New Beardie, could use some advice, sleeping and not eating much.

[RyanA]

We recently got our first Beardie 6 weeks ago from a breeder (7 months old). For the first 3 weeks or so he hid a lot and would only come out of his hide around 10am to bask, he would eat well at dinner which is crickets, worms, and greens. As he was hiding in the morning he never ate but we left greens for him but he rarely touched them.

For the last 3 weeks he has been hiding/sleeping more often and eating a lot less. He usually comes out of his hide early to mid-afternoon and basks for 30-45 minutes then proceeds to go back to his hide and sleep. We wake him up when we come home from work to feed him at 17:00 but he has zero interest in crickets and at best will eat a few mealworms and a piece of arugula/Kale. We give him the odd hornworm which he loves but we limit his intake of hornworms. He basically hides/sleeps for 23 hours a day.

We don't remove him from the enclosure too often as he has been sleeping. When we do he seems fine, he either sits on us or explores a bit. We only keep him out for maybe 20 minutes, after being returned to the enclosure he usually basks for 15-20 minutes then returns to his hide to sleep.

Some further basking details are below, however, temps seem to be fine, if he spends time in the basking area he will usually gape on/off.

He has only defecated 6-7 times since we got him.

Some details

4x2x2 enclosure, he came from a much smaller enclosure.
New 22" Arcadie 14% UVB under the mesh and basking 15-22" away from UVB
Basking bulbs are 150w and 50w, also supplement with another 100w bulb outside the basking area to help with temps
Digital ambient temp of 88-92 on the hot side
Digital ambient temp of 72-74 on the cool side
Basking is 97-108F depending on where he is perched. Taken with temp gun.
Water dish also helps humidity as humidity is lower right now in the winter at 30-33%
All lights on at 06:30am and all lights off at 19:00.
Nighttime temps are consistent at 19-20C, and the room is pitch black at night.
Bathe 2-3 times a week and offer water on his nose.
No signs of stress on beard or belly
He has been shedding on/off again.

 

[Sadie]

We recently got our first Beardie 6 weeks ago from a breeder (7 months old). For the first 3 weeks or so he hid a lot and would only come out of his hide around 10am to bask, he would eat well at dinner which is crickets, worms, and greens. As he was hiding in the morning he never ate but we left greens for him but he rarely touched them.

For the last 3 weeks he has been hiding/sleeping more often and eating a lot less. He usually comes out of his hide early to mid-afternoon and basks for 30-45 minutes then proceeds to go back to his hide and sleep. We wake him up when we come home from work to feed him at 17:00 but he has zero interest in crickets and at best will eat a few mealworms and a piece of arugula/Kale. We give him the odd hornworm which he loves but we limit his intake of hornworms. He basically hides/sleeps for 23 hours a day.

We don't remove him from the enclosure too often as he has been sleeping. When we do he seems fine, he either sits on us or explores a bit. We only keep him out for maybe 20 minutes, after being returned to the enclosure he usually basks for 15-20 minutes then returns to his hide to sleep.

Some further basking details are below, however, temps seem to be fine, if he spends time in the basking area he will usually gape on/off.

He has only defecated 6-7 times since we got him.

Some details

4x2x2 enclosure, he came from a much smaller enclosure.
New 22" Arcadie 14% UVB under the mesh and basking 15-22" away from UVB
Basking bulbs are 150w and 50w, also supplement with another 100w bulb outside the basking area to help with temps
Digital ambient temp of 88-92 on the hot side
Digital ambient temp of 72-74 on the cool side
Basking is 97-108F depending on where he is perched. Taken with temp gun.
Water dish also helps humidity as humidity is lower right now in the winter at 30-33%
All lights on at 06:30am and all lights off at 19:00.
Nighttime temps are consistent at 19-20C, and the room is pitch black at night.
Bathe 2-3 times a week and offer water on his nose.
No signs of stress on beard or belly
He has been shedding on/off again.

has he always basked for 20 minutes and is this under the UVB as well? Ambient temps should be around 100 on the hot side of the tank the cool side 80ish during the day-- at night 65-75 ambient-- Surface basking temps should be taken w/ a digital probe thermometer IR guns can be off depending on what the decor is made out of-- Your humidity reader is a analog? You might want to invest in a digital probe hygrometer they are more accurate and analogs tend to be off - the probe should be placed on the back center wall of the tank optimal humidity 40-50% --- nothing under 20 or over 70%-- please lay off the baths dragons do not need bathing that often --- it will dry the scales out -- -- since we are in winter I would cut photo time down to 10 hrs a day --- follow your dragons lead -- dragons slow down in the winter time and hes 7 months old -- you want the dragon eating greens please get some BSFL and start dropping those on his salads first thing in the morning www.symtonbsf.com these will lure him to the salad bowl https://www.amazon.com/MACGOAL-Rept...uGQB&pd_rd_wg=tLkwE&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d
If he goes for them feed like 20 -25 at a time if they gobble them down to fast they will come out undigested---- the hornworms are a great treat and a hydration worm most love them -- pooping slows down as well as they get older - is he not pooping at least once a week? If hes not eating that much thats going to slow down as well too-- he sounds fine hes basking and eating its when they stop eating all together is not good -- but we want him eating salads his diet is going to change at approx one year
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html ignore the kale info its out dated and a good staple feeder -- also I would recommend getting him over on dubia roaches as a main staple feeder - the BSFL are a good staple feeder as well -- are you dusting the insects?

 

[RyanA]

Some great suggestions, I will follow up on all of them. I was not dusting with Calcium as the breeder said he never supplemented as he fed them a variety. The breeder is also a feeder supplier which I get my guys food from. I'll add Calcium dusting to my regimen.

 

[Sadie]

Some great suggestions, I will follow up on all of them. I was not dusting with Calcium as the breeder said he never supplemented as he fed them a variety. The breeder is also a feeder supplier which I get my guys food from. I'll add Calcium dusting to my regimen.

Babies up to one year need calcium D3 5 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated on the staple insect -- vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated on the insects -- BSFL do not need to be dusted as they are calcium enriched -- please start this right away -- the calcium builds strong bones and your UVB will help him absorb / synthesize the calcium --- young dragons often do not eat their veggies or a lot of them so they need the vitamins --- after the one year the calcium will go to regular calcium and fed once a week since your using a good UVB --