1 not eating?

[Merchant]

hi all, im not really concerned yet but...

i have 2 bearded dragons. one is always runing around the cage and will chase down cricks when offred and is now noticeably biger than the other. the other one is starting to worry me a bit. it (she) dosen't seem to be eating. she hardly moves around the cage. there are no signs of sikness or marks from fighting ect.. she just seems lazy tha last few weeks.

they are in a 30g critter cage. the cage is heated with a 120watt spot. the hot basking side is 99/100 degres they are given a daily diet of colard greens that have gone thru a food processor, (bite size)and meal worms. they also as a treat get crickets once a week.(salid cricks and worms all get dusted with repitcal) and a multi vitamin once a week. i switched them to worms from cricks about a month ago becuase it's winter and the cricks tend to die becuase no mater what i do the mail schmuck wont put them inside the front door.

it/she is active and can walk and run around when she wants to. i thought she mihgt be compacted and put her in a warm bath which she spent most of her time trying to get out of and did not poo.

is it normal for them not to eat and lasz around. her tail looks nice and beefy too btw so i think she has plenty of fat deposits but im not 100% sure they are about 10inces from head to tail tip and not more than 6 or 7 months old. could she be prego?

[Jeanne]

Really, you should not house them together, the female is just to young to allow to get pregnant. Are you sure you have a male and a female? Are you sure they are not related? Also, housing them together could also be causing her not to eat well, the other could be bullying her even though you may not see it and that could account for the size difference you mentioned. Also, you may want to try offering a bigger variety in thier diet, I think the key to them feeding well is that they get a varied diet. Also, IMO the 30 gal. cage you have them in now is not really big enough for both, muchless one at that size. Also, they need animal protiens in thier diet to grow right, it could be that the one who is bigger is eating all of the crix or bulling enough that the other wont eat them. You can always go to Walmart or somewhere like that and get a rubber maid for cheap housing to separate them, I would really consider doing so. Feeding crix may also go better if you feed in a separate container instead of thier housing, some dragons just dont seem to like chasing crix.

[Merchant]

they will be seperated. im ordering a AP t13 48x30x18 with a divider 24x30x18 compartment size. i had no intention of keeping them together as adults. you think thats big enough? or should i go for one of the 72inch cages and divide it ?

[recycling goddess]

hi,

first, you need to seperate your dragons as they are solitary critters... just like ball pythons are. are they sleeping together in a clump? as this is a sign of dominance as well... but regardless of whether or not they are showing aggression... its still not recommended that they live together.

if you have a male and female (on the link page of my enclosure site linked in my signature there is a link to sexing) and she gets pregnant... she will have 5-7 clutches of eggs one after another from one breeding! my girl, raphael got pregnant (we thought we had two males and had them on the lawn together) she had 6 clutches of approx 23 eggs each time... and it took soooo much out of her. poor thing so please think about this carefully. baby dragons eat a lot of crickets and are very expensive to raise.

also, mealworms are not recommended as they have a hard exoskeleton and don't digest well... which can cause constipation. we feed silkworms (which is the best food for dragons) - they are like a super vitamin pill with every bite and dragons LOVE them LOL

there's a great salad listing on the link page of my enclosure site as well... listing all the foods they can eat! (in pdf and excel format)

i choose to feed in my enclosures so i'm made a loft for my dragons. their food is up on the loft and if they get crickets, they are fed in a tub inside the enclosure so no crickets get into their home... cause the crickets will actually eat your dragon during the night! and dragons sleep VERY soundly...

i hope this all assists you... and your little dragon is doing better real soon. (and yes, a rubbermaid will make a good enclosure for your dragon - just remember low humidity for them... so no water in their enclosure and they use overhead lights not UTH.

good luck!

[Jeanne]

A cage that size is only really good to house 1 dragon in it. I would look at other alternatives. But either way, you are going to have to get them separated from eachother, go to Walmart and get a rubber maid for immediate use. I use a 50 gallon rubbermaid/sterilte bought from Target for $15 for my juvie currently. Its light weight and easy to maintain.

[recycling goddess]

they will be seperated. im ordering a AP t13 48x30x18 with a divider 24x30x18 compartment size. i had no intention of keeping them together as adults. you think thats big enough? or should i go for one of the 72inch cages and divide it ?

dragons need a minimum of 6 sq ft each. the recommended is 8 sq ft. that means 4'x2' and either 18" or 2' high.

and it doeesn't matter if they are juvies or adults... they need to be seperated.

hth,
aleesha

[Merchant]

Ok thanks to your recommendations. Ill get them the t25 which is 72*30*18 divide it into 2 compartments total cage floor sq footage would be 15feet. Divided by 2 compartments would be 7.5sq feet each. As an option ill get the two circle top plate so they will have separate light basking sources.

The cage is 18 inches high toping out the total cage sq ft to 22.5 and 11.25 per side



Think that will do the job?



I have a large tub that I can use till the new cage comes in and ill separate them tonight. They don’t seem to be able to climb out with out a cover do you think it would be ok to put one in a tub with no cover?



Buying cricks for them not really a problem money wise, finding a place that sells bulk silk worms is. I switched them to mealworms because I live on the east coast and it is really cold here now. The last order of crickets I ordered had about 300 or so dead because the delivery trucks are ice cold. And I cant get the drivers to put them inside the house, even though there is a big 8*11 note saying put them in side the entrance way cause they will die. Anyone know a good place to order silkworms not eggs in the 2000+ range?

[Jeanne]

also, mealworms are not recommended as they have a hard exoskeleton and don't digest well... which can cause constipation. we feed silkworms (which is the best food for dragons) - they are like a super vitamin pill with every bite and dragons LOVE them LOL

Meal worms can be used safely, AS LONG as they are fed after they have molted (when they are white). In fact, I know someone who raised her clutch on meal worms rather than crix to avoid the parasites associated with crix, and they are doing great.

Not sure where you would order that many silkies though. Thats alot of silkies for 2 dragons.

[daniel1983]

The only bugs that my beardies get are mealies and wax worms. They only get freshly molted mealies (which means that I keep around 3000 stocked to have a constant supply) and they only get wax worms once a week as treats (they are very high in fat). I avoid crix all together for the fact that they can harbor parasites such as coccidia.

[Merchant]

due to a shiping error/problem during the holidays i have 6000 meal worms so i could take half of them out of the frige and let them feed and molt. how long dose it take them to do that and once they molted would puting them back in the fridge stop the shells from geting hard? when it comes to worms im a total noob.. so i could use some details. i didnt realize cricks could give the babys deseases no more cricks for them. i order my feeders from nyworms. there nice pepole but dont sell silkys.

btw i did a quick search and it appers that molbery farms is selling again so i may start breeding silkys once it warms up so they wont die in transit.

thanks