Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone. This is my first post. On Wednesday I received a new baby dragon(about 6 inces long)probable male, from a breeder on the Kingsnake classifieds. I have him in a 20 long glass tank with a Zoomed 5.0 flourescent light over the whole cage and a zoomed 50 watt basking light at one end. Hottest spot is around 115 degrees, cool end around 85. Substrate is sifted washed childrens playsand and I have a large piece of wood for a basking site. He looks a little thin in my opinion but is alert and likes to be under the basking light. So far he hasn't eaten anything since I got him. I put greens in the tank in the morning and cut up fresh ones again when I get home from work. I also offer juvi bearded dragon pellets and dusted crickets. I put the crickets in a glass bowl so he has access to them at all times and doesn't have to chase them around. I also mist him 5 or 6 times a day. So is this normal behavior for a baby dragon in new surroundings? When should I expect him to start eating? Thanks for any help.

It is somewhat normal for a lizard in new surroundings to be a little stressed and not eat. It should eat a little more every day. It's a good idea to have a fecal check done on a new lizard to make sure it's healthy, and to rule out parasites which can also have an effect on his diet.

Impaction is another thing that causes loss of appetite. Young beardies should never be kept on sand, they are at very high risk of impaction when they are smaller. Paper towels, newspaper, or shelf-liner are the safe and recommended substrates for baby beardies. This is very important and I advise you to change it as soon as possible, it only takes a few mouthfulls for your baby to get impacted and it can lead to a very painful death. Since you say your beardie is alert this may not be a problem yet, so the sooner you change it the better, and maybe you can avoid it all together. When he's an adult then you can put him on playsand, but there is still always a small risk, even for adults. I prefer to keep both young and old beardies on paper towels and shelf-liner all the time. It's so much safer and easier to clean.

Everything else about your setup sounds perfect. Keep offering food and if he starts to eat a little at a time it was just new home jitters. A tip for the future, you don't have to buy the costly zoo-med heat lamps, a simple household or halogen bulb from a the grocery store does the exact same thing for a fraction of the price, and will last longer.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)