. Is there something wrong with her? What can I do? I have attached a picture, she still seems to be alert and healthy, but I am worried about her poor eating habbits, and I fear that it is my fault. Thanks
Jennifer

Link

oops.

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Jennifer

I wouldn't worry to much I have 2 the oldest one is approx 8 years and the youngs is approx 5 the older they get the less they eat. Mine always have pellets available but eat at them maybe once monthly. I give fresh veggies/fruits twice montly and they will finish them off and then live happily. There weights stay the same and both are active and healthy. My youngest I have had since she was a hatchling and she ate like a pig for the first 16 - 18 months with very little hibernation. Hope this helps

>>I have had my bearded dragon, Lelusha, seince Agust 2003, she is almost 2 years old now so she should have had her first winter shut down this past winter right? She did not seem to eat any less during this last winter, but she is my first beardie so I did not know exzactly what to look for. For the last few months my family and I have been extremely busy and I was not home for days at a time, so no one was there to take care of her, so she would normally eat every other day or every 3 days, but she would eat a lot at a time. Now I am making sure to be home every day, and have been offering her food every day and spraying her and doing everything like I should but she will not eat. Last time she ate was about 5 days ago, she had about 5-7 large sized crickets, every day since I have offerd her food but she will not accept it. I have even left worms and crickets in there for days to give her time to decide that they look appetizing, she only gets bored with them and competley ignores them. Is there something wrong with her? What can I do? I have attached a picture, she still seems to be alert and healthy, but I am worried about her poor eating habbits, and I fear that it is my fault. Thanks
>>Jennifer
>>
>>Link

or just insects?

First, I will tell you the next time you are unable to take care of her for 3 days at a time repeatedly, think strongly about giving her to someone who cares enough to do things right in the first place.

That being said and in the past, the majority of her diet should be veggies and greens and not insects. Are you offering these things?
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Rob Talkington

>>>>I have had my bearded dragon, Lelusha, seince Agust 2003, she is almost 2 years old now so she should have had her first winter shut down this past winter right? She did not seem to eat any less during this last winter, but she is my first beardie so I did not know exzactly what to look for. For the last few months my family and I have been extremely busy and I was not home for days at a time, so no one was there to take care of her, so she would normally eat every other day or every 3 days, but she would eat a lot at a time. Now I am making sure to be home every day, and have been offering her food every day and spraying her and doing everything like I should but she will not eat. Last time she ate was about 5 days ago, she had about 5-7 large sized crickets, every day since I have offerd her food but she will not accept it. I have even left worms and crickets in there for days to give her time to decide that they look appetizing, she only gets bored with them and competley ignores them. Is there something wrong with her? What can I do? I have attached a picture, she still seems to be alert and healthy, but I am worried about her poor eating habbits, and I fear that it is my fault. Thanks
>>>>Jennifer
>>>>
>>>>Link
>>
>>or just insects?
>>
>>First, I will tell you the next time you are unable to take care of her for 3 days at a time repeatedly, think strongly about giving her to someone who cares enough to do things right in the first place.
>>
>>That being said and in the past, the majority of her diet should be veggies and greens and not insects. Are you offering these things?
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>>Rob Talkington

It was not that I was not feeding her for three days, its mostly that I didn't have time to spray her (she has a bowl) and take her out an all the other stuff, I would basically throw in the normal amout of crickets she was eating and leave again.
Even so, she has gone poo now and seems less bloated than before, but is still refusing all food. My mom and I are looking for a good vet near us now. I also tried soaking her, which resulted in nothing but her basically falling asleep in my hand.
Thanks so much for all of your help.
Jennifer
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Jennifer
Email Me

The main part of her diet now should be veggies and greens. Sorry if I missed something here. I'm in kind of a hurry.
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Rob Talkington

>>The main part of her diet now should be veggies and greens. Sorry if I missed something here. I'm in kind of a hurry.
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>>Rob Talkington

it was my fault, i forgot to answer you, sorry. i do give her them at least once a week. should it be more, if so how much? she dosent like to eat them much and she only seems to like kale and sweet potato.. any suggestions on getting her to eat more veggies or what they like more? she ate another cricket or two today and pooed again, she seems to be getting better slowly, and we already made a vet appointment for wensday. thanks for your help
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Jennifer
Email Me

>>>>The main part of her diet now should be veggies and greens. Sorry if I missed something here. I'm in kind of a hurry.
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>>>>Rob Talkington
>>
>>it was my fault, i forgot to answer you, sorry. i do give her them at least once a week. should it be more, if so how much? she dosent like to eat them much and she only seems to like kale and sweet potato.. any suggestions on getting her to eat more veggies or what they like more? she ate another cricket or two today and pooed again, she seems to be getting better slowly, and we already made a vet appointment for wensday. thanks for your help
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>>Jennifer
>>Email Me
In fact insects should be cut down to 2-3 days a week. She should have a good mix of greens and vegetables daily. Here are couple of links that will give you some good info on the type of diet she should be getting.

Beautiful Dragons
Reptile Rooms
Beardie Salad (this is the one I base my salad on)

Hope some of this helps. I bet if you get the feeding straghtened out things will get a lot better for her. With the links above you may want to read the other care info contained in them.

As far as getting her to eat the salad she should be doing that on her own. I would get her to a vet to make sure everything is okay. When you go take a recent sample of her stool so they can run a fecal on it. The lack of nutrition may have stressed her out enough to depress her immune system and cause a parasite problem.

If you look at the beautiful dragons site I think it indicates Vitamin B may increase appetite. Something to think about. Also, you may want to get acidipholiz which is a probiotic and may help her digest some food.

In the meantime I guess I would mash some pellets up or get some chicken babyfood and supplement either with a bood herp multivitamin and hand feed her via syringe.

Good luck with her!! Looks like you may have a little work ahead of you but I bet she bounces right back.
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Rob Talkington