• Hello guest! Are you a Bearded Dragon enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Beardie enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your dragons and enclosures and have a great time with other Bearded Dragon enthusiasts. Sign up today!

is this just a phase or should i worry?

Faerieweird

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
26
Odahving is a 4.5 month old male and he has been with us for 2.5 months now. About 3 weeks ago he started eating less, his weight gain stopped, he still grew in lenght but not as quickly. I have a basking bulb and a reptisun bulb durring the day and a red heat bulb at night. His daytime hot spot is around 118 degrees, cooler side about 70 degrees. I keep detailed daily records of everything, attached are larger "decoded" copies of my records for the last 7 weeks. Will he start eating more and gaining weight again, like a child with growth spurts? Or should i be worried?
 

Attachments

  • 20170516_150332.jpg
    20170516_150332.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 25
  • 20170516_150401.jpg
    20170516_150401.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 25
  • 20170516_150436.jpg
    20170516_150436.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 25
  • 20170516_150458.jpg
    20170516_150458.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 25

Dragnmum

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
58
Odahving is a 4.5 month old male and he has been with us for 2.5 months now. About 3 weeks ago he started eating less, his weight gain stopped, he still grew in lenght but not as quickly. I have a basking bulb and a reptisun bulb durring the day and a red heat bulb at night. His daytime hot spot is around 118 degrees, cooler side about 70 degrees. I keep detailed daily records of everything, attached are larger "decoded" copies of my records for the last 7 weeks. Will he start eating more and gaining weight again, like a child with growth spurts? Or should i be worried?

I am a new beardie mommy. But two things I quickly learned:
1)the red light is a big no no. They need no light at night to truly sleep. If the tank doesn't stay warm enough without it, then you need a warming pad for under the tank.
2) I didn't have my UVB centered on the tank, and when mine got lethargic I realized he was spending all his time in the basking light and not getting enough UVB. Are you using a 10.0 reptisun? And is it centralized on the tank for full absorption?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

BrookeE

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
199
Howdy there,

First let me commend you on your record keeping. Thats awesome.
I would say he should certainly be eating more than that at his age. Dont panic, just make adjustments. Beardies are highly resilient.
Lack of appetite can often imply trouble digesting food, thus its important to check up on the lighting.

As mentioned above, go ahead and get rid of the red night bulb. Colored light is not healthy for these guys. If your house stays over 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, you don't need anything on at night. If your house does get below 65, you can get a CHE to warm his tank up a bit. I don't recommend a warming pad, however. These guys can easily be burned by things they lay on because they don't feel temperature well on their bellies.

Also, his hot spot seems pretty warm, even for a baby. Try bringing that temperature down to 105-110ish. It sounds crazy but even a few degrees makes a difference with these guys.

Most importantly, what UVB light are you using? These guys must have a good UVB source to be healthy. And are you dusting your insects with calcium or multivitamin powder? What substrate are you using?

It would be helpful if you could snap a picture of his whole set up. Environment is key.
 

Dragnmum

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
58
Howdy there,

First let me commend you on your record keeping. Thats awesome.
I would say he should certainly be eating more than that at his age. Dont panic, just make adjustments. Beardies are highly resilient.
Lack of appetite can often imply trouble digesting food, thus its important to check up on the lighting.

As mentioned above, go ahead and get rid of the red night bulb. Colored light is not healthy for these guys. If your house stays over 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, you don't need anything on at night. If your house does get below 65, you can get a CHE to warm his tank up a bit. I don't recommend a warming pad, however. These guys can easily be burned by things they lay on because they don't feel temperature well on their bellies.

Also, his hot spot seems pretty warm, even for a baby. Try bringing that temperature down to 105-110ish. It sounds crazy but even a few degrees makes a difference with these guys.

Most importantly, what UVB light are you using? These guys must have a good UVB source to be healthy. And are you dusting your insects with calcium or multivitamin powder? What substrate are you using?

It would be helpful if you could snap a picture of his whole set up. Environment is key.
I meant a CHE. lol, told you I'm new to all of this! :)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
BrookeE gave you some good advice there and yes pictures would be helpful of your set up..
Here are a few things that have not been mentioned..
1 I wouldn't feed mealworms as they contain alot of chitlin in their shells which make them very hard to digest and really shouldn't be fed to young dragons because they can cause impaction. How is he pooping?
2. You may want to look over the food lists that we have included in the links below several of our comments as some of your items are an occasional to be fed item... your staple greens should be collard, turnip, mustard, dandelion greens..

At that age they really shouldn't be slowing down on the growth side of things as this is when they do the most of their growing, and they are in what seems to be a constant shed with all their growth..
lower the basking temp as mentioned as yea that's a bit hot.
get rid of any colored lights as that is likely bothering your little one and not letting him sleep without worrying of being eaten.. get a CHE if need be.

FYI Dragnmum: you want to set up a gradient of temps in their tanks so you have a hot end a warm middle and a cool side so they can appropriately thermoregulate themselves. Also you want the UVB and the basking lights to overlap some as they have the combo at the same time to digest properly and absorb the nutrients and convert them as needed.

You will find the links for food within these links below this sentence..
 

Faerieweird

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
26
Hdrydr31, his basking lamp and uv lamp are in a "double dome" over his climbing area. BrookeE im using a 10.0 mini reptisun desert uv bulb, and do sprinkle "repticalcum" with vit D on his crickets. The breeder is the one who recomended the hot temp be so high.
 

BrookeE

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
199
Although the one you have isn't totally terrible, I would recommend getting a different UVB bulb. The dome UVBs aren't nearly as effective as the tubes. Many of us use the ZooMed reptisun 10.0 HO T5 bulb. You want your UVB to reach the majority of the enclosure so that it mimics the great outdoors, and the dome lights tend to concentrate the UVB in one area, very similar to a basking light.

I would try switching around the greens, give a little variety. Less kale. More collard, turnip, dandelion, mustard are the staple greens I have on rotation.

How is he pooping, if at all? And what substrate are you using? Carpet, sand, tile, paper towels, walnut sand?
 

Faerieweird

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
26
He gets different greens almost weekly as writen in my logs i attached. Collard is the only one on your list i can easily get in my area and he doesnt like it as much as some of the others. Yes he is pooping, i use a combination of reptile carpet and ceramic tile.
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
Check out this food list http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf. Kale is okay to feed mixed with other healthy greens. Cabbage, asparagus, carrots are all occasional foods, not meant for every day. Meal worms are a no go and wax worms should just be used as a treat because they are high in fat.

Lose the red light, lower the basking temp and get a UVB bulb that covers at least 2/3'rds of the tank.
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
PatsyB I've been going off the veggie and fruits list on thebeardeddragon.org

They still list the items as occasional items. If you look at the link I sent you, it goes into more depth onto why it's not a good every day feeder. Carrots are high in Vitamin A, too much Vitamin A can cause a toxicity. Cabbage is goitrous, kale binds to calcium and doesn't let the body absorb it like it should, asparagus is mostly water and doesn't seem to offer any nutrition.
 
Top