Bearded Dragon Problem

[beardeddragon]

Hi all, one of my little bearded dragons is always kind of nervous and twitchy and sometimes gets freaked out by tiny things and spins around etc, and when he tries to eat crickets he shakes his head left and right while sticking his tounge out and often doesn't catch them. I'm quite worried as I have two little beardies and I've had them for about 6 months now and neither of them are very big, kind of discouraging for my first reptiles. The other one seems healthy and happy but just hasn't grown much but he's starting to.

They were originally in the same tank but there were problems and they have been seperated for ages now, but they are across the room from each other, is it possible that they see each other across the room and there is still dominance going on?

Cheers

 

[Grogshla]

how big are the crickets? maybe they are too big?
Also how are they set up heat wise and do they get uvb?
Are there many things in the enclosure itself or quite a sparse setup?

 

[beardeddragon]

I don't think it's the crickets as it has been an ongoing problem while I've tried every size of cricket and cockroach. They are getting temps in the high 30s-low 40s usually and they both have UVB tubes. There aren't many things in the enclosure it's fairly sparse. It's really beginning to frustrate me because I've tried everything and neither of them are growing much, I know that they should be a lot bigger by now.

 

[MesseNoire]

I don't think it's the crickets as it has been an ongoing problem while I've tried every size of cricket and cockroach. They are getting temps in the high 30s-low 40s usually and they both have UVB tubes. There aren't many things in the enclosure it's fairly sparse. It's really beginning to frustrate me because I've tried everything and neither of them are growing much, I know that they should be a lot bigger by now.

Basking spot must be low to mid 40's.
What UVB strength are you using?
How close can they get to it? It there mesh or glass between the tube and the beardies?
How often to do you supplement food with multivitamins and calcium?

 

[dragonlover1]

can we see a pic of your setup?

 

[CrazyNut]

How much are they being fed? More to the point how much do they actully eat and how long between feeds? Are they fat or thin? If they are not eating enough or are not digesting their meals quick enough might explain the slow growth rate. Can we please see a pic of the set up and your dragons?

 

[animal805]

The more information you can give, the better the advice and help will be

 

[beardeddragon]

UVB tube is the one recommended by Reptile City in SA. I give them supplements every second day or more. The smaller one recently has been eating heaps, I feed them twice a day, they get woodies when they are available to me otherwise they get crickets, usually they would eat 10-30 crickets per feed but the dragon with the head shaking problems can barely catch them and eats 10 a day max but I offer them both as much as they want daily. I think the smaller one is doing well now his setup seems ideal now and he's fine, it's more the other dragon that is concerning me as she will literally miss pieces of bok choy that I hold in front of her when she tries to eat it, as if she has poor vision or something. I'll get some pictures now.

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View attachment 310412View attachment 310413
This is the smaller one and his enclosure, he is fairly fat at the moment and I'm happy with how he's doing.

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This is the bigger one who's having the eating problems, before anyone says anything about the wood box not being close enough to the heat light, he used to have a log that went right up close to it I'm just testing this out to see if it's any better. He's a bit on the skinny side and generally not looking very healthy.

 

[LittleHiss]

Try HerpaBoost. Also, as strange as it may sound, some lizards beardies I've met, and one that I own, wont eat while I'm in the room. If he's scared of crickets and woodies, try maggots. It sounds a bit more like a balance problem though, if he's shaking his head, and the balance problem could be cause my an ear infection or brain damage. Maybe take him to the vets? It's also highly likely that they could be seeing eachother moving from across the room and stressing eachother out, especially if there's any head bobbing, arm waving or blackening of the beard going on. My beardies used to free range in one room that had inbuilt wardrobes, one of the doors was a full length mirror, right down to the floor, and just seeing another male (himself) in the mirror stressed him out so much that he got mouth ulcers and stopped eating, which I thought was bizarre, but then again, he thought it was a male and posed a threat to him and "his" girls.