Doesn't like veggies and not drinking

[gothra]

I've had my beardie Weetbix for 5 days now. He is settling in just fine, no stress marks, just a little wary of me when I approach him but no longer dash to hide. He is eating very well, mainly lateralis plus a couple dubias and silkworms. My problem is, he really doesn't like his veggies, and I have not seen him drink at all. I bath him daily in warm water (yes, he poops in it); I was told beardie will lap up the water during a bath, but he doesn't do that. I tried dropping water on his snout, but he kept his mouth tightly shut. Spritzing doesn't work either. Since he isn't touching his veggies, I wonder if bathing alone will keep him well hydrated? His poop and urate don't look too dry to me at the moment.

Also, I'm a bit concerned that he is not eating his greens. I prepare a dish of greens with sprinkled butternut squash and papaya bits for him before I go to bed each night, and will keep the veggies moist and fresh throughout the day. The dish remained untouched everyday. I managed to trick him to eat one or two pieces of escarole yesterday (by putting a silkworm on it), but from his look he really is not happy eating the tiny bit of escarole.

Weetbix is 3.5 months old, shall I let him eat mostly bugs now? Or do I need to get him to eat more veggies? I can offer him less bugs, when he is hungry he might want to try some veggies...but at 3.5 months old, do I need to be concerned that he is not eating his greens? I kinda tried it this morning, I didn't offer him any bugs till 11:30am then I caved in...he was soooo hungry that he jumped from his basking spot and dived into his dish to get the lateralis. Of course, the salad dish is still ignored.

Some photos of Weetbix:
After a bath:

 

[LZRDGRL]

He is super pretty and looks very determined not to eat his greens :main_laugh: Don't worry, I've read that the little ones don't eat that much salad yet. They prefer roaches and crickets. When they're bigger, they eat more and more salad, and you can reduce the live food.

My Hugo is about the same age as yours and doesn't like his kale salad, either. He LOVES smashed banana mixed in with blueberries, though. The breeder I got him from wrote on the caresheet not to feed too much banana, since it is high in phosphorus and can block calcium processing (their care sheet, which I think is really good). But if you have one in the house, you could try it once or twice a week, to get him used to fruit!

Chrissy

 

[gothra]

Haha, he does have that determined look on his face, lol.

Thanks for the care sheet link. One thing I noticed was that the veggies should be chopped very fine - about the size of the dragon's eye? I thought the size reference was the distance between 2 eyes? May be my veggies are a little too large for him...I'll try cut them into smaller bits tomorrow.

 

[heretic.]

why do you bath him? ...

 

[gothra]

Bathing him for hydration I think? Most care sheets say warm baths are good for them.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

Little ones don't eat much veggies, but keep offering every few days or so. It won't be long till interest is shown. When they're a bit older it isn't necessary to finely chop, but it is for littles. Weekly baths are sufficient, daily may be stressful.

 

[heretic.]

Baths for reptiles?
Sorry but if you look at the habitat from pogona I don`t think there is much water. Also why would a pogona in the wild bath?
Just because it can swim doesn`t mean you should bath it. It`s just stress for the animal..

 

[gothra]

They drink from morning dews and rains in the wild, I don't think I can provide that in their indoor enclosure. If he is eating his veggies, I would not worry about him not getting enough hydration. I remember reading a very long debate here on the same issue, I know the points from both sides. Perhaps just think of a bath as puddle of water in the wild. A bath doesn't mean he is swimming in deep water, the water is just belly high.

 

[RyuuKirin]

they can hydrate thru their vent while in the bath- they don't have to drink it don't know if that's been covered, i don't have much of an attention span tonight ^_^ Ryuu likes to drink ONLY if the shower is on and is splashing veeeery gently in a bit of water, then she'll drink... Nyoko hates me for bathing him.

 

[gothra]

Between bathing and spraying with water, Weetbix absolutely hate me spraying water on him. He gets all dark with stress marks on the belly. He is ok with standing in shallow water...but I think I can cut that back to perhaps 2-3 times a week. By the look of his poop, he seemed to be getting enough water. I wonder where he got all that moisture from; might be the silkworms.

 

[RyuuKirin]

if you spray the tank decor (the poop-less decor, obviously, lol) they'll lick it off sometimes too

 

[gothra]

So after he finished his shed, he slowed down eating for a couple days, then he began to eat some greens! I held a piece of collard in front of him (I do this everyday hoping he'll eat it, but he usually just look away) and he took it immediately! Wow, he ate 3-4 pieces. That's good enough for me~

I'd also cut back on the bathing, now I'm bathing him once every 3 days. Yesterday when I put him in the water, he twitched one of his back leg several times, then moved it as if he is trying to scratch his body (but not scratching). Usually, if he wants to get out, he'll jump right out of the tub or on my hand. So I put my hand in front of him, but he just kept moving/kicking his right hind leg. For a moment, I thought he had neurological problems and couldn't control his movements! But while I was pondering what's going on, he swam away from my hand!! WOW! That hind leg kicking was him preparing to swim! The water tub is very small, just 30cm diameter, so he just swam very short distances here and there. I watched him a bit and was concerned that his nose could be underwater when he swims, so I took him out and put him back into his tank.

I wonder, if he doesn't jump right out of the tub when he'd had enough of bathing (like he usually did), he is happy to be in the water? I heard a lot of people say dragons enjoy swimming in shallow baths.

Weetbix has been a lot more active after his shed, he is now spending a lot of time trying to climb the glass. He'll climb like 10-15 minutes, then he'll go back to bask on his wood for half an hour, then climb again, lol.

 

[RyuuKirin]

yay! maybe he just felt crumby with a shed coming on? Ryuu is cranky before her shed... I'm glad he enjoyed his bath! And that he ate some of his greens too He really is a cutie!