Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He's still eating salads in the morning, but for the last few days everytime I offer crickets he's refusing. For a week or so before that he would only eat a few, not nearly the amount he used to.

The only things that have changed recently are that I moved his enclosure into the kitchen where there is more light, but also more traffic, and I switched him onto the T-Rex dragon dust from the Rep-Cal supps. I'm not sure if it's the supps, but I do think he got pretty stressed with the move, however it's been two weeks I'd think he should be over it by now. He's just been dark a lot more, and kind of jumpy, and spending a lot of time in his hide log.

He's still growing like a champ at a steady pace, I just don't know what gives.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Ever notice how sometimes when you're worried about something, you finally ask for help, the problem goes away?

So right after I made that post, I went back into the kitchen and Domo ate twelve 3/4" crickets! Little bugger, making me worry about him like that. Still not as much as he used to eat, though. Is it possible that as they get older they naturally want to eat more veggies and less crickets? I don't remember my older beardie doing that.

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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Spent most of the day hiding in his log. Came out to eat veggies, but would only eat one cricket.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Hey Amanda,
I have experienced something very similar with my males who I switched to T-Rex Supplements about 4 months ago. That is the only thing that has changed among my males. I have also noticed a lack of activity. I am not sure if T-Rex is the culprit but I am going to switch back to the old Supps and see what happens.
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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

Thanks, that is interesting. Please let me know how it goes!

I'm going to leave things as is for maybe another week, but since he ate crickets again yesterday I have hope! Maybe it was just a lull from the stress of the move. If he stays finicky I'll put him back on the old supps and see what happens, I just hear so many great things about the Dragon Dust, and it's so much simpler, I really wanted to use it. But not at the expense of my dragon's appetite.

I thought for sure it was stress. He's been so jumpy and freaked out.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Actually what you said earlier is exactly correct. As dragons get older they do eat less insect protien and more greens and veggies. I have heard it said by many that as babies they should be eating 90% crickets 10% greens and as they get older that ratio should slowly reverse until at about 4 years old they should be fed 10% crickets and 90% greens.
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Yes what Amanda said is truwe but dragons will slowly and not abruptly switch to 10% crickets. As far as the T-Rex stuff goes There has been two other breeders that have emailed me about the lack of activity of their dragons while on T-rex supps. Amanda you should consider switching back to your old supps.
-Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

Yeah, I figure I probably should. That way if things get better I know for sure that was the problem. Oh well.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

the good news is, he ate 14 crickets today.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)

0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Otto)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

When I had my older dragon on regular food he dug and ran around and was fairly active. I started using the Trex supps and his activity fell, seemed to strain sometimes when pooing, didn't drink near as much water and seemed to have some areas near the base of his tail to each side that felt more "full" than usual.

I decided to take him back off the supps and his activity picked up a little. Again I decided to put him back on the supplements and his activity level fell again but more gradual since I decided to just use the supps. real light every other day. Anyway, up until a few weeks ago he had began to have problems shedding and looked like he had some sort of fungus issue on his tummy. I was planning on having his blood tested in August to get some real solid evidence if the supps were doing what they were supposed to but decided I couldn't keep using the supps.

I took him off the supps, gave him some Adipholiz , bathed him in Nolvosan. Now he is almost done shedding a yellow looking skin from his tummy and thick patches from other places. His activity level has increased 10 fold!! Seriously, I didn't realize how much his activity had actually declined until I've seen how active he's been lately. In addition to that his appetite for water has increased dramatically since I have stopped the supplements.

Personally, I think the VMF Trex supps. are bad for adult beardies. Not all but some seem to have problems using the supps and it's kinda scary.
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Rob Talkington