Baby BD hardly eats :(

[swiLLest]

I received a bearded dragon for Christmas after mourning the loss of of my other one not long ago. He is a baby named Mushu ! He lives in A 50 gallon, recently took out decor so he has more room to see and hunt. His temps are held 100 basking and 80 on cool side. I have two brand new reptisun 5.0's making UVB available everywhere.

He ate a couple crux on the first day, won't eat anything other than mealworms when I reluctantly give it to him because he won't eat anything else. I've tried mealworms, criix, small Dubias, and always fresh cut up fruits and veggies. I leave pellets after when I am gone and I use light timers.

He is active at all the right times. He is extremely skiddish though. I do own a cat and my cat likes to watch Mushu on his perch ( 5feet away). Is it possible Mushu still feels threatened and won't eat because of the cat (being a predator). I don't want to exclude mushu to a rather unused part of the house but I don't feel he is comfortable yet.

I've tried using a 10gallon feeding tank, he just gets stressed out instantly and won't eat I'm a tad disappointed as anew owner of a beautiful BD. Any and all help would be fantastic!

 

[brittani299]

Hello . I have a few suggestions. I would put some kind of divider in the tank. That big of a tank might be stressful due to its size. I would also get rid of those UVB lights. You have the right brand but the wrong kind. You should get reptisun 10.0 tube bulbs not the 5.0 ones. I would also stop feeding mealworms. They can cause impaction.

 

[swiLLest]

Simply just use a divider? The sheer size is causing my little one to be stressed? I will stop sing mealworms; just I feel terrible when he won't eat anything, but I know he'll eat a mealworms. I am going to try feeding him shortly my small Dubias; I will update my success.

I use the two 5.0s because I already had them, once these go out in the next couple months, I will be upgrading to 10.0 tube.

 

[brittani299]

The size could be a problem. When I got my female I had her in a 75 gallon. She did the same thing. As soon as I divided the tank into about a 30 gallon she started acting normal. As she grew I added more space.

 

[swiLLest]

Fed some roaches this morning. No response from little mushu. He has good looking fecal matter though so he must be eating. Tonight I am cutting card board to split his tank in half for less room.

He let me handle him very we'll last night and this morning! I only handle him for a minute or two then put him back; often clings to me now!

 

[brittani299]

 

[swiLLest]

Update: I cut up banana cantalop grapes and pineapple as a treat for mushu and maybe help him eat a little more. I put it in his food dish with a pellet or two. Nothing eaten yet :/

 

[BobSaget]

Get him tested for parasites. I had the same problem with my bearded dragon and it turned out he had coccidia and pinworms.

 

[itsfish321]

any update? having same problem with mine

 

[swiLLest]

any update? having same problem with mine

I was able to block off a 1/3rd of his 40 gallon viv. He then resumed back to normal behavior! It took about 3 days after I made the change, but he liked the smaller enclosure until about 2 weeks ago. He i approx 3 months, and now uses his entire viv. He is still skittish of me 50% of the time, but we'll keep working on it!