getting baby bearded to eat...

according to the "breeder" this baby hatched in august, was eating well befor eit came to me. the breeder insists the reason it is no longer eating is due to the fact its alone when before now it was housed with its fellow hatchmates, that sounds a bit far fetched to me.. they stated if the animal doesnt eat by tomorrow to contact them back. the little guy is 14g has been with us just over 24hrs now and im very concerned by its lack of intrest in eating... could it be stress? the baby is currently housed in a 10gal tank with papertowel for substrate, the warm ambient temps are currently 90.6 and humidity is 38% any suggestions? it did have urate yesterday when it got home but has not eaten anything at all since yesterday morning before i brought him home. as far as i knew these little guys should be eating upwards of 30 1/4" crickets a day! any suggestions are welcome. the breeder is not offering any help other than give him another day to eat ... how long can they go without eating?!

The tank is to hot and yes, a dragon could take up to 3-4 days before it may eat.

Jim.

the tank is too hot on the warm side? i was thinking it was too cool according to some caresheets, or at least right on?! i have a rheostat could i use that to turn down the light or should i raise the heat lamp up some off the screen?

I think a 10 g is way to small for even a baby dragon. You want your hot side or spot at about 95-100 and your cool side should be 80 or below. The dragon needs to be able to cool down. Keeping it to warm can cause stress.

Jim

OK, then the temps are not warm enough.. it is 90.6 on warm side but thats ambient temps not that of the temps for the highest peice of drift wood "he" currently has. this baby is only 2mos old it was advised on numerous websites/caresheets to house it in a 10gal at first... i need to get another probe to see what the cool side is. this is not our first herp weve had so we do have knowledge on keeping other herps, this is however our first BD... even after hours of research were finding this frustrating to get the info right.. do you have any sources for your info?

Hello,

Let's go over your tank setup a bit more, if that is ok.
A 10 gallon, as suggested is a bit small, but for now, temporarily, will be ok. I would try to upgrade to a 20 gallon at least, soon or a 30 gallon for better control over the thermal gradients.
What type of basking light are you using, is it a bright white one, or a colored heat bulb? How far is it from your dragon? If it is sitting on top of the screen lid, do you have some way of raising it a bit until you get a larger tank?
Are you currently using a digital probe right now? The hot spot should be 95-105, but the cool area only around 78-82. If the overall ambient temps in the tank are climbing to 90.6, then, that is too hot for the overall tank temps. Are you measuring the basking spot, right underneath the basking light? If so, what is it directly underneath it where your dragon is?
What type & brand of UVB light are you using? Is it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil light?

Tracie

going over setup is absolutly fine by me.. getting a larger tank is in the plans for when he gets a bit bigger and more established with eating. as for right now we have one bright white light and one blue light (i dont remember what wattage but they are reptile lights we purchased from the pet store we bought our snakes from awhile back.) as for lighting set up, the white light is directly over the drift wood approx 8inches from the highest point in the tank, the temp in direct light of the gage (the probe is on the bottom of the tank but in direct light of) is currently 90.4degrees. the humidity is 32%. on the "cool" side we are currently running 84 degrees ambient. also 32% humidity. there is only one peice of driftwood inside the tank and it is below the white light fixture. last night spartan (the babys name) was sleeping beneath the papertowel for awhile then came out and slept on top of the paper towel the rest of the night. the white bulb is a coil, similar to what a "conserve energy" bulb looks like you would use for your house. the blue one though is a regular large looking bulb. we are using a digital probe and also have one of those temp/humidity gauges in there as well

im home from work now and he does look better, more alert and i even found a nice formed peice of poo woo hoo! i dropped a couple crickets in his tank and he seems to be looking curiously at them. before leaving for work i placed some romaine lettuce inside the tank and a small amount of it is gone (the rest is wilted and removed now) so im thinking he ate at least some hopefully its not my imagination playing tricks on me.. i know its not ideal diet but i had to leave *something* in there and it was the least harmful thing according to websource i had in terms of being "ok" for them. he is still looking curiously at the crickets but not snagging any like i have seen the other beardeds do... he is jumping around at his own reflection in the glass though, should i perhaps do something so he cant see himself lol...

update: he just had an awesome drink of water.. i spritz it over his head and he licked off quite a bit, so at least i know hes hydrated! i put some fresh romaine in there with a small peice of chopped cantalope and a small bit of banana too.. we will see what happens.

also, i just weighed him after giving water and there has been no weight loss at this point. still only 14g, better than loosing right?

Hello Ashley,

Great, thanks for going over that with me. There are a few more things we need to go over regarding your lighting.
Ok, so, the bright white light is the coil light, correct? It does not produce heat, right? The blue reptile basking light, is it producing bright white light, or a blue light? If it is producing blue light, then, you will need to replace that. They do much better on bright white light instead of a colored light. A regular bright white household lightbulb works very well, & provides adequate amounts of heat.
Do you have a UVB light? If so, is it a flourescent tube bulb or a compact or coil light?
As for the temps, before checking them again, replace the blue bulb & use a regular household lightbulb. I think a 75 watt maybe a 100 watt should be fine for heating, but you may have to change it out if it isn't getting to the proper temps. Then, you will need to place the probe directly underneath the basking spot, roughly where Spartan likes to sit. That is what needs to be measured to ensure he is getting enough of a "hot spot" for him.
If the temps at the bottom of the tank are still reading around 90 & the ambient stay under 84 or so, then, the temps should be fine. Just don't let the ambient temps get over 85 or you run the risk of overheating & dehydration especially in babies. Let me know what the temp on the direct basking spot is when you get the bulbs switched out. Also, let me know about the UVB light too. There are some really cruddy ones out there. If you don't have either a reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb, or a reptiglo 8 flourescent tube bulb, then, you do not have a good one. The rest of them are either having poor output or are dangerous to the eyes.
It is a good sign that he is drinking & eating a bit. Let's see if we can get him eating more. Are you supplementing calcium with some D3 & no phosphorus?
If seeing his reflection appears to be stressing him out, you can cover 2-3 sides of his tank with newspaper to help out on his stress. That usually begins to calm them down.
Let me know how things are going so we can figure out the rest of the lighting for you.

Tracie

ok, the blue light does give off a blue glow instead of the white light.. i can change that when i get home. hes still not eating, what i did see was just wilted "salad" i had put in there. my husband is home today and has confirmed the little guy sitll isnt eating. i have been asked to call craig (the breeder) and let him know if hes eating or not today, which i do plan to do. as for the white light (dang i know to keep the boxes) it was purchased for reptiles i believe its the uvb and it is a coil light bulb. what should i do at this point.. its been three days and it still hasnt eaten for us, should i just count my losses and get a new little guy, perhaps hes just not eating due to whatever stresses. i dont want to give him too long and him die and then us be out a bearded simply because we got one that wasnt doing well to begin with.. know what i mean?