Chuck's not eating as well...Worried mommy

[chucks parents]

Hello Everyone,

Maybe I'm just being a worried mommy, but because I'm a newbie I wanted to hear someone else thoughts... Here's the deal. As you know we've had Chuck for only a few weeks 3 today. He shed just after we got him about 1 week ago and up until yesterday day he had been steadily gaining on the amount of crickets and greens he would eat. He was up to about 30 crickets a day and 3 or 4 big bits of his greens. He is pretty small we think about 2 month old, but we got him from a pet store and they had no idea. OK now here's the current deal: Since yesterday he has only eaten about 12 crickets total and none of his greens. He is still pooping everyday, but his color looks a little washed out or gray. Could he be shedding again and do they eat less when they shed? I did notice his tail shedding a little. He doesn't like to take a bath/soak, but we've given him a soak every week anyway, but he does love to be strayed and gets sprayed everyday at least once. He temps look like this: cool side 83.6 degrees, warm side 90.2 degrees and favorite basking spot 111 degrees at the warmest spot and 103.4 at the coolest spot. He is spending a lot of time just laying on his basking spot soaking up the heat. He usually gets really excited when he sees crickets, but the last two days he comes down from his basking spot eats a couple than leaves the rest and goes back to basking. Any advise would be great even if it's just to tell me I'm worrying to much.

Thanks,
Chuck's worried Mommy.

 

[crypticdragons]

Some dragons do significantly slow down the amount they eat when shedding. The best way to help out with this is to up the amount of soaks you give him even if he dont like it. I suggest for a dragon that age 2 soaks a week anyway as a minimum. I give mine 3 a week and they are adults. but when shedding you want to up it to 3 a week (if you arent already doing this) the extra skin hydration allows the skin to fall away faster.

 

[chucks parents]

Thank you for your advise. We will soak him again today. When should I start worrying about his food intake? I guess what I'm asking is what should be a red flag when it comes to eating?

 

[renich]

Bernie would slow down eating at times when shedding. I recommend daily baths for beardies under 6 months of age. It was recommended to us by a reliable reptile store owner.

I think you need to up your temps a bit. Your basking spot is good, but the cool side should be around 85F and the hot side for a beardie that young should be between 100 and 110F.

Has anyone gone over the basics in beardie care with you? Things that are factors in their care are:
1. What make and manufacturer UVB light are you using?
2. What is your substrate?
3. What are you using to measure your temps?

 

[Harley D]

Hi Chucks mommy,

As you will see by my many posts about Harley....threads like this only show how wonderful you are to your beardie and that you care enough to ask any kind of question.

You are in wonderful hands here !!

Hope all is fine with Chuck and keep us posted !

Take Care
Laurie

 

[chucks parents]

I am using a digital therm. and we have tile mostly and a little reptile carpet. I have a Repti Sun 10.0 for UVB light. I'm sure that I am grasping at straws, but everything seem to be fine until the last time we gave him a bath about about 3 nights ago. He is eating less today than yesterday, but his tail did shed so maybe it's a shedding thing. I'm just worried. He's been on his basking log all day came down just once to eat 2 or 3 crickets. He did drink water when I sprayed him today and he did poop. We will try upping the temps and thanks everyone for all the help.... I will keep you posted

 

[DragonLover1]

Hi chucks parents i believe bearded dragons do not have a set amount of food that needs to be eaten daily. I would say as long as chuck is active,alert,pooing and eating something i would say theres nothing to be concerned about. Safira my 4 month old eats 40 or more crickets for a week then she will drop to 20 to 30 crickets depending how hungry she is. Right now Safira is a little stressed due to the changes i've did to her enclosure. Out in the wild i would think a baby bearded dragon would find it very difficult to find 50-100 insects a day. I would let Chuck eat as much as he wants if he only wants 10 crickets so be it. The time you should worry about it if he completely stops eating is lethargic.

 

[chucks parents]

Thank you.... I tend to over think things a little.. (haha) my husband would say a lot!! I will keep everyone post and try not to worry about him unless things take a turn for the worse.

Thanks again,
Linda (Chuck's worried mommy)

 

[renich]

Sounds like a plan. Go ahead and up the temps.

Also, sorry forgot to mention is graying color you described, they will bask a lot when shedding. And a beardie that young will shed A LOT. They have a lot of growing to do in that first year.

He is pooping daily, so that is a good thing. Keep an eye on him.

Here is a list of general care instructions. Give it a read. I think it will help you get peace of mind:
Bearded Dragon Care

 

[chucks parents]

Thanks again you guys are great!!!!! ;D

 

[renich]

How's Chuck doing?

 

[crypticdragons]

Yes how is he? I hope he is doing well.

 

[chucks parents]

I was just going to tell you guys today that he appears to be doing OK. He's still pooping and his eating has gone up a bit he eating about 8 crickets already today and about 15 yesterday. I know that's still low, but compared to the 5 a day he was eating for about 3 days I think we're getting better. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for asking,
Linda (Chuck and Razz's mommy)

 

[renich]

I'm glad his appetite is picking up. Is he still shedding?

 

[chucks parents]

His tail is all that shed this time. I'm not really sure what it was that made him stop eating. I guess we will just watch him and see if maybe it's a pattern of his.... But he is still active and seems to be getting better...

Thanks...

 

[Harley D]

Wonderful news !!

 

[renich]

Cool. Something our vet would remind us, is that these are dessert animals. They are used to gorging themselves and then starving due to lack of food sources. As long as he is acting normally, eating, and pooping, I don't see anything to worry about. As you said, keep an eye on him. If his eating doesn't pick up over the next couple of weeks or so, we'll need to revisit things.