12 week old beardy not eating properly

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blueys

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Hi guys,

I have bought a leatherback CBD last Saturday. He is in a 2ft aquarium enclosure with a UV light and a infrared heatlamp. I have been maintaining the temperatures at around 28 degrees. The problem is I try to get it to eat crickets and it wont by itself. He doesn't even pay a lot of attention to them at all. The only way I have been able to get him to eat is by continuously using tongs to rub the cricket on his mouth until he eats it.

Can any of you guys suggest what I am doing wrong for it not to be eating by itself.


Regards,

Daniel
 
Sounds like he's not warm enough, increase basking temperature and see if that helps.

Wing_Nut
 
28 degrees as a basking temp? If so, you need to bump that up dramatically. Try 42-45 degrees with a white light.
 
The temp on our CBD basking area is around 45 - 50 degrees. He sits in it for an hour or so and then moves to a cooler area. There is no way 28 degrees is hot enough
 
2 foot aquarium is no where big enough for a 3 month old central. You want to get rid or the infrared heat lamp and replace it with a bright white basking light of an appropriate wattage to achieve a basking spot temp of 38-43c whilst maintaining a cool end of below 30c. A 3 month old should be smashing everything in sight and if you make these changes, things will improve. Is your uv light suspended inside the enclosure or sitting on top of something blocking the uvb? These lights are cheap and do a better job than reptile branded globes, they come in different wattages so you can afford to play around to get it right
 

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Thanks for the reply's guys. I will try the white lights, other people have told me not to use non-reptile specific lights. And also with the enclosure it is actually a 4ft terrarium its just I have separated it to make it 2ft because people have said that it is too big for him while it is so young. Do you think I should make it 4ft again animal805?

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And yes the UV light is suspended into the enclosure with nothing blocking its way
 
Health Beardies require, a UVB source, water, a 38-42C basking spot and food dusted with reptile multi vitamin dust. If all these criteria are me the should be doing fine. 28C is a fine ambient temp but they do need the hot basking spot, the cheapest way I've found to achieve this as a halogen down light onto a rock, fitting about $15 globes about $2.
 
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