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My Bearded will not Eat

K

khoegler

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After doing a bit of research and trying everything out there my dragons will not eat. I purchased this dragon at 6 months of age and she seemed weak when i got her. The owner swore she was just slugging due to the shipping. I figured otherwise. She was in a 4x2x18" critter condo with two other females and they didn't bully her but she seemed very timid with them. So I gave her, her own cage of the same size. She hardly moves, will not chase food so I have to force feed her to get protein in her body. I have dosed her with liquid calcium in case it might be MBD. I have also treated her with panacur in case she may have a parasite. I soak her in warm water weekly. Cage temps are at 103 in the basking area and 84 on the cool side. She still shows no improvement and am stuck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
 
Its a critter condo as previous stated which is rated the best cage around for dragons. I have a rept- sun 10.0 as well as a hide log.
 
pic as requested
 

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Have you tried to give her a few small worms and some salad?? And she may be just adjusting her new home. Beardies usually take a few weeks before they settle.Do you know what she was fed before?? Maybe it's just a question of her trying to settle in. If she continues not to eat I would recommend a vet check. And maybe with the treatment you have been giving it could be stressing her out. That is a lot of treatment for a new beardie.hope this helps a little and good luck with her -She is lovely. Please keep us posted as to her progress. river-7
 
Hmm, been reading a lot of sites; they basially said this.

Don't handle the bearded deragon for roughly 48 hours (I'd say roughly) to let them get used to their new home, they could be easily of been stressed due to the shipping.

Wait a day, put some food in and see if she will eat.

After that I think she should improve. You just have to give here a few days to let her get used to her new home. But if she doesn't I do suggest taking her to the vet for a check-up, just to make sure everything is ok with her and everything is up to par.
 
How long have you had her? (I know you said she was 6 months, but I didn't catch how long YOU have had her.)

You should up her baths to 3 times a week, and try different varieties of food. Put salad (greens) in there with her, and leave them in there all day. If she still doesn't eat, then try putting her in a different "tub" and feed her in there. Maybe she doesn't like an audience when she's eating, or she doesn't want to chase down her prey.
 
Ok, no problem. Up her baths, and try the separate feeding bin. But always leave greens in the tank with her, so she has something to munch on. Try a variety of different feeders so she can pick what she likes.
 
Your basking temp is a bit low. We provide ours with a basking temp of 110 and the cool side of the enclosure drops down to 74. Ours spend most of their time in the middle of the enclosure which is at 86. Nighttime temps drop to 74 for the entire enclosure with no background heat. Do not allow night time temps to drop below 74. Enclosure size is 5' x 30" x 24" (LxDXH). Our enclosure utilizes 2 65 watt plant grow lights as basking bulbs. I custom built the enclosure for them and all lighting is contained within the enclosure.

Make sure you also provide a means for the dragon to get within 8-12" of the full spectrum lighting. It will usually only penetrate down to about 12". Also make sure the bulb is no older than 12 months if it is replace it. This time of year we run 12 on 12 off for heating and lighting. In the winter we run 10 on 14 off and allow the basking temps to drop during the day to 92-94. Typically they feed very little during the winter cooling and when they do it is primarily vegetation. Night temps are still maintained at 74.

When their young is the best time to introduce them to a variety of food. At 6 months they may well have developed preferences. Provide a mix of green leafy matter. We have found ours have developed preference for a combination of: Mustard greens, kale, spinach, curly parsley, Italian parsley, basil, carrot tops, bok choy, alfalfa sprouts, and broccoli sprouts. Even as adults ours prefer we cut the vegetation up into bite size morsels though they will begrudgingly eat large leafs but nowhere near as enthusiastically. For protein we feed meal worms, crickets, and grass hoppers. All dehydrated, this takes some time to convert them over two but is well worth doing. Start with live meal worms and slowly introduce dehydrated meal worms into the feeding bowl. It took us about a month to completely convert ours over. Once they convert introducing new prey is easily done by adding it to the feeding bowl. Ours prefer the meal worms and grass hoppers but they consume the crickets as well.

We use a bubble stone in the water bowl to help promote drinking as dragons will not usually drink still water. We have found this not only has the desired effect of getting them to drink but also has resulted in some bubble chasing antics as well.

During their first year we supplemented ours daily with Herptivite and Rep-cal w/ vitamin D3. We usually only provide total supplementation twice weekly now. However when the female is laying eggs we do add calcium to the vegetation daily. Ours are 7 years old and approximately 18" in length.

We use play sand as a substrate and a variety of stacked cinder blocks for shelving and tunnels. We bury a few rocks around the basking site which are utilized as well. They utilize the cinder blocks all the time and they also help to keep their nails worn down. If you are going to free feed live food do not use play sand as a substrate or if you do feed them in a separate enclosure.

If you suspect MBD a trip to an exotics vet is mandatory. Oral calcium supplementation alone will not get her through. Good luck and I hope this helps
 
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