Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey there, I am new to the board and new to owning beardies. Now I received my two babies 1 male (Rocky) and 1 female (Lollie)a little over 1 week ago. Now lollie wont eat. She ate a little at first...she would eat the crickets but she waits til they come to her. That was the day before yesterday...now yesterday and today she hasnt eaten so far at all!! Rocky on the other hand cant STOP wating...he is SOOOO fat! Lollie is very active and alert. She is the biggest sweetie pie. When I come home she wants out of her cage. Rocky the fatty on the other hand isnt tame yet..he is going to take more time. But I dont know what is wrong with her. She doesnt seem to be sick but she just isnt the best eater Is she jsut tempermental and somethng I have to work hard with or could there be something wrong? If there is nothing wrong after exams.....WHAT SHOULD I DO?...is the question at hand. I want her to eat more and get fatter and catch up to Rocky. She loves baths and I make sure she get s lots of water. I am going to get her pedialyte today which i hear is a good hydrator and try to get her to eat some veggies and lots of crix. I mean she was eating crix but she would only eat like 10 and it would take her 15 minutes to eat just that many cause she just waits til they come to her. She doesnt by any means go after them. I tried to give her wax worms and she went crazy fot those but then they came out fully intact in her poop so that didnt work. I thought I was getting somehwere there but I guess not.

I have heard lots of mixed ideas as to what I should do to get her to fatten up and eat more. I am getting a fecal exam done here in the next day or two to rule out any problems but I just thought I would see if anyone has any suggestions. ANYTHING WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

The tank temps are 95 hot and 75 cool. I dust my crix & veggies twice a day...crix with rep-cal and dust the veggies with retivite. They have lots to climb on and lots of room to run around. Lollie is 8 weeks old and Rocky is 7 weeks. They dont seem to fight.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get every detail in there to get better feedback. Thanks in advance!

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>>The tank temps are 95 hot and 75 cool. I dust my crix & veggies twice a day...crix with rep-cal and dust the veggies with retivite. They have lots to climb on and lots of room to run around. Lollie is 8 weeks old and Rocky is 7 weeks. They dont seem to fight.
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Get those temps UP! Basking spot should be 105 -115 (Surface temp) for young beardies. I bet you after the temps have been adjusted things will settle back down in a couple days and she will eat again. Also if you have them housed together, I would seperate them ASAP.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.... I have to run and go cook dinner right now or I would make this a much more detailed post.

Sorry
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Lisa
Cricket free babies!
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I have heard so many mixed opinions about housing them together. I dont want to separate them but if thats what I have to do......I dont have much room fr another tank and I dont have another tank at all. How else could I separate them? Can I put a divider in the tank?

As Lisa said get the temps up. As for separating them, at 2 months old you have another month, maybe 2 to get another tank set up. If you don't do it, when she starts hitting sexual maturity here in 2 or 3 months he will try to breed her nonstop. The only time they should have contact with each other is during breeding and I wouldn't do that until they are at least 1 year old and 300 grams at a minimum (it's better to wait even longer).

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

Ok so back to the original question. How can i get her to eat if its not a parasite, or worm problem? I just went home to feed her. I stopped and got her meal worms to try and she ate them just fine. I gave her 3.....she just has no interest for the crickets?? Whats up with that?

The increase in temps should stimulate appetite. With the lower temps they don't digest properly. As for liking worms over cricks, some are just that way, especially if they were raised on something other than cricks. Mealworms aren't the best thing though, the shell is hard for them to digest. It would be better to try baby superworms or even better silkworms. If it was me, I'd try to get them to start eating pellet, but that's just my preference and then you don't have to worry about as many bugs.

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

I agree with Lisa and Sean. The temps need to go up first of all. Second, even though they are young, some babies do tend to dominate the others, which could explain her wanting to get out of the cage as soon as you get home. Maybe he is dominating her, and she is scared to eat. I would invest in another tank, ASAP, find a place for it and separate them. Also, once you get the fecal done, if she has parasites, you will need to treat BOTH of them, since they have been housed together to this point. It is quite possible she has parasites, it is not uncommon with baby beardies, in which case you need to find out from the vet exactly what the parasite is, as in order for you to get rid of certain (well, actually all) parasites, you need to clean the cage meticululously(??). Everyday, everytime they poop, and substrate should be replaced with paper towels. Also all cage furniture needs to be cleaned nightly, along with the enclosure with a 10% bleach/water solution and allowed to airdry overnight completely. Of course, all this assuming it is parasites, don't mean to scare you.

It could very well be just psycholoical dominance. Even though they do not fight or try to mate or other dominante bhavior. One could just be psyching the other out. I had a young pair that had that problem until they were separated. The runt quickly caught up in growth when he had his own space. (forgive spelling)

>>Hey there, I am new to the board and new to owning beardies. Now I received my two babies 1 male (Rocky) and 1 female (Lollie)a little over 1 week ago. Now lollie wont eat. She ate a little at first...she would eat the crickets but she waits til they come to her. That was the day before yesterday...now yesterday and today she hasnt eaten so far at all!! Rocky on the other hand cant STOP wating...he is SOOOO fat! Lollie is very active and alert. She is the biggest sweetie pie. When I come home she wants out of her cage. Rocky the fatty on the other hand isnt tame yet..he is going to take more time. But I dont know what is wrong with her. She doesnt seem to be sick but she just isnt the best eater Is she jsut tempermental and somethng I have to work hard with or could there be something wrong? If there is nothing wrong after exams.....WHAT SHOULD I DO?...is the question at hand. I want her to eat more and get fatter and catch up to Rocky. She loves baths and I make sure she get s lots of water. I am going to get her pedialyte today which i hear is a good hydrator and try to get her to eat some veggies and lots of crix. I mean she was eating crix but she would only eat like 10 and it would take her 15 minutes to eat just that many cause she just waits til they come to her. She doesnt by any means go after them. I tried to give her wax worms and she went crazy fot those but then they came out fully intact in her poop so that didnt work. I thought I was getting somehwere there but I guess not.
>>
>>I have heard lots of mixed ideas as to what I should do to get her to fatten up and eat more. I am getting a fecal exam done here in the next day or two to rule out any problems but I just thought I would see if anyone has any suggestions. ANYTHING WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!
>>
>>The tank temps are 95 hot and 75 cool. I dust my crix & veggies twice a day...crix with rep-cal and dust the veggies with retivite. They have lots to climb on and lots of room to run around. Lollie is 8 weeks old and Rocky is 7 weeks. They dont seem to fight.
>>
>>Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get every detail in there to get better feedback. Thanks in advance!
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Rob Talkington