Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought an outstanding dragon. She is only about 8 inches and is allready a full body orange with red highlights. The problem is she dosent eat good. All of my husbandry requirements are perfect, she is just a picky dragon. All my other dragons eat like pigs and are fat as hell. Shes such a colorful dragon I would hate it if i lost her. She only eats about a mealworm a day. Shes not interested in crickets or greens like my other dragons. I had her in with a male the same age, but recently moved her into her own cage and she still is picky. Shes a holdback quality lizard and it is driving me crazy because I can't get her to pig down food like my others. Any advice would be greatly appreciated,
Braden

Hi
i would drop the mealworms .
they r hard to digest.
try to freez cricks for 1 min til they just stop moving dust it and then drop front of her.
also go to human health store and there buy some achidhophulus capsules and drop one capsule inside of it in a glas of water filled with 1/4 water.
then give the water for 1 week.
it wil help digestion.
is the temp 110 on hotspot ??
www.parazap.com i also advice if you have more pets .

byeee

www.dragoncave.nl

a dragon that small shouldnt be eating that much salad, they need taht protien, try to feed maybe a couple pellets instead of salad, my dragons perfer pellets of salad because they are easier to pick up and eat. My real suggestion is that you need to make sure that the crickets are small enough, are you feeding pinheads? Even though the dragon looks like it could eat that big a mouthful, it probably wouldnt be interested in that. Think of it this way, I could eat a large spoon full of something, but i wouldnt want to, i would rather take smaller bits. Make sure you dust those crix!!! wait till she is about a foot or so to feed salads only. Do you other beardies eat the crix? Dragons are smart, if they dont taste good they wont eat them. If something doesnt taste good, it probably has parasites or bacteria. I wouldnt recommend buying crix from a pet store because they have more potential to carry bacteria that will transfer to your beardie. I use to buy my crix by the thousands and then i would breed them which is easy, but smells terrible, but atleast i know where they have been and that they were raised in a cleaner environment. Good Luck
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*~*Erin*~*
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -Bearded Dragons- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
0.2 Bailey and Mia -Degus- June 1, 2005
Pre-Veterinary Student at the University of Missouri-Columbia

How long have you had the beardie? Sometimes there is an adjustment period. I have had new beardies go 4 or 5 days without eating and a month before they start eating really good. Also w/ my newest babies when I would give them auctual pinheads they weren't that interested for some reason. I went up a little bigger in the size of the crickets and they were all over them. I don't know if they had a hard time seeing them?? I hope you get your baby eating, I know it can be frusturating sometimes. Cara

Deffinitely keep her separate, but don't move her anymore, especially if she is a recent acquisition (ie in the last week or two). Get a fecal done, as soon as she provides you with a sample. As B22 suggests, get rid of the meal worms, they can cause impaction problems with young dragons.

Try small sikworms (one inch or smaller), waxworms or butterworms. Though waxworms shouldn't be fed in volumn, to get her to start eating food, it can be used. the other two worm types can be fed instead of crickets.

Make sure she is well hydrated, if dehydrated, they don't eat as much. Give her some baths, to make sure she is getting enough water, if she isn't drinking from a water dish or when being misted. Keep her in a relatively low traffic area of the house, out of sight of other larger dragons. (it is possible larger dragons are making her nervous, so she doesn't want to come out, even if they are across the room for her. Line of sight is all they need to be intimidated).

Some low fat non sweetened fruit yogert (without aspitain or other artificial sweeteners if possible) can be offered. This has the benefit of promoting beneficial gut flora without having to buy special stuff. THough yogert shouldn't be offered frequently, it is good for dragons who are not eating much and showing signs of starvation, or to get a picky eater eating more. If you can't find fruit yogert without artificial sweeteners, buy plain low fat yogert and add pureed fresh fruit (mangos, peaches, apricots, etc will work). Give some to your dragon and enjoy the rest yourself LOL.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for your helpfull sugestions guys. Today she ate 4 crikets which is a start. I will stop the mealworms. Thanks again, I'll keep you all updated,
Braden

p.s. also, shes very timid and hard to handle. She isnt tame at all. So, maybe shes afarid of me also which may take some time for her to get used to.

My dragon has always been a picky eater. I thought he'd never grow. I could get him to eat the tiny crickets, but no greens. I started a routine in the evening where I'd bathe him, hold him, and hand feed him some greens and juvie pellets. Sometimes I'd practically have to open his mouth and put some in. I'd push a piece of dandelion in and then he'd chew like crazy. He loved the juvie pellets but only when I hand fed him. Now I'm happy to say he's eating well and I can just put the greens in his cage. He loves his crickets. But it took almost ten months for him to eat on his own well! I think your beardie is just going to be one that requires a lot of attention.