I'm concerned.

OK, I took our rescue to the vet on the 19th of Dec and the vet weighed her in at 202g. Just got my digital scale today and she now weighs in at 200 g. I give her 24 crickets every other day and she has been eating collard greens at least once per day. The crickets usually last her a day and a half. I'll keep watching her weight and see if she gets bigger or continues to loose. Any and all advice would be most welcome.

Are you feeding live crickets? We had the problem of once our beardie got to full grown, she stopped chasing live crickets so she'd only eat what would run in front of her face which as you can guess, wasn't very many. The rest of the crickets were hiding in her basking log and she wasn't eating as many as we actually thought. We switched to freeze-dried crickets in a plastic bottle from petsmart [usually $10 for a bottle] and that'll last about a week. We feed her about a quarter of the bottle every other day and that's usually about what she likes. And if you're getting your crickets at the same price as petsmart sells live crickets, $0.10 per cricket, it's only $0.40 more to get the bottle. Though, to be honest I've never counted how many crickets 1/4 of the bottle is, that's just the amount Isis eats before she wants back on her log. But she used to eat about 24 crickets at a time when she was still chasing live ones.

Also, during the winter, beardies can go into brumation which is kind of like hibernation, but they're not sleeping all the time, they're just not as active and therefore don't eat as much. Isis used to eat twice a day every day like clockwork [seriously, at the exact same time every day, she'd try to run up the side of her tank until I fed her if I hadn't by that time]. Now she's eating once a day and I can't convince her to eat twice a day for the life of me, even when we're talking about crickets which she's usually all about eating. And she hasn't tried to run up the side of her tank in about a month.

what is your set up like? Also scales are different for everyone. The docs might be a bit more sensitive or a better read. Or vice versa really. You are talking about a 2 gram difference which in the grand scheme isn't much...could be poo even. Just keep an eye on her

OK, My set up is 20 gallon tank, newspaper substrate, basking rock that doubles as a hide, repti-glo 10.0 UVB light, 100W white light for daytime basking, and 75W red bulb for night heat. She gets soaked for 5-10 minutes daily. 24 Crickets every other day(usually takes her a day and a half to eat them) and greens(no lettuce or spinach) once per day. Her crickets get dusted every four days with calcium and D3.

A full size beardie will need a 40 gallon tank. We use those watt bulbs in our 40 gallon-breeder tank. Offer greens twice a day except when you offer crickets, so you're offering food twice a day. If she doesn't eat, she doesn't eat, but if she does eat, she'll get fatter faster. Our beardie usually eats a full bowl of greens twice a day, but lately has been eating once a day because of the winter, but I still offer twice a day because sometimes, she'll eat twice a day now. Also, I don't know about other people on here or what the standard is, but I dust crickets every time I feed them and occasionally I dust her greens with calcium powder too. She doesn't need to be soaked every day. We give Isis a 10 minute bath once a week and mist her about half way between baths.

Mav gave you great advice....def. coat those crickets everyday. What are your temps? I offer greens once a day but then again....my Princess Bob rarely eats them. Right now she rarely eats anything as she has been in brumation for what seems like forever. :rolleyes:

Some beardies will eat little greens ...some go to town on them. But always always offer everyday!! They will learn to eat as well you will learn what they like. Is your beardie pooing daily?

We do offer greens every day. Once on the day we give crickets and twice on the days that we don't. We put crickets in her enclosure every other day. We'll slow down on soaking her. Her basking spot stays right around 110F during the day with an ambient around 93f drops to 80-85f at night. And yes she poops at least once per day sometimes twice. I have an empty 40 gallon long tank, it has the same footprint as a 55gallon tank. Would this be ok for her?

that size tank should be fine for her

either sound ok...... Check your basking spot as that seems just slightly high.

Mav???? What is your thoughts on 110 basking?

110* is the upper limit of what's usually considered good for beardies from what I've read. In a 20 gallon, it's high in my opinion but once you get her in the 40 gallon, it might drop if it's taller than her 20 gallon and she'll have a better heat gradient so she'll have more choices if she's too hot or too cold. The 40 you have should be perfect. Sounds like a 40 gallon breeder which is what our beardie is in and she loves it. Runs from end to end sometimes. Then again sometimes she tries to run up the glass if I haven't walked in front of her tank frequently enough so she might just be crazy. :D ;)

The only other advice I have is to clean out the 40 gallon before you put her in there especially since she's a rescue, her immune system might be a little off still. Common knowledge but sometimes even the best of us overlook things. Like somehow I missed the last couple replies to this thread until BPElizabeth's reply today... Sorry...