Lethargic Baby - Work Related

[Jay_Bunny]

Being the good little employee I am (and a decent human being) I am working on making sure the animals in the store I work at are cared for properly. So let's begin with the bearded dragons and one that is not doing so well. This morning a co-worker brought the bearded dragons to the back so she could clean the cage. I watched them in a kritter keeper while she did this. There are 5 babies together in a tank about the equivalent of a 10g. All are around 2 months old I would guess. (usually we get tiny ones in that are about a month old but these are about 1.5-2 inches long not including their tails.) One was very small when I first started working there a month ago. He is now almost the same size as the others and is 2 months old.

So anyway, the smallest one was looking a little lethargic so I took him out and held him and checked him over. He seemed like all he wanted to do was just lay there. He only squirmed if I bothered him too much. I successfully got him to eat 3 small crickets (correctly sized and I should add that they were hand fed. I got him to open his mouth and I stuck part of the cricket in and he ate them.) and offered him water, though he drank none (I offered by dipping my fingers in water. I also tried misting his head). I gave him a soak and set him up in the "hospital" room. After an hour he was still in the same spot but he had lifted his head as if he was enjoying the basking light.

So what can I do for the little guy?

Also, how often and how much should the dragons be eating? Petsmart requires us to give them juvenile dragon pellets. They also get fresh veggies several times a week. Crickets are usually only a handful of small crickets, dusted on occasion (I doubt anyone but me and the pet care manager do this) If I had to estimate how many crickets they offer, I'd say 20 per day for 5 dragons, at most. Most of these crickets find their way under the cage carpet and are dumped out later. So yea. I want to make sure these dragons are getting the right kind of care and I will go to my pet care manager if things need to change.

Please let me know what I should be doing for these little ones and what I might be able to do for the lethargic baby dragon. Thank you to anyone who responds! I want to do my job well and make sure these animals are cared for.

[gp_dragsandballs]

They should be offered crickets minimum twice a day as much as they can eat in 10 minutes. They need there protein and calcium so they can grow. Crickets should be dusted with calcium w/ d3 5 days a week and vitamin powder one day. Good luck.

[Beardedragon]

Im sorry Jay but if hes not doing good chances he will make it in a petstore is slim to none. He should be eating around 50 crickets a day, dusted, and have a good UVB light. Even if you dust the crickets, without a UVB light his little bones wont be able to retain the D3, leading to MBD, ( Bone Deseise) I know thats not possible at a commercial petstore so like said chances are slim.

Your not even supossed to be selling them under 7 inches because of how fragile they are.

[Beardedragon]

Crap ran out of time to edit that.

Im sorry Jay but if hes not doing good chances he will make it in a petstore is slim to none. He should be eating around 50 crickets a day, dusted, and have a good UVB light. Even if you dust the crickets, without a UVB light his little bones wont be able to retain the D3, leading to MBD, ( Bone Deseise) I know thats not possible at a commercial petstore so like I said, chances are slim.

A general breeding rule is that you are not supossed to be selling them under 7 inches because of how fragile they are, but the "Dragon Mills" Sell them as soon as they hatch.

[Jay_Bunny]

They do have lamps on them during the day. I will find out today if they are UVB. They don't get anywhere near that many crickets per day. A few days ago I was helping feed the reptiles and my co-worker scooped up maybe 20 crickets, dusted them and that was for 2 dragons for the day. And if I'm not mistaken they only get crickets 4/7 days of the week. I think they assume the baby bearded dragons are going to eat the pelleted food, though I've never seen them eat it and none of the people here even offer it right. You are supposed to moisten the pellets with water. My co-workers just stick the pellets in dry and expect the baby beardies to eat them. I think that is why they only offer but so many crickets. I will gather some more information today about how they are cared for (feeding, lighting). I will also let you know if that little dragon is still alive.

[Beardedragon]

I can already tell you they are not UVB. The only Lamp accepted UVB bulbs are MVB, and those are $50 bulbs which no petstore will provide. There are compact bulbs but they just make things worse.

Most babys will not touch Pellets, especially dry.

[Jay_Bunny]

I will talk to my pet care manager, but I feel like I'm already becoming a "nuisance" since I've already come to the managers with so much already. At first I thought we cared for the animals really well and for the most part we do, but the reptiles don't have everything right and some co-workers just don't care about their job. (at another store I heard an employee say to a customer that she could put a goldfish in a 1g tank that was meant for a betta fish)

I may start looking for a better paying job anyway. I don't want to work in a place that won't listen to what I have to say about how we care for the animals, but at the same time I love working with the animals.

[Beardedragon]

I will talk to my pet care manager, but I feel like I'm already becoming a "nuisance" since I've already come to the managers with so much already. At first I thought we cared for the animals really well and for the most part we do, but the reptiles don't have everything right and some co-workers just don't care about their job. (at another store I heard an employee say to a customer that she could put a goldfish in a 1g tank that was meant for a betta fish)

I may start looking for a better paying job anyway. I don't want to work in a place that won't listen to what I have to say about how we care for the animals, but at the same time I love working with the animals.

The best thing you can do is Educate their buyers about their needs ( Some people think dragons are beginner lizzards... I dissagree) and hope they follow through.

[Jay_Bunny]

I don't think we carry MVB. We carry the long strip bulbs. Are these okay? (ReptiSun, ReptiGlo, etc). I never suggest the pellets. They are a joke in my opinion. I've never seen a dragon eat them.

[Beardedragon]

I don't think we carry MVB. We carry the long strip bulbs. Are these okay? (ReptiSun, ReptiGlo, etc). I never suggest the pellets. They are a joke in my opinion. I've never seen a dragon eat them.

The reptisun 10.0 tube version will work great for them. Convincing your manager to use one is another thing