Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchaced a beardie from a local pet store 9/06/05 for my son. I am doing a lot of research now. When I should have done it prior. The pet store could not tell me anything about age or if there is different kinds of beardies(is there different kinds?). Just that they thought it to be around 5 wks. old. Any how I fell in love with the young guy (or girl) and the more I learn about the more I love him. I offer him veggies in AM then sm. dusted crix in eve. The only time he has ate was one 2 days after getting home ate one home caught cricket(pet store said it was ok),and the last time 6 sm. crix on 9/10/05. I'm concerend I think he should be eating more from what I am reading. Also he is sheading (not bad) could that be why he is not eating much. He seems to be acting fine not as active as I thought he would be. Likes his baths/or sometimes will mist while sun bathing outside on warm patio.

If you got your baby from a pet store its quite likely you recieved some poor information on his care. Would you mind telling us about your set up? we would hate to have something happen to your baby because of faulty advice.

what size cage is he in?
what is the substrate?
what are the temps and how are they measured?
how are you heating the tank?
is there a UVB bulb?
how are you supplementing.

A quick run down....for babies substrate sshould be paper towel, tile, linolium, indoor/outdoor carpet or shelf liner...not sand or anything they can eat (cause they will eat it!). Temps should be 100-110 degrees in the basking spot and in the mid to high 80s in the rest of the tank...these temps should be measured with a digital thermometer (the stick on ones from the petstore are junk!) and the heat should be provided with a bright white light bulb. the only exception to the temps are if your beardie was sold to you in a 10 gallon tank. unfortunately this happens a lot. beardies are reptiles (obviosuly, lol) which are cold blooded, this means you have to provide hot, warm and cool areas in their cage so they can maintain their body temp. in a 10 gallon tank there is not enough space, in a tankthat small if you put hte basking spot at 100-110 degrees the whole tank will heat up and cook the little guy. If you were sold a ten gallon, i would take it back and exchange it for a 20gallon long.

A healthy baby should be eating between 50-100 small crickets a day. you might want to order offline to alleviate cost problems. your beardie is new to your house and probably very stressed, its normal for him to not have much of an appetite right now. make sure you are not handling him at all and causing any undue stress, leave him be and give him time to adjust, if he doesnt start eating a lot more within about a week i would get a fecal done at the vet.

try offering crickets 2-3 times a day. Unfortunately, the petstore was wrong in telling you that you shuld feed wild caught crickets, these can be very dangerous as you have no idea whats in them.

check out www.beautifuldragons.com for some great info

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0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
1.1.2 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo, Louise, Orion, Jeffrey Nothing)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

He is in a 10 gallon tank with a wire mesh cover. I was told this would be ok for short term only. I have a basking UVB 75 watt. bulb and lamp. Basking temp is 105 for 8-10 hrs. and cool temp is 75-80 durning day. low 70's at night. A terra cotta hollow rock for basking on. 1/2 log for climbing on. I was told something not to high because he might fall off and break bones while young. Substrate is a indoor/outdoor looking material. I purchaced it at pet store I was explained thankfully about the sand for young beardies.
I give him prepared food a few pellets at at time so I can see if he has eaten any I do this every day along with misting with warm water plus bathing he likes to do that. I had to take him out last night he fell asleep. The first night I noticed him so relaxed I thought he was ill. But then after a few nights of doing the same thing at about the same time he was a sleep. A very sound sleeper. He goes to bed at 9:30 for sure. I feed him a sortment of greens & veggies, with apples, peaches, bannana, tomatoes. He dosen't touch them. Has BM once or twice some times 3.They look most oblong dk brown with some white on the end.

When beardies are this young they dont really eat much veggies, they eat 90% protein in the forrm of crickets or silkworms. Pellets can be used as well, although usually they wont be as willing to eat them as they will live prey. continue offering veggies, but dont worry if he isnt interested in them. For right now he should be mowing down on crickets.

beardies love to bask, and breaking bones is not usually a big issue with them. As long as you provide basking spots that are wide enough to stabalize the little guy.

It doesnt sound like you have a UVB bulb, if not you need to purchase ones. These are very important for your beardie and without it they suffer calcium deficiencies. Repti-sun 5.0, 8/0 and 10.0 are all really good bulbs, you can buy them at any petstore, they will usually cost between 20-40$. You can buy the flurescent fixture at home depot or walmart for under 10$.
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0.1 Bearded dragon (Hannabil)
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake (Morticia)
1.1.2 Leopard Gecko's (Pogo, Louise, Orion, Jeffrey Nothing)
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn (Autumn)
0.1 Bullmastiff (Asha)
4.1 Cats (Poe, Tucker, Abhid, Felicity, Emmy)

I have a rankins as well as a ton of inland beardies. Rankins are primarily insect eaters. They hardly ever eat greens. Also He is right with babies they dont eat nearly as much veggies as sub adults and adults. What I do to get young dragons and my rankins to eat veggies , is tear of a large chunk off the top of what ever greens im offering. It seems to be softer plant matter. And i do not cut it up at all. I then will use tweezers or tongs and wiggle it in front of their face. Almost 100% of the time they take little bites out of it untill they are full. After a few times doing that I use a lettuce clip used in reef tanks and suction it to the side and let them go up and take little bites. After a week or two I start cutting it up and putting it in a bowl. You have to remember in the wild they dont come across bowls up finly chopped greens. they take bites off of leaves. Thes method I think just sparks their instinct to eat greens.

I hope this helps with him eating his vegies, Also some dragons especially babies dont eat as much when they are going through a shed.

peace,
nate

you can get him to drink water by dropping it onto his nose as he licks it off with a dropper or Iuse a syringe with no needle...sometimes it may take a few minutes before they will start to drink...Beutiful Dragons is a great site for learning of what to feed them and the nutrients in what you feed...I order crickets from Millbrook Cricket Farms...off the internet...you get 1000 crickets for $20 and I've not had a problem with them yet...although there are plenty of other places to order crickets...both mine really like summer (yellow) squash...I got the little one to eat it by cutting into long thin strips and wiggling it like a worm...now he eats different fruits and veggies on his own...he also went 2 weeks without eating when I got him...hopefully yours just need to adjust...Good Luck
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1.0.1 Bearded Dragons - Smaug and Little One (for now, till I know the sex for sure)
3.1 Bettas - Jason, Ori, Fishy Fishy Fishy, Faith (R.I.P.)
1.0 3 Legged Bullfrog - Jeremiah Sim Choy
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Spike
0.1 Guinea Pig- Oreo

off topic, sorry, couldn't resist...Is your Betta named Fishy Fishy Fishy named from Duece Bigalow movie?
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1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Ball Python
1.1 Corn Snake
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
1.0 Bullsnake
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback
0.1 Spouse

yep, and that's exactly how I say it...not sure why but it just seemed to fit him...
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1.0.1 Bearded Dragons - Smaug and Little One (for now, till I know the sex for sure)
3.1 Bettas - Jason, Ori, Fishy Fishy Fishy, Faith (R.I.P.)
1.0 3 Legged Bullfrog - Jeremiah Sim Choy
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Spike
0.1 Guinea Pig- Oreo