# My bearded dragon wont eat anything



## shorty (Feb 11, 2009)

i have approx 2month old bearded dragon, ive had it for two weeks it started off eating the odd cricket or melworm but now nothing except a thin piece of carrot i have cut, and thats because i have to hand feed. it wont drink unless i use a syringe.It is shreading its skin and has been pretty much since we got it, the temp is between 85 and 90 and nearly 100 where it basks, please can somebody help.


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## Amyk (Dec 23, 2008)

help it shed its skin by taking lose bits of i do it all the time with mine and he seem to enjoy it. you can help it shed but giving lots of warm baths too which could also improve its appetite. try offering it loads of different foods crickets, mealworms, locust, waxworms and loags of different veg, make sure you try to get it to eat some very watery veg too because they can live longer without food then they can water. keep trying to drip water on its mouth because if it isnt eating then it isnt going to be getting alot of water because they normally get most of their water throught their food. 

are you offering the food to it but just putting the stuff in with it, try giving the food to it useing tweezers if you can manage to push some food in its mouth a little bit then normally when its slightly in there they then bite it and realise "hay this is actually good". if you really cant get it eating i would recommend you to call up you loacl reptile shop or even a reptile section of a zoo, they might even recommend their vet to you. i hope this helps, keep us up dated


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## paulb (Feb 23, 2009)

is the dragon still with us ??

If so raise the basking temp to 108 as 100 is not really hot enough.
Keep trying to rehydrate and offering small crickets. Not bigger than the space between its eyes.
what substrate
what UV
what viv
what calcium 
what vits
how often are you bathing
what is the humidity in the viv


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## paulb (Feb 23, 2009)

Oh. and NEVER peel the shed off any reptile..you could do more damage than good.
bathing will assist and you can buy shedding aid. also misting the dragon every other day will help.


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## shorty (Feb 11, 2009)

hi thanks for replying, its eating few crickets i have to force bit of veg down and it will take few drops of water from syringe, idont know what else to do, but thankyou


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## MissG (Apr 18, 2008)

I have found that actually keeping the lizard as dry as possible helps shedding better than bathing or misting him. But Paul is right that it should never be peeled off, it will come off in it's own time when it's ready.


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## Jjones (Mar 31, 2009)

Temp seems low for me. I haven't had a small beardie. My adult is on 110.


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## milldabeast (Apr 19, 2009)

paulb said:


> Oh. and NEVER peel the shed off any reptile..you could do more damage than good.
> bathing will assist and you can buy shedding aid. also misting the dragon every other day will help.


can u give us an example of a what could happen when u pull the shedding skin off your lizard? cus if i hadnt of done it one time i think mine would have died. i had a cwd(chinese water drag) and its snout wasnt shedding properly. he was gapping and gasping for air and hickuping like he had R.I or somthn. did this for 3 months couldnt figure out what the hell was wrong with him. finally one day i noticed his nostrals where grown in. i grabed some tweezers and managed to pull the skin off his snout. when i did , these skin plugs about 1/16 of a inch deep where in his nose. i bet if i had of left it his nostrals would of grown right in. the one started bleeding right away but not much. the lizard snapped out of zombie stats instantly. it was like a hole new lizard instantly. the thing started taking calm smooth breaths right away. his eyes perked up 300%. even his posture improved. i think if i hadnt of noticed the skin growing over his snouth that he migjt have died. a few of my lizards dont mine it when u help them shed. i use a tooth brush and scrub them . they love it. they usally reach around there back with there arms and scratch while im brushing em. so they dont seem to mind. i could see if your pulling skin off there face around there eyes and neck and butt where the skin is thin and soft, that might be a bad idea.


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## luckyducky (Apr 7, 2009)

Temps are def too low for a baby. Babies need it hotter than adults. When mine were babies I had basking temp at 115. waxworms are good at tempting to eat and locusts but no bigger than space between eyes (already been mentioned). veg is a difficult one cos I had one that would never eat it but had to just keep trying lots of different things (google on whats best as somethings are not good for them)


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## MissG (Apr 18, 2008)

milldabeast said:


> can u give us an example of a what could happen when u pull the shedding skin off your lizard? cus if i hadnt of done it one time i think mine would have died. i had a cwd(chinese water drag) and its snout wasnt shedding properly. he was gapping and gasping for air and hickuping like he had R.I or somthn. did this for 3 months couldnt figure out what the hell was wrong with him. finally one day i noticed his nostrals where grown in. i grabed some tweezers and managed to pull the skin off his snout. when i did , these skin plugs about 1/16 of a inch deep where in his nose. i bet if i had of left it his nostrals would of grown right in. the one started bleeding right away but not much. the lizard snapped out of zombie stats instantly. it was like a hole new lizard instantly. the thing started taking calm smooth breaths right away. his eyes perked up 300%. even his posture improved. i think if i hadnt of noticed the skin growing over his snouth that he migjt have died. a few of my lizards dont mine it when u help them shed. i use a tooth brush and scrub them . they love it. they usally reach around there back with there arms and scratch while im brushing em. so they dont seem to mind. i could see if your pulling skin off there face around there eyes and neck and butt where the skin is thin and soft, that might be a bad idea.


The skin covering the inside of a lizards nostrils shed too, I have seen what comes out from inside a lizards nose when they shed. Is that what you meant by 'his nostrils had grown in'?
But if you say the condition of your lizard improved, then maybe he did have problems shedding and this is where it's OK to intervene. However, if there is any blood, that's bad news.

Maybe them scratching means they don't like the toothbrush idea?


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## milldabeast (Apr 19, 2009)

MissG said:


> The skin covering the inside of a lizards nostrils shed too, I have seen what comes out from inside a lizards nose when they shed. Is that what you meant by 'his nostrils had grown in'?
> But if you say the condition of your lizard improved, then maybe he did have problems shedding and this is where it's OK to intervene. However, if there is any blood, that's bad news.
> 
> Maybe them scratching means they don't like the toothbrush idea?


usally when they shed the skin in there nose will come out wit it. but there is still a hole for the air to pass. this ones skin was completely solid and the air couldnt pass causing him to have to breath through his mouth all the time. 
i think they like the tooth brush. u know when they go in the water and scratch like dogs at there heads and eyes?


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## milldabeast (Apr 19, 2009)

milldabeast said:


> usally when they shed the skin in there nose will come out wit it. but there is still a hole for the air to pass. this ones skin was completely solid and the air couldnt pass causing him to have to breath through his mouth all the time.
> i think they like the tooth brush. u know when they go in the water and scratch like dogs at there heads and eyes?


it did bleed slightly not even a drip just barely noticable. it was like his nostrals where growing in permanetly


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## Ancllo (May 8, 2009)

We had this problem with both our older beardies. For the first few weeks they hardly ate at all. Could it be stress? I know little things like changing the viv lay out can stress them out so going from its original viv to your home could be traumatising. 

They do go off their food when they're due to shed although every beardie is different. Have you considered worms? Our male had them recently and he went off his food completly.

Obviously if things dont improve take him to the vet

x


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