Bearded Dragon Hatchlings Not feeding
by Helena Brusic
I was at the pet shop the other day getting more heating equipment for my new bearded dragon hatchlings. The shop keeper asked me about them, and I told her, that they are new, in a new environment, and not eating. She told me that many people were complaining of the same thing.
I told her that I am turning up the heat as the recent cold snap probably had a big say so in their appetites. She passed that information on, and suddenly there were feeding dragons.
In my case, I knew it was a bit more than that. Firstly, the dragons had come from interstate by plane. They were out of their usual environment, in unfamiliar territory. AND, suddenly they could smell snakes. Pretty scary stuff for a hatchie.
I knew it would take a couple of days for them to eat, so in the interim, I sprayed them with a water and vitamin mix. I also moved their habitat to as far away from any of my snake vivariums I could. You shouldn't handle hatchies when you first get them, but after 4 days of them not eating, I was hand feeding 2 of them crickets - they would only take one or two. The littlest one was the most stubborn and wouldn't eat at all. I sprinkled calcium and vitamin powder in the cage, had their special UVA/UVB light trained above them, and then upped the temperature steadily. They started eating when the cage temperature reached 40 degrees. It took them a week.
Since then, they have been making up for it. The smallest hatchie is so round all he/she wants to do is sleep and eat. Remarkable how quickly that hatchie moves when there is more food in the bowl.
Its also remarkable how quickly they learn to recognize what is their feeding area, and how to tell me that they are hungry. I bought a vibrating bowl - best thing since sliced bread - as it sits in a nice basking rock. I feed crickets, throw them in the fridge (some do manage to survive), but the dragons don't mind, as they have a developed a taste for cold crickets, turn on the vibrating bowl (only in the morning) so they shrug off sleep and know that breakfast is ready.
By the time they are hungry again, they are all waiting on the bowl, bodies facing prospective food, heads over shoulder looking at me... they don't even move when I dump in the crickets.... and its only week 3 with them....
Mark Chapple is the Author of "How to build enclosures
for reptiles"
Find out how to build these cages as well as arboreal cages. Full color pictures,
detailed diagrams and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions.
http://www.reptile-cage-plans.com