# Baby bd wont eat



## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Hi All,

4ft viv set up holding good temps at 100-105 basking and 80 cooler end. Had viv for a week before getting bd to test it all out and all seems fine. Got baby bd 8 wks old from a good breeder on sat 26th. My prob is hes not eating, put dusted live small crickets in, not interested, put some finely chopped greens and fruit in, not interested, doesnt go near water. Tried holding some food to his nose, again, not interested, put small drops of water on nose, again, doesnt seem interested. What am i doing wrong? I know he needs time to settle in but surely he should be a little interested. All he does all day is bask on his log, seemingly sleeping a lot. he sees a cricket from time to time but just watches it!!

Help please, am worried bout him!!

Thanks

Rich.


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## Salvadora (Jun 25, 2010)

Mine wouldn't eat for nearly a week when I first got him. I put the whole closed box of crickets in the viv then left the room for about twenty minutes. When I came back in the room he was lunging at the crickets through the plastic box so I released one, stepped away from the viv then he went chasing after it. It was a case of firing up his appetite. 

For a few days I really thought the wee thing would starve himself to death but that seemed to do the trick. He's five months old now and eats a ridiculous amount! 

Hope this helps.


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## beardys (Sep 28, 2009)

crickets too big? give him a good bath and push his head under. 75 cool end. try nutrobal as well as cricket dust.dust 4 times a week, nutrobal twice a week and one day off. reptoboost might help a bit in the end


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks guys, the breeder said he might take a while to eat while he settles in too, he came out of a large viv that had about 20 babies in so I guess he must be still getting used to a 4ft viv on his own, dont I feel the guilty one!! Will try and bathe him tonight tho worried about handling him at such a young age, or is that ok? He never goes in the cool end at moment, always basking, lazy sod!!! Thanks for your help, all answers to a newbie like me is great, helps me stop worrying about him! Am going to try some locusts tonight as apparently they wont nip him if I leave them in overnight, its not funny chasing uneaten crickets around the viv at nighttime!!!


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## della.g (Nov 5, 2006)

Your hot end is not quite hot enough. Hence always basking. You need basking temps up to 110-115. Could also be why he's not eating. Do you have uv light tube as well and what are you using for substrate?

Adele


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks Delia, will try moving basking temp up to 110-115 then, the breeder i bought him from said 80 believe it or not and so many threads on here say diff things but i'll def try your suggestion. Substrate is paper at moment which i think is right.


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## della.g (Nov 5, 2006)

Yes paper should be fine. I personally use plain kitchen paper for my babies.

Adele


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## webzdebs (Jun 21, 2010)

hope he eats soon for you


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## HanRed (May 28, 2010)

beardies don't really know how to drink, ya can train them. but where they come from they don't really drink that much, but they get moisture from the food they eat, ya can also mist them daily to give them a bit of moisture. ya don't need to force him to drink. it can take up to 2 weeks for a beardie to start eating, just put food down for him everyday, offer him crickets. he will eat , but i understand that it's a stressfull time, but it's completely normal for a beardie to go off his food when he's been moved


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks for all your support guys, this is worse than bringing up kids he he. One big thing tho, just spoke to the shop/breeder that sold me him, hes got a good reputation and a big enough independant shop to seem to know what he's talking about, but he tells me that my basking spot is way too hot, it should be 90's max, thats the temp he keeps his at, does anyone support that cos from what i read on here it should be over 100???


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## radicaldave (Sep 25, 2009)

the basking spot should be 95-110oF
ambient temp in warm end 85ish

At the end of the day the bearded dragon will pick its spot to bask if it is too hot it would move to thermoregulate, so surely it would be better to have it too hot than too cold .. logical the dragon will find its own place where the temp is correct.


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## paraman (Oct 27, 2007)

beardys said:


> crickets too big? give him a good bath and push his head under. 75 cool end. try nutrobal as well as cricket dust.dust 4 times a week, nutrobal twice a week and one day off. reptoboost might help a bit in the end


I really dont understand the point of your suggesting that a way to encourage a desert lizard to eat is to push it head under in a bowl of water. The op might be better advised to stop disturbing it for a week or so and then trying your nutrobal/ dust regime. I suspect that the more attempts are made to feed it the greater the chance of it becoming more stressed and even less likely to feed.


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## HanRed (May 28, 2010)

paraman said:


> I really dont understand the point of your suggesting that a way to encourage a desert lizard to eat is to push it head under in a bowl of water. The op might be better advised to stop disturbing it for a week or so and then trying your nutrobal/ dust regime. I suspect that the more attempts are made to feed it the greater the chance of it becoming more stressed and even less likely to feed.


yeah was thinking that actually...maybe the little guy is simply not hungry. skittles doesn't eat all the time. and like the guy said he could be becoming more stressed.
put food down everyday, rotate what ya give him and maybe wait a couple of days before ya give him livefood


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## Tarn~Totty (May 4, 2009)

Hiya hun : victory:

My advise would be the following:

Hades Dragons, Nottingham Dragons, Woodrott or Gemstone Dragons....pm any of them, they all have experience with babies, and will be able to help you out If your really worried. Hades has a good basic care sheet, as does Gav at Nottingham Dragons. 

I understand temps for babies are usually that bit higher than older/larger dragons, so try the higher temperatures of between 110-115 (check with one of the above lol)

If you can, try covering the viv up, only disturbing to feed, and leave him to it until he settles. Dont shove his head underwater...yes, bath him...if he is thirsty he will drink it himself no problems at all (all the babies Ive bought have always been able to drink when In the bath without any training).

Hope you get him sorted soon, good luck and pics would be nice once hes all settled and happy :2thumb:


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## Nottingham Dragons (Feb 19, 2007)

Hi, i will try and help

I think a 4 foot viv for an 8 week old baby dragon is too big. We always keep our babies in smaller enclosures for the first few months and keep the viv as basic as you can to minimise stress and to help the dragon get to his food and catch it easily. Just use kitchen towel for the bottom, a basking site, we keep it 110 to 115 for babies and a small shallow water bowl. Try regular sprays with a spray gun as a pose to bathing it at this time. You will find the baby will dip its head and drink the drops as they run down. Sometimes babies are spooked by being put in a tub of water, lol. We use arcadia 12% uv tubes for all babies placed around 10 inches away from the basking site and offer food throughout the day.

I would go on but i have to go pick the missus up from work

Hope this helps

Gav, Nottingham Dragons


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## yatesy (Jun 14, 2010)

Is it eatin better yet ? Mine wouldnt touch crickets past 2 days but ive just read about putting the full tub in for half hour r so so i did that .. Next thing i know my beardies goin mad tryna get into the tub now its back to normal haha.


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Hi, Nope he's still not eating, keep leaving him greens, keep the odd cricket in there and have now introduced tiny mealworms. Have taken all objects out except food bowl and water bowl and basking stone so its easy for him to see everything. 1 thing I have done also is turn temps down at basking point to 90-95 as thats what the breeder has told me and a couple of other people. I know with some of you that'll be not right but so many people say so many things, there are differences in care sheets never mind this forum. Still keeping my fingers crossed, poor bugger! Appreciate all your support guys, thanks.


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## PhillyDee (May 17, 2010)

I keep the basking spot at 110. Discovered that turning it down to 100 meant they do not eat until it is turned back up. Mine are 12 weeks old. Are they a dark colour, i.e. Black beards and dark markings all over their bellies?


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Well, am afraid it was bad news this morning guys, he died, didnt eat from the day i had him, tried everything. Took him back to shop, i really think i got an ill bd from him. He did give me a new one and this one is mad as a hatter, same age, but bigger, eating like a tramp on a sandwich!!!! So different to my other guy. Sad to see him die but he wasnt right from the start. Thanks for all your help and advice tho everyone.


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## Chazbang (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm so sorry to hear that. How sad. RIP little baby xx


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Thanks Chaz, the other thing i'd say to all is that there is a wide variant on advice for heating bd's especially babies, basking etc, all advice is generally good advice on here but i would take a lot of notice about what your breeder recommends too, I have found that all bd's will be different and have different requirements/needs etc one size definately does not fit all, after all, we're all different arn't we?


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## kezdoc09 (Jul 3, 2010)

mmm interesting i got my new beardie a week ago and the people i bought her from told me basking spot to be around 90 to 100! i've obviously done my research and i've wacked it up and its between 100 and 110 now, it just means she can heat up quicker. From what i've heard 90 is ok but it will take a long time to warm, even if your little dude isn't used to it being so hot he can move to the cooler end!


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## RichyHunt (Jun 25, 2010)

Hi Kez, i'd be careful about weighing up all the advice. When i got my first little guy at 8 weeks, the breeder told me to have his basking between 90-100, i did but then worried when i read so many conflicting pieces of advise on here so put it up to 105-110. The little guy died, when I told the guy in the shop he said its prob because he got a little fried! Now i do think there were other things wrong with him as he never ate for a week, from when i got him as you'll see earlier in this thread so i wouldnt put it all down to temps. He gave me another little guy, another 8 week old and this time am following his advice, couple of my friends have bd's and they said the same, 90 to 100 and so does the book i'm reading about them at the moment. He's happy as anything now, chasing crickets etc. I guess what i'm saying is that this is a great forum with some good advice, but weigh it all up and if you trust the breeder you bought it from, give some serious thought to his advice too. Mines staying at about between 90-95. No probs so far!


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