Juvie Beardie Stil not eating and being assist fed - Stressed :(

[jact38]

Hey folks

We bought 2 beardies about 6 weeks back. One has been good from the get go, and eats like a trooper. We give her crickets in a little glash dish, she leaps on it and gets right into it. We think they are about 6 months (maybe 7 inches nose to tail) and give them medium size crickets. Mostly around the size between the eyes, some maybe a fraction over depending on whats in the box. We kill any big ones.

The other one though, oh boy. He just WONT eat. We took him to a leading herp expert who said we simply had to feed him, he had lost so much condition. So we have been assist feeding him 4 crickets a day - which we can get done but he HATES it. Once they are in he , munches away but getting his mouth open now is a nightmare. We tried suerpworms chopped up and woodies but same result.

So, what could be causing it. We figure as it is in with another the enclosure should be OK. They are in with a UV10 basking light, a 150w ceramic on a stat, which they can get to within about 8 inches of which is prettty damn hot, and about 12 inches away is a river rock sitting on about 35. She always has her mouth open so I reckon its warm enough up that end.

He is active and when he comes out he scampers all over, so not impacted I dont think. He is going poopies and also getting baths. He seems happy and inquisitive. He is the one doing the head bobbing, she is doing the waving. I dont think he feel threatened, he seems to be the boss.

Anyway, I dont know what to do. Any suggetions? We have force fed so much now that the poor bugger has little sores on his snout (my wife cried about that) and now we are trying from underneath to coax his mouth open which is even harder.

The herp guy said baby food had little nutrition and it wouldnt be worth doing?

And yes, they get fresh veggies each day, rocket, apple, sprouts etc but they dont seem to touch that. We still do it religiously though.

We mist them and they have a shallow dish and warm river rocks to bask on. We have 5 pythons by the way and they are all great, so not new to reptiles but new to lizards.

Oh and we dust every second day. Even she only eats once a day and has a little fattie guts.

Thanks

 

[chewbacca]

My male bearded will only eat when he wants, I wiggle woodies, fruit & veg even meal worms in his face, he eats when he wants and he's in great health and shape tho, perhaps take them out of the enclosure and feed them separately? Also I find my male will only eat if he's been basking for atleast 5-10 mins prior to trying to feed him.

 

[Defective]

are they in the same enclosure together? if they are, try separating them. there maybe some dominance occuring. the male will feel more free in an enclosure of his own.
at 6 months they are fine to eat large crickets and as for force feeding until you can get another enclosure (if this is the case) what i did with my boy Yoda, was got the veg and fruit that he ate by mushing in pestle and mortar then thickened with calcium dust and dripped it on his nose.