Is my baby Beardie eating enough?

Is my baby Beardie eating enough?

Postby Snowgoose » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:16 am

I have had my BD, Ozzy, for 3 weeks now (my 1st reptile pet), He is about 6 weeks old and 12cm from head to the tip of his tail. I am a teeny bit concerned that he is not eating as much as he should. He eats about 5-6 dusted crix (not bigger than the space btn his eyes) and 2-3 Phoenix worms a day.

He only seems to want to eat in the afternoons, when I try to feed him in the mornings, he just ignores the crix.

My husbandry is as follows:
He is in a Vivarium with wooden sides & a glass front, 58cm x 35cm x 45 cm.
His substrate is paper towels (he HATES sand).
He has a Reptiglo 10.0 UVB light, a Reptiglo UVA basking light (he can get within 10cm of this) and a Reptiglo infrared heat light. I switch the 2 white lights on at 6 in the morning (when I leave for work) and at 9pm I switch them off and turn the infrared light on. He seems to be sleeping very well.
He is alert and looks healthy - bowel movement once a day.
I give him a bath 3 times a week and mist him every other day.

So... should I be a bit worried? Is there anything I can do to get him to eat more? :-?
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Postby Gearedup » Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:31 am

sounds like your doing everything perfectly, its natural to be concerned about your new kid.i struggled in the beggining as well, but you will see once she gets to 3-4 months they become piggies, ours is 6 months now, and has 12 crickets a day and 4 ga ga grubs a day, and around 2 x tablespoons veges.

trust me once they hear that packet, mine starts licking the glass, practically doing backflips,to the point we cant prepare the food in frnt of her.

as they get older they switch more to veges.

buy that salad from the petshops, cut up a tablespoon everyday and make sure alwasy in viv. they nibble on it during the day.


also remember to dust 5 days a week and not dust over the weekends
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Postby Spikelet » Thu Jul 05, 2007 9:04 am

sounds fine snowgoose - dont forget they need to warm up first to get their metabolism kick started ... I would switch on the lights at 7am and put the salad into the cage in the mornings and then only feed crix in the avie or late morning but I had the luxury of being near the cage during the day ...

as long as your little one is alert and an eager eater then I think all is good ...
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Postby Snowgoose » Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:41 am

Cool - thanks!
I do put a "salad" in his bowl everyday that I make myself (a mixture of things like carrot-top leaves, celery leaves, grated carrot, cooked butternut, papaya, red bell pepper, baby corn - all finely chopped. No spinach or lettuce) but he hasn't touched it. I tried putting the grubs in there to trick him into eating it but he ignores them if they're in there. I'm not too phased about that though - I read that babies dont like greens.

OK cool - I'll try only switching his lights on at 7 (BF will have to do it - I'm long gone by then) and only feding him in the afternoons.
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Postby Snowgoose » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:32 am

Sorry for the bad quality pics - they were taken with my phone and the stupid thing keeps focusing on the background and not the beardie!

Image

Image

Image

Image
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Postby Gearedup » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:47 am

lovely, nice set up, very very cute :)
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Postby Spikelet » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:14 am

what a cutie - love the swiming pose ;)
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Postby Bushviper » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:26 pm

Just be aware of the fact that beardies do not live in areas where they will routinely have access to enough water to swim in. They far more prefer if it "rains" on them than actually having to swim. The smooth sides of the water bowl will also make it difficult for him to climb out if the water level has dropped a bit. Try a shallower dish for him, at this stage and keep this dish for when he is bigger.

For the rest he looks alert and strong so I would not worry about him too much.

Nowhere do you mention dusting the crickets or worms with calcium. Dont forget that as it is very important for the growth of a baby beardie.
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Postby Snowgoose » Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:22 pm

Thanks - He jumped in there himself - he seems to love bathing but I'll change the water bowl, wouldn't want him to drown!
I dust the crickets with T-rex bone-aid (i think thats what its called) 5 days a week. I dont give him any other vitamins but the pet shop sold me some crix gut load that they say is vitamin enriched. Is that enough?
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Postby Nasicornis » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:05 pm

Snowgoose, I also bought hatchlings about six months ago and mine also prefer to eat in the evening. The one is alot smaller than the other due to the fact the one was a bit of a fussy eater and only ate when he/she (not sure about the sex yet) felt like it. Nowadays, he is the one doing back flips when I come close to the cage in the evening. I used to feed them out of my hand and that helped alot because they are both eating T-rex Bearded dragon pellets out of a bowl now. I soak the pellets in some water so that they are all nice and mushy. They refused the stuff in the beginning, but since everything in my hand was considered edible they are now used to it.
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Postby Nasicornis » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:28 pm

This is one of the 6 month olds I have feeding on pellets during the day and insects like crix and mealies at night.

Does anyone know what morph this is, I have seen some "normal" ones and the colour is a bit different.

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Postby polywogle » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:34 pm

Snowgoose, what is the surface temperature is the warm side of the tank?

The best way to keep a bearded dragon hydrated is to bath them, as they soak up water through their vent. It is best to use warm water to bath them for 10-15 minutes two times a week. Just make sure the water is no deeper than their shoulders. Misting isnt a great idea because it could increase the humidity in the tank to a level that could increase the chances of respitory infection.

Baby beardies need about 80% protein and 20% veggies.
They should be fed as much as they can eat in ten minutes three times a day, this can mean anything between 30 and 100 crickets a day. Dust the crickets with calcium powder 6 days a week and with a multi vitamin on the 7th day. Mealworms arent great for beardies as they are nutritionally inferior.
The pellets arent that great for them so try to feed them live prey and veggies. They LOVE turnip leaves but carrots and celery should only be fed occasionally. Collard greens, dandelion greens, alfalfa sprouts and mustard greens are also great staple veggies.

Also make sure that your beardie can get within 10 cm of the UVB bulb as well, I know this made mine much more hungry.
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Postby Snowgoose » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:36 am

Hi Polywogle,

I bath him 3 times a week for bout 10 minutes in luke-warm water up to his shoulders and I dont mist him at all.

He is up to 8 crix a day now - He'll eat about 4-5 in each feeding and after that he jumps on his branch and ignores them.
I dont feed him mealworms or pellets - just crix and phoenix worms (ga ga grubs).

I give him a variety of greens - on that note, thanks for the advice but do you know anywhere in SA that sells Collard greens, dandelion grens and alfalfa? I've been to fruit & veg city, fruit spot, woolies, spar, pick n pay & checkers - nobody has ever heard of them! :)

He can get within 10cm of the UVA & UVB bulbs.
He's grown 3cm in 3 weeks and seems happy and alert so I'm not stressed with his eating habits anymore. Thanks for the help though :D
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Postby Snowgoose » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:37 am

OH - oops... forgot to add, the surface temp on the warm side of the tank is 41*C (this is 8cm from the basking light).
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Postby Bushviper » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:22 am

Cricket gut loading vitamins should be fine. If he starts to eat a variety of veggies then you need less suppliments.

Alfalfa is good old luserne. Obviously it must be wet and not the dried stuff you find at the co-op. This lasts for at least a week if you put in in tissue paper and in the fridge.

Dandelions grow as weeds in your garden. Those white globe like flowers that you used to blow and try to blow all the seeds away in one go as a child are dandelion flowers.

Try giving him some paw paw too. It is possibly the fruit with the most vitamins and minerals in it.
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