Beardie experts out there?

[Julia]

Haha, yeah, I've been researching and trying to find the problem but I cant seem to figure it out. My other Beardie is acting totally normal, and the biggest difference between the two is age. The younger one is only 6 or 7 months old. It must be Spring...

Any advice your friend might have would be appreciated. Thanks for your help.

[mikeald]

Hey I keep breadies too. Some of my older ones will slow down their eating to a level that makes me worry every winter while my younger ones will eat 24/7/365. This can seem like it lasts forever but when the days start getting longer their desire to eat returns. You can try feeding them jukefood like iceberg lettuce. If they eat that put some vitamin powder one one end. When this works I feel better until they return to their normal selves. But as long as they are eating a little I wouldn't panic yet. Not all beardies do this but some just do. Good luck.

[Julia]

Thanks for the reassurance. I picked up some "super worms" last weekend (something he has never had.) And he really likes them! After a few days of refusing crickets i will give him 3 or 4 worms. He isn't a salad eater but i will dust his veggies with some calcium just in cause he changes his mind. Thanks for the tips.

[Kurt]

I wouldn't feed iceburg to people, never mind an animal. Its worthless.

[mikeald]

A few months ago I took in a young beardie from some people who didn't want it because it kept biting them. He wouldn't take veggies either, and when a shipment of crickets would come in he would go nuts because he would only get a few. After awhile he got tired of being hungry and started eating his veggies. They can be spoiled if you are not careful. He now attacks his veggies and I can hide a little (very little) commerical food with the veggies and he eats it all.

[Julia]

My Beardie went two weeks with his little hunger strike, he refused to eat his crickets, and i refused to give him meal worms(his favorite.) During this time i offered him fresh veggies and he never ate them. In the past i tried mixing in mealworms with his veggies. He managed to pick out each worm with his tongue leaving the veggies behind. I think part of his problem is that when he was a baby he was not fed veggies. When he literally showed up on my door step, he was a full grown skinny dragon living in a 10 gallon tank. His tail is kinked from what the vet told me is lack of calcium as a baby. My other Bearded dragon that I got at 4 months of age, LOVES his veggies.

With that said, "Larry" is still very active BUT he did eat two crickets yesterday which makes me feel much better. I still think his strange behavior is just a Spring time thing...