yeah, id stop giving him those.

phoenix worms and wax worms are what people prefer

meal worms have that hard exterior

Now I hope I am not wrong...but for leos mealworms are alright. It's beardeds who may have trouble with digestion of the shell. I don't feed mealworms myself, so I'm not positive 100%. It's always superworms that I feed because those are easier to digest. The ecoto skeleton on mealworms is what I know beardeds have issue with. Or can.

You been doing what you can to try to treat him at home, I think he needs a vet check.

Waxies as a treat, because they're very fatty. It's like giving us cupcakes a lot. Phoenix never tried but heard good things, just they die too quick iirc.

Yeah that's what I thought on mealies.

Thanks again guys, reps when I'm off recharge Enrique, I just ran out after Deathstroke.

I'll see if there is an exotic pet vet around me that is trusted.

Yeah i mean you did all you can do from home. Hope you can save the guy. Leos are amazing pets.

Me too. I got him in with a very good reptile guy in the area who was recommended by a few people. I will report back for sure.

2 of my beardies just chilling

JUGGERNAUT1333, do you know what sex your gecko is?
I am going out on a limb here and thinking its not impaction. Could be gravid with infertile eggs. try putting a flashlight through the belly and see if you can spot anything.
but a vet check is defiantly a good idea.

he kept calling him a "him" or "he" so im guessing he assumes its a male

Update: I got our little guy to the vet, but he didn't make it

He thinks there was a rupture inside his intestinal tract somewhere. He tried a couple techniques to help him out but he had to be put down because he was suffering. Very sad.

He didn't charge me anything for the visit, so I ended up purchasing a baby bearded dragon off his reptile shop as a thank you, and to have a new buddy for my daughter. She was sad she lost her Gecko. Hopefully I have more luck with my beardy.

Just following up for input to make sure I'm doing everything right with our new little guy.

He's a juvy right now, only about 3", if that. Very tiny. Male.

- in a 10 gallon tank for now until he grows more
- have heat/UVB/basking light setup
- temp is 100F in the heat
- also have under tank heater going to help since it's winter here .
- paper towel substrate
- feeding meal worms and veggies
- branches to climb
- hide for him
- water and food dish.

How often should he be eating? He has been pretty inactive since he came home and not eating much. I'm assuming the relocation has a lot to do with it. Giving him another day to see if he perks up. I also haven't seen him drink from his water dish yet. I've tried giving him a little bath to see if he'll drink, but no luck.

Anything I should be looking out for or that I'm doing wrong?

Again remove the meal worms bro. Just pre-fed crickets and greens. If you’re doing under the tank heat pads buy a thermostat. Or you could burn the little guy. His inactivity could be relocation/stress.

Sorry about your gecko, it really does hurt losing a pet.

I keep reading conflicting things about worms vs. crickets.......some say no crickets, some say no worms. Any articles or links for research you know of?

EDIT: I do have a thermostat, going to get a humidity gauge too.

Do you have a thermo gauge you recommend? I'm just using a simple dial one.

EDIT 2: NVM, I'm seeing a lot about the mealworms being hard to digest to him. Will try crickets today, and see if they have phoenix or super worms in the appropriate size

This is a very good resource for lizard care
http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

Thanks man. Much appreciated. I want to know as much as possible.

Called my local pet store and they wont have phoenix worms until Friday. I'll see if they have any pinheads or some other small feeders to hold over until Friday.

you bet.
I wouldn't worry about feeding crickets, I understand freak things can happen but if there is one thing I have learned is that most species of reptiles are very hardy and adaptable. healthy bearded dragons should have no issues digesting crickets, roaches, or phoenix worms.
I wouldn't have bothered with the under tank pad, just make sure there is a basking spot and adequate UV.
This guy is kinda a goof but knowledgeable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTr7M5Az0ZE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC5eruXzbKE

I didn't have the UTH going at first, but I noticed my temp gauge was barely hitting 90. After I plugged it in it got back up to 100F. I'm hoping it's just relocation stress that causing his lethargy. I'm pretty sure I've done everything else right. Good news is he has gone to the bathroom, so his digestive system seems to be functioning OK.

I'll snap some pics of his habitat setup tonight maybe and see what you guys think.

For small beardeds the breeder I get my beardeds from has for the past 20 years fed babies: Small crickets, small superworms, dubia cockroaches and greens. Sadly in FL dubia roaches are banned. So I feed exclusively tiny crickets, tiny superworms and offer and refresh greens when needed. I do not ever do mealworms for beardeds but again I seen no harm for leopards digesting them, but no, not ideal for beardeds especially babies.

Thank you. I am heading to the pet store tonight to get him some tiny crickets. I don't know if they have those roaches, but I'm going to ask because I read they are pretty slow moving and easier for him to catch. I'll ask about tiny Super Worms as well. I'm very glad I asked you guys questions ITT. Got great advice.

Do you feed the small crickets in any special manner? Just dropping them in I imagine would cause them to just scatter and hide from my beardy. I saw some people who took a high wall tupper ware, put the crickets in after dusting, then put the lizard in the tupper and then put that Tupperware into his habitat so it stills feels like home to him, but the crickets wont scamper away and I can keep track of how much he's eating.

depends how your enclosure is set up, if its not roomy i would hand feed him or with tongs

dubia roaches are the best choice for bearded dragons when it comes to nutrition, they also dont stink or die easy and wont cause a roach problem if for some weird reason they were to get out of the enclosure


i have my beardy in a 75 gal so i just toss the crickets in there and he chases after them


you got a name for him yet?

Calling him Stuffy! It's roomy enough but I know the crickets will get under the paper towel substrate. Guess I'll try a couple at first and see how he does. Hopefully his activity level perks up.

I too just dust the crickets when they're gutloaded and toss them in and the beardeds chase them down and if he's a healthy active bearded he will get them all.

Dubias are very nutritious moreso than crickets and superworms. But alas, I'm in FL

That sucks man, you're in the 3/50 states that don't allow them. Do you know why? It's really odd a bug is banned.

Any tips on keeping hydrated? I haven't seen him go to his water dish yet and I worry about him dehydrating.

Bath them in a sink a few times a week. They will use this time to drink and perhaps empty their bowels as well as get hydrated to help with shedding.

Because FL has oranges I think, and because we have problems with other pests like large roaches and they don't want to risk a colony of dubia spawning. It sucks.

My bearded prince

greens or showers, but i think youre at the new dad stage where you worry about little things. he should be fine

youre researching and asking questions i have no doubt youll do great

handsome little devil!

I'll try the bath thing to see if I can get him to drink then.




Thanks for all the input everyone, I'm very thankful.

Thanks man! I hope you're right.

lousy quality compared to last one but I just took a quick clip of 2 of mine eating dusted crickets. And yeah you wanna wipe the tile of powder after each feeding



What I do for dusting is

Repti-Vite with D3
Calcium without D3

fawk guys, he didn't make it

Honestly, part of this may be my fault because when I picked him out I notice 2/3 babies seemed pretty lethargic. It was early morning and their UV bulbs had only been on a little bit so I though maybe they were just tired. I should have trusted my instinct on this one. He never really perked up from Saturday - Monday. Last night around 4pm I got home and put a couple crickets in to see what he did, and he just laid there eyes closed..... The guy who sold him expressed his sincere apologies and was quick to say come back to the shop and he will make it right. Based on my interactions with this guy, and the fact that all his reptiles looked very well cared for and happy I do not believe he is a scammer.....just an unfortunate situation.

He has one more baby from the same litter.....this one did look more perky/fatter/healthier (my daughter picked the one we got, my fault again) He also had an adult dragon. Would it be smarter for me to go with the adult since care/feeding is a little easier and he's already set in a routine. I'm not an expert reptile person by any stretch, so I worry with a juvenile I could mess up somehow in their most important growth years. What do you guys think? I have a bigger habitat available for the adult if I get him, so no worries there.

My main concern is making sure I didn't make a mistake............

Here is a list of my habitat setup for him, to see if I fuked up somewhere:

-10 gallon tank for now (beardy was only about 2.5-3")
-Using a Mega ray UVB/UVA/Heat bulb @ 70W
-branch setup for him to climb for basking.
-water dish big enough for him to soak
-food dish with salad mix
-paper towel substrate
-Internal temp was 100 F ( used one of those stick on dial thermometers, let me know if I should get a different one)

Like I mentioned before, the beardy looked tired from the get go when I got home so it's not like he was chipper the first day, then gradually slowed down which makes me think something was pre-existing.

Dang bro sorry to hear that. Don't beat yourself up about it though, that's just part of keeping reptiles sometimes. It sounds like you did everything right but like you said sometimes something is just off from the start.
your setup looks good. Sounds like you got a healthy dragon so just let him chill for a while before handling him and you should be good to go.