# Why is my bearded dragon eating his own tail?



## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

I got home from work yesterday, and I found my lizard chewing on his own tail! Why is he doing that? And how do I stop him doing it? I've given them lots of food now, I don't know if he'll be eating his tail because he's hungry? I'm still not sure how much I need to feed them. I got them in the new year.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Charlie


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## JamesJ (Apr 12, 2008)

Was he possibly trying to get shed off his tail?


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## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

no he's not shedding. am i feeding him enough?


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

what are you feeding and how often? any idea of weight?


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## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

No idea on the weight, but i feed them salady type food everyday and crickets, locusts or worms every couple of days. should i feed them the meat everyday?


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

how old are they roughly? you should ideally feed them staple veg like spring greens/squash and the odd kale rocket and watercress, and livefood every other day if they're adults if they're babies they should be offered live every day and should be given as much as they want til they refuse when they're young they eat 80% live - 20% veg, and when they grow they gradually turn to 20% live - 80% veg

Edit- I've just seen the photo of his tail, ouch! you should get him to a vet ideally also maybe try newspaper as a substrate as it puts the dragon at less risk of impaction from eating the substrate when catching live


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## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

Conscriptreporting said:


> No idea on the weight, but i feed them salady type food everyday and crickets, locusts or worms every couple of days. should i feed them the meat everyday?


It sounds like you didn't do your homework no offence. Mine is fed daily and if he misses a feed one day cause he don't fancy it, the next day he goes mad for food. I think we need his age and weight to help


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## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

if you mean no offence don't say it offensively. i get advice from a woman who breeds them but she got a little stuck on this one so i thought i'd try on here. hence this is my "homework".

they're 6 months old and i don't know the weight.


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## violentchopper (Jun 20, 2008)

Conscriptreporting said:


> if you mean no offence don't say it offensively. i get advice from a woman who breeds them but she got a little stuck on this one so i thought i'd try on here. hence this is my "homework".
> 
> they're 6 months old and i don't know the weight.


They should be eating a few times a day not every few days. You obviously know better if you know someone that breeds them. I'm out of here. Bye


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

they shouldn't be fed live every couple of days if they're that young! They have a diet of 80% live to 20%veg at that age so they should be offered livefood like dusted crickets or locusts dusted in nutrobal and calcium swapping what you dust it with *every* day. Offer as much as they take til they won't eat any more, or as much as they can eat in ten mins. Also offer dusted veg every day with this, like springreens with grated butternut squash (mine loves this!) his tail does look pretty bad though, a vet trip is needed in my eyes for definate! also when they get older they grow out of the live -veg ratio and willingly eat less live and more veg, so you will know when to increase their veg  nowonder he was trying to eat his tail the poor little guy is probably starving! :gasp:


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## Heffer_Nite (Feb 4, 2008)

I think what he means by homework is that if you have owned them since the new year then you should know by now how much and what they should be fed. and if you talk to a breeder then she/he probly should have advised you to monitor there weight while there young to make sure there eating enuff and growing well. Im not judging you for not knowing this stuff and i assume no one else on here is either, but maybe you could give a beardie care guide a read through an see if there is anything that you could change that would help. but my honest opinion is that he could do with seeing a vet as it looks very sore. Good luck with him and keep us posted )


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## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

thank you emily!! i get told so many different things from loads of different people. i was told to feed them live food everyday till about 5 or 6 months old. so i cut it down a few weeks ago to every couple of days. when should i stop feeding them everyday? when they stop eating as much?


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

when they're that age they should have it offered every day, and keep offering it until theyd rather eat the veg and aren't really bothered with the livefood and probably eat one or two bugs every other day then start the livefood every other day as i said they make the change on their own:2thumb: but always feed veg every day and always offer as much live as they want! always dusted remember! and if you can, change the substrate to newspaper instead of that sandy stuff? it stops them getting impaction when catching live, this could make them really ill it really does look like he needs a vet trip for something to help that heal good luck and keep us posted!


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## Conscriptreporting (Jul 22, 2011)

i didn't say i knew more than you. would i be here if i knew what to do with my problem? but when i ask for advice i don't really expect attitude and smarmy comments.

sorry i snapped but it irritates me when people talk to me like that.


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## br4m01 (May 16, 2011)

emmilllyyy said:


> they shouldn't be fed live every couple of days if they're that young! They have a diet of 80% live to 20%veg at that age so they should be offered livefood like dusted crickets or locusts dusted in nutrobal and calcium swapping what you dust it with *every* day. Offer as much as they take til they won't eat any more, or as much as they can eat in ten mins. Also offer dusted veg every day with this, like springreens with grated butternut squash (mine loves this!) his tail does look pretty bad though, a vet trip is needed in my eyes for definate! also when they get older they grow out of the live -veg ratio and willingly eat less live and more veg, so you will know when to increase their veg  nowonder he was trying to eat his tail the poor little guy is probably starving! :gasp:


aggreed!


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## xxx-dztini-xxx (May 12, 2009)

deffinately take him to the vets, it looks like the end of the tail is dying which could lead to infection inside if not amputated, otherwise the infection could spread up the tail and can be fatal - talking from experience, one of my beardies had to be put down because of tail damage, the tail went black and stiff like it had died


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