My Baby Beardie Won't Eat :(

[Whaa]

Hi everyone
I have about an 10 day old Beardie and he just wont eat.
She lives in a tank with one other dragon the same size but dominance is not an issue becuase they are feed in ice cream containers to closely moniter what each of them eats.
I often find her at the cool end of the tank and whenever i do I move her to under the heat lamp to encorage basking and natural behavious of which eating is one of them.
My other beardy is eating very well, she had 6 crickets yesturday and 8 crickets today.
How can I get her to start feeding?
How long untill this food refusal becomes a danger to her life?
Help me please

[Gregory]

I've got one with the same problem. Mine's a couple of months old now and I have had to assist feed him since I've had him. What I do is hold his head between my thumb and forefinger and with tweezers gently push down on the side of his mouth till he opens up and then push the cricket in.He always starts to chew and swallow. It has only been in the last week that he has actually taken food from the tweezers and last night he actually chased and caught a few crickets himself. I advise to try this and I'm sure in a few weeks or maybe less she'll get the idea of how to do it herself. Just take care opening her mouth. Persevere and it'll pay off in the end.

Cheers, Greg.

[africancichlidau]

Maybe try feeding him in his tank instead of the ice cream container. Feed the one that eats in the container still and the not eating one in his normal enclosure, sometimes they get stressed by the removal process and by being put in an unfamiliar environment. Give it a try before assist feeding as it may just work. Not that there is anything against assist but I'd use it as a last resort.

[Barney]

G'day
I had trouble feeding my beardies I put them out inthe afternoon where ever possible , fed them in the SUN , which worked for 1 of them
Another Idea is weak solution of APPLE juice in a syingue A couple drops on there nose
which gave them vitamins & stimulates eating !
Ive also tried the same method as Gregory which can work but use KITTEN gloves

[africancichlidau]

Kitten Gloves? I am not that keen on cats but to skin 'em to make a pair of gloves?????

[dan_lizard]

When I first got my Central Netted he was not eating at all, and I had to assist feed him for a couple of weeks. Just hold them tight (but gentle) and rub their nose. They usually open their mouths a little, and then stick the end of the cricket in its mouth. Once they get it in their mouth, they should eat it ok.

You should only have to do this for a few weeks max. They will eventually start chasing the crix themselves, and then you should be fine.

[Pinkie]

Don't panic, I too have had this problem
I think generally it takes beardies a while to settle into their new home. Give them a few days to feel a bit more comfortable before you start to worry.

I assist fed mine with a bit of banana by gentle rubbing their jaws, once they got a taste for it they were unstoppable!

Just a tip: I also fed mine in ice cream containers but they wouldn't eat when they were in them. I found it was because they were stressed because they coudn't 'grip' onto the slippery plastic surface. I have since always fed them in their enclosure and they always eat!

[diamondslady]

hi there i have also had the same problem i got my 2 beardies at exactly the same time male and female,when i brought them home and put them in their enclosure my female would not eat at all nothing and of course naturally we start to stress,i think it may not be used to the new surroundings that's all,it will eat soon i am sure,anyways i left my female for a few days and just watched what she did and finally one day she just started eating she may of felt at home by then now they both eat like champs,,they eat more than me(LOL)...don't stress it will be ok..hope eveything goes well..fiona.. :roll:

[roadkill5000]

im a bit late on this one but my suggestion would be to not feed them in the container maybe taking one out while the other one feeds in the tank and then vic-a-versa

[Whaa]

thanks everyone for the advice.
Fiona I think you were spot on. She ate two crickets this morning and I am thrilled about that. I was a bit worried about force feeding because, well nothing wrong with it (it seens like a fair few people do it) but It seems a lot easier and more friendly if they can do it themselves. Well I'll keep you updated on her next feeding session soon.