• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Is this normal. . .

Reptileking636

Reptileking636

New member
Joined
Aug 11, 2004
Messages
460
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
36
Location
Chandler, Arizona
Hi, i was wondering if it is normal for when a bearded dragon is recieved in the mail for him to not eat for a few days, mine seems pretty lethargic and has eaten a few greens and a mealworm in 2 days. Any info is appreciated. thanks
 
how big is your beardie?? i once got a couple females threw the mail and they ate right away.(within and hour or 2) but they were full grown adults.
 
she is about 9 inches long and about 2 months old, i think that she ate a little bit today, mainly mealworms and greens, maybe a few crickets.

Thanks,

Mike
 
2 months old so she should be about 8-9 inches, so that is probably about right.

Yes, some go through a adjustment period and do not eat for several days.. this is very new to them and sometimes they just have some much stimulas going on or also are leery of the change.

Just some suggestions. Rethink the meal worms, they are high in chitin and young beardies do not digest chitin well. Even when they are older (like 5-6 months) Superworms are better as although they also contain chitin, they have less per weight volumn and the dragons digestive system can handle them fine. PRobably half the babies brought to us by owner or sent to us from pet stores are impacted with mealworm and not having proper temps to digest.

Some babies get a bit dehydrated in flights, and a nice soak in a small container with her in your hand may perk her back up alot... move the water in front of her with your other hand and see if she will drink from it. One of the leading cause for babies to go down hill fast is dehydrations. Make the water the same temp as she is basking at..... which should be 95-105 F...... lower and they just have no energy and will be lethargic and not able to digest foods. You can even put a saucer of water in her tank and see if she in interested, some dive right in and bathe like a bird.

Can you get crickets? small ones about 1/4 size would be the size she should eat. If she does not perk up and begin eating well in about a week from arrival, you might want to get a fecal sample tested and make sure she does not have any parasites dragging her down as the stress of moving can set of a natural amount to a overbloom that can effect them.

Check temps.. with a good digital probe or temp gun, not those stick on things that can be as much as 20 degrees off.
 
yeah, shes doing better now, the water is dissapearing fast, and the only reason that i was feeding her mealworms was because the breeder said that she liked them and i am trying to gradually get her off them, she ate a few crickets today, but i think that she is used to being handfed because she will not jump off her perch and chase a cricket like my other beardie will, i guess its just because she has been shipped cross country and is just a little traumatized. We will find out soon enough, she does seem to be gaining back some weight, she doesnt have any more loose skin and she is definately more active. thanks
 
Ok, shes doing better still, but i think something else might be happening, she still hasn't pooped and its been about a week, do you think that this might be a sign of parasites or do you know any other symptoms. thanks.
 
Is she up basking and active?

I usually allow them two weeks when they arrive to adjust and if they are not eating well at that point, I do a fecal.

If they are hiding or something else is not right, they should have a fecal check right away
 
Forgot to answer your other question.

Most dragons hide with coccidia and flagellates and are not real good eaters. Their poo can run you out of the room, but they do go regular. Dragons that have pinworms tend to eat some, and do not go to the bathroom well or like they should
 
she doesnt really move around that much, unless i bring her down off her perch she will run back to some spot on her climbing structure. Sometimes she will eat her greens and crickets, but if a bearded dragon is kept on a strict feeding schedule of feeding like once or twice a week for the majority of its life do you think that may be why some days she doesnt eat? thanks, sorry if it confuses you im really tired right now.
 
No, no matter what a baby dragon was fed in the past, they have big appetites. A dragon 2 months old should be eating 20-75 crickets a day plus salads/pellets and they should be pooing daily.

That she wants to bask is good, but if she is not eating well by this coming week, I think you really need to have a fecal done on her.
 
Ok thanks a lot for all your help, she is very relaxed with her legs draped over the side of her perch and she is dozing with her eyes barely closed, shes cool. So how are you doing with all those hurricanes that seem to hate florida?
 
Ok, shes doing great today, her colors are intensifying but she still needs to work on her hunting skills, she misses a lot of the time and she just stays in one place, but shes still eating like theres no tomorrow, and for a while i was wondering if there would be a tomorrow for her. thanks for your help.
 
shes been doing really good lately and she is just starting to shed, she loves to eat everything that moves, i might try her on a pinkey pretty soon but we'll see.
 
Be very careful about pinkies, they are the biggest carriers of parasites and bacterias.

As dragons grow older, their diet becomes more veggie matter than meat proteins. In the wild, 85 % of the stomach contents of bearded dragons is plant matter. One of the leading cause of death in adult bearded dragons is fatty liver disease, cause by a diet of fats that the dragons are unable to digest and store in the liver.

We have never fed any pinkies/rodents to any of our dragons and they are all healthy and plump. I do know that some sites and books state they can be fed these, but research has learned so much more since then about the effects of fats on them.
 
We breed our German Giants. There are so many normal beardies out now inbred and they seem to be getting smaller and smaller, we want to try and bring back the size and heartiness that the dragons in the US had 1-2 decades. We think the german giants can do that

Most our girls are around 600 grams, 18-22 inches. Our best size male is 1048 grams and almost 26 inches (he has a small tail nip or would be longer) Some of our babies that are holdbacks are 5-6 months old now, 18-19 inches, weighing 320-360 grams, so we are real happy with those so far.
 
Back
Top