Haven’t eaten since they arrived.

[miss2]

my new beardie pair arrived on Monday. Since I got them then have not eaten any salad apart from the female who had one piece or apple from my hand.
They are occasionally chasing crickets but would have maybe eaten a max of 5. I still haven’t seen the male eat a thing.
I’m starting to get worried, what can I do for them?

Also the female is digging a lot but is not gravid or at least not at a stage to be showing any signs, is this a stress thing or normal.
Help would be appreciated, thank you J

 

[Herpaderpa]

aww... anxious new mum /hug

Don't worry, they will be alright. The best thing you can do is stop worrying so much and leave them be to settle in.

Double check your temps, if your basking spot isnt warming up enough or they both aren't getting enough heat they wont eat.
If you are constantly fretting over them they wont eat either lol

Its looking a little bit dark in the enclosure as well, do you have both a basking light and a uv light? What are your temps? You should be monitoring three temps, your basking spot temp, the hot end temp and the cool end temp. How far away from the beardies is the UV light? Is the UV concentrated over the basking spot? What kind of UV light are you using?

You need two basking spots btw, if you are keeping two together Both basking spots need to be as appealing so there arent fights over the best basking spot or having both sitting under the one basking spot.

Pretty beardies by the way

 

[miss2]

iam iam i know lol

basking spot is at 35 when i last checked. they have a double uv light ( sorry dont know what brand) cool end was at 20... i think , i will have to double check.
what about her digging, whats that all about?
thank you for your help

 

[SeaShell]

Hi miss2,
It does look very dark in there, although it could just be the camera. I would try to bump your temps up a little bit. When you are welcoming new beardies they can stress a lot, but heat and brightness is usually what makes them happier. If you can bump your temps up to 27 degrees at the coolest, 35 at the warm end and 45+ degrees directly under your basking site, that should keep them happier. With a few days under a higher temperature, they should settle in a bit better.
A beardies preferred body temperature is about 35 degrees and in your terrarium, you want to provide an ambient temperature gradient that is at least 6 degrees warmer and cooler than body temp = 29-41 degrees. At the moment, they only have access to the cooler end of their preferred temp, and any parasite or bacteria that want to attack a stressed beardie will get to them at cooler temperatures. Make it hotter, and you should be right

Try not to handle them for a few days to reduce any more stress, I know its hard to resist

Good luck

 

[miss2]

if i keep getting advice from wild-aura and nagini baby i will be set! thanks very much ladies.
i think its just my crapy iphone that makes it look a little dark, also the back ground is a dark blue and its a caninet tank so inclosed on top. i will get to work on your tips, thank you

 

[mysnakesau]

Its good that they have eaten something - better than nothing. But they may still be very dis-orientated from being moved. They could be eating while you aren't looking, too, so don't just rely on them eating from your hands for now. They will, eventually when they feel more confident with their new surrounds. Leave some food in their tank. You'll know they're eating or not, when you observe their bowl later on.

 

[miss2]

thanks guys.
yesterday i left them with a bowl or pellet lizard food and got home last night and they have eaten the whole thing!!
i guess they just dont feel like salad at the moment

 

[DeadCricket]

I didn't find it easy to get my beardies onto salad. I ended up mixing in some meal worms so they would get interested in the movement. I also used to wait until they were basking with their mouth open and pop a piece of corn in lol.

Basking with mouth open is also a great way to tell that your beardie is at the perfect temperature.

The digging without being obviously gravid is also something I have wondered about. My older female did it for a while about a month ago, I provided a lay box just incase but nothing came of it. My younger female has just started it and doesn't appear to be gravid either. I've, again, provided a place to lay just to be safe. I've heard it might be related to mites but I've checked them over and can't find a thing.

Last time I saw her dig though, I swear she just moved things around to make herself comfortable where she was relaxing