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Reptiles - Baby bearded dragon is not eating

Expert: Diane - 10/27/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, it is the second day in my baby bearded dragon new home, She was eating well yesterday, she had about 12 medium sized crickets. But today she hasn't eaten even one, she seems pretty active and she already pooped today, ( the poo was green and firm and had some white on it ) I changed the type of crickets, and I am wondering if this is the reason or if it is just normal after what she ate yesterday.

I also gave her some carrots and roman lettuce but she wouldn't eat that either. I've seen her take out her tongue a few times today but the crickets are all around and over her and she won't even look at them, she hasn't ben drinking a lot either but I'm guessing that is not a issue, she has enough water too.

The temperature in the warm spot is 29 ºC (84 F) and on the cool spot is about 24 ºC (75)

ANSWER: Hi Xochitl,
With many reptiles when they go into a new home they stop eating for a day or two....sometimes more. Most often it is stress or an issue in care. Stress can cause an overload of internal parasites which can cause them not to eat. Your basking temperatures are too low for your beardie to properly digest her food. When the temps are not correct, their food digests slower. You want the basking area temperatures to be a gradient of 95F to 105F. This is the temperature range needed in the basking area for them to properly digest foods.
Romaine and carrots are not a good diet for your beardie. Romaine has no nutritional values.
I am including a basic care sheet that I wrote to help people out with caring for their beardie.
Good that she pooped....with your basking temperatures being 10 degrees too low, that is most likely the problem to her not eating today.
Be sure to remove the crickets she did not eat as they will nibble on your beardie and that can cause infections.
Mist her with warm water and she may lick at that. Also giving her a bath, she may drink the water. When you make her "salad" be sure to mist it well. If she isn't taking in any water, offer her some with an eye dropper, a drop at a time.
Be sure to offer properly sized crickets as beardies are pigs and will try to eat even ones that are too large, causing impactions. You want the crickets to be smaller than the space between her eyes(never larger than the space). Its better to feed more smaller crickets than fewer larger crickets.
BASIC BEARDED DRAGON CARE:

HOUSING:

For an adult bearded Dragon, a 50 -55 gallon is the smallest recommended tank. For a baby, nothing less than a 30 gallon tank will work for a very short time, so its best to just start out with the adult sized tank....you can add rocks and branches for climbing, being sure to not stack rocks too high to prevent them toppling over. Branches need to be secure. They like to have a hide log or cave too!! All items brought from outside need to be cleaned well before placing them in the BD's tank. To clean them, there are a few methods: to wash in a bleach solution of 1/4 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Let them soak for about an hour, rinse them in hot water several times and then let them dry in the sun until completely dry. If the items are small enough, they can be baked in an over at 200 degrees for about 2 hours, check often to be sure they are not starting to burn. The items can also be boiled(simmered) for 30 minutes or so and then allowed to dry completely before
placing in the tank. I also suggest washing any pet store items such as caves, rocks, branches, etc before placing in the tank as that if the store would happen to have mites they can also be on the items we purchase. Any of the above methods are acceptable for cleaning. CAUTION!!! On store bought branches...be VERY careful with the driftwood pieces that have the holes in them!!! Be sure the holes are small as that if the holes are large, the BD MAY be able to get his head in them but not able to get it back out!!! A secure screen top is necessary for bearded dragons as that also they do not require much height for climbing..they can and do climb!! NEVER USE HEAT ROCKS OR HEATED CAVES!!! They malfunction and cause severe burns and even death!!!!

SUBSTRATES:

Young bearded dragons MUST be kept on paper towels, newspaper or other non particulate(loose) substrate to prevent them from getting any loose substrate into their mouth and swallowing it which can and does cause intestinal blockages.Once the BD is over 10 inches, some people have had good luck using play sand mixed with 50% of peat moss. I prefer the safe substrate of the newspaper, or other non particulate substrate to prevent any problems and also for ease of cleaning.
LIGHTING:
BD's need UVB, which is the special lights that come in fluorescent tubes or special screw in bulbs(mercury vapor)that are designed to produce uvb and heat. The tubes do not produce heat. UVB is needed by the BD
to be able to absorb the calcium in the foods they eat. Without the uvb, they will develop metabolic bone disease.
With the tubes, they must say that they produce BOTH uvb and uva. The uvb needs to be 5% or higher. Repti Sun 5.0 and 10.0(not compact) are TWO of the best uvb tubes on the market. The repti glo 8.0's are a great uvb source also. Arcadia 5.0 (UK), which is the uvb tube available in the UK is a good uvb tube. These need to be positioned 6-8 inches(for the 5.0 and 8.0 and 8-10 inches for the 10.0) over the BD so that they get the uvb that is needed. Recommended length of the tube is 24 inches or more. They need to be replaced every 6-9 months as that they stop producing uvb long before they stop producing light. They need to have access to uvb and basking temperatures for 10-12 hours daily. At night, no white lights!!! There has been new studies that have proven that compact uvb lights, both the spiral/coil type and the ones that look like long "U's" laying on their side and a few other brands are causing what basically amounts to snow blindness in reptiles. To read more on this, you can go to
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm Here is a link to a letter from RZilla on their product: http://www.zilla-rules.com/assets/006/13278.pdf
There are tubes and bulbs that say ''full spectrum'' but they do not produce any uvb.
On the mercury vapor , they also produce heat. They also produce the uvb and uva. The best on the market now are the
MEGA RAY or the T-Rex. www.reptileuv.com has more information on the Mega Ray lights. When using these, the distance is much greater than the uvb tubes and the directions must be followed that are listed for the light. When using the mercury vapor lights, you don't need to have one light for uvb and one for heat. The Mercury vapor lights provide both.

HEATING AND TEMPERATURES:

Bearded Dragons have specific temperature requirements.   For heat when using the uvb producing fluorescent tubes, a regular household lightbulb will work for DAYTIME heat. The wattage needed will vary to each situation such as tank size, room temperatures, air flow.   Their basking area temperature must be between 95F and 105F degrees to allow proper digestion of food. Your basking area must be where the uvb light is as well as the heat source. Be sure that the BD cannot get too close to the heat source as that they WILL get burned! The ambient temperature range   in the mid 80's .   Cool daytime range of normal room temperature of low to mid 70's. Nighttime temperatures in the low to mid 60's is fine. NEVER USE HEAT ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A good digital thermometer is a must. I like using the duel ones with the probe...cost about 15$ at Wal Mart. The probe can be placed in the basking area at the BD's level to monitor this temperature and the main unit can be pla
ced in one of the ambient temperature areas. When reading them, the "out" reading is the probe area.

DIET:

Bearded Dragons eat and need both animal proteins and vegetable matter!!! As young dragons they eat a bit more of the insects. As they get older, as adults their diet is more of the vegetable matter. As young BDs, the diet is about 80% animal proteins and 20% vegetable matter. As they get older, the ratio changes. An adult will eat about 80%-90% vegetable matter and 10-20% animal proteins.

Animal protein sources are: Crickets, superworms, silkworms, roaches, hornworms, waxworms. Waxworms are considered candy to a BD so only feed on occasion in a small amount(2-3 worms). ALL insects must be properly gutloaded for at least 48 hours prior to feeding to the dragon. For crickets and superworms, this can be done with vegetables, plain cereals and commercial foods for the species. Silkworms and the other insects have their own diet needs. Its best to feed the crickets in a separate feeding tank such as a 10 or 20 gallon size tank or container with a well vented lid. This can make it easier for the dragon to catch the crickets and prevents any stray crickets in their "home" tank from deciding to nibble on the BD if he happens to not find them all. If you do feed in his home tank, be sure to place a 1/2 potato in the tank to help prevent the crickets from biting at the BD. ALL insects fed must be no larger than the space between their eyes to prevent choking. Be
sure to dust the insects daily(for dragons up to 14-15 inches) (2x wkly there after)with a good calcium source such as Rep Cal calcium powder with no added Phosphorus. Young BD's up to 4 months of age will eat more crickets than anything. At this age they will usually consume anywhere from 10 to 30+ correctly sized crickets three times a day. Be sure to remove any uneaten crickets that are not consumed in a 15-25 minute time frame. For this reason, its easier to use a separate feeding tank for the bearded dragon. A 10 gallon tank(with a screen top) works well. Its best to offer their "salad" of greens/veggies before offering their morning insect feeding when they are hungry to prevent any problems with them preferring NOT to eat their salad.   Their salad consists of Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens...... this is the BASE of the green part of their vegetable diet. To this, for variety you can add arugula, escarole, endive,small amounts of
bok choy or other Asian greens. For the vegetable part of the diet, green beans, butternut squash, acorn squash(other winter squashes are also acceptable) yams, sweet potato. For color, sweet peppers can also be added in a small amount. For baby BD's, using a food processor for the greens and veggies works well. As they get older, greens should never be larger than about an inch x an inch in size.   Never feed lettuces as they have no nutritional value. The hard veggies should be either food processed or grated. Fruits can also be offered in small amounts. Good fruits are figs, papaya, melon, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries....and many other fruits... these need to be mashed or chopped. Watermelon is a good source of water for the dragon. Their salad can be dusted once or at the most, twice a month with a good vitamin supplement such as RepCal HerptiVit. This is by no means a complete list of foods the dragons can eat.

You can also offer baby food chicken or small bits of boiled chicken.

Be sure to provide a dish of FRESH drinking water at ALL times!!!    Misting their salad will also help get much needed water into them. NEVER FEED any MICE or other mammals to your Dragon!!!

WATER:

As stated above, always provide a dish of drinking water and mist their salad. You can also bathe your dragon a few times a week. (many bathe them daily for "bathroom duties") Temperature of the water should be between 85 and 95 degrees. The depth should never be any deeper than to cover his back when laying FLAT!!! Never leave them unattended at bath time to prevent possible drowning. Many love to soak and swim for 15 minutes or more. Never bathe less than two hours before his basking lights go out.   Doing so can cause him to become too chilled, risking the chance of a respiratory infection.
A vet check up is recommended and a fecal sample taken in to be tested for any internal parasites.... To find a qualified vet in your area you can go to
http://www.herpvetconnection.com
http://www.arav.org/ECOMARAV/timssnet/amm/tnt_mdsearch.cfm
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/

More in-depth care info can be found at:
http://www.bio..miami.edu/ktosney/file/BDcare.html
http://www.sundialreptile.com/care%20sheet--bearded%20dragon.htm
http://www.blackninjakitty.com/herps/dragons

Most bearded dragons will take long naps (generally,if they are over a yr) in the fall.. this is called Brumation. is a form of hibernation. You can read more about that at http://www.bio.miami.edu/ktosney/file/BDbrumate.html

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi i've raised the temperature but still have nit been able to get it to 100 F can I use a heating pad of the ones that go under the vivarium on the outer part of the glass, I have one about the size of my dragon.

Also, she licked a cricket yesterday but would not eat, or drink, she was also licking the glass, how long can a baby survive wihout food, I am very concerned and I am wondering when is it beyond normal or when should I take her back to the breeder.

Could it be that she is not eating the crickets because they are too big, one jumped on her face and now she runs when I leave o e near her.

And final question... Is it normal if she scratches her eyes with her legs and against the paper towels? I've read about some lamps been bad for the eyes and I am worried about that, I have a exoterra reptiglo 5.0 because I thought this was safe.

Thank you very much.

Answer
Hi,
Remember, you aren't wanting to raise the temperatures in the entire cage, just in one area...the basking area. Most times, using a heating pad doesn't raise the temperature that much but, you can try. Do be careful as that the glass can get very hot with a heating pad on it and its possible the beardie can get burned if they touch it. Be sure to measure the temperature at your beardies level, directly under the basking light.
Its good she showed an interest in the cricket. She is still stressed. Getting water into her is actually more important than food. Do try getting her to eat some greens. You can open her mouth carefully to do that.
Its better to feed smaller crickets than large ones. The proper size for her is no larger than the space between her eyes..but as I said, smaller is better. Also, you can break the hind legs on the crickets so they cannot jump.
If she doesn't eat in a day or two,then I suggest you get her to a vet to have her checked out, or talk to the breeder and explain what is going on. Personally, I prefer to take in older reptiles over hatchlings or ones under the age of about 4 months. They are lots easier!!!
Its the compact and the spiral bulbs that have been causing problems, not the long tubes.
With the scratching and rubbing her eyes, are you sure she doesn't have mites? Mites tend to like the area around the eyes and also the areas where their skin is more tender such as eyes, ears, arm pits, etc. Mites are tiny, tiny little insects that are almost impossible to see. They will look like tiny red, black or brown flecks. If she has mites, the best treatment I've found and used is called REPTILE RELIEF made by a company called NATURAL CHEMISTRY. Its available in most chain pet stores. If she has mites, be sure to read and follow the directions on the container.

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