What is wrong with my Bearded Dragon?

What's wrong with my baby bearded dragon?

• A little over a month ago I got a baby bearded dragon. I got him/her at a reptile show called repticon. I bought him/her from a bearded dragon breeder at the show. I do not know his/her age or gender. Now it is just about 6 inches long, from nose to tip of tail. I'm guessing it is a few months old. I did quite a bit of research before I bought my bearded dragon but I guess it wasn't enough. It is in a 40 gallon terrarium with a desert terrarium washable mat. I have 1 digital thermometer/Hydrometer that I keep on the basking side and I have a regular dial thermo/hydrometer on the cool side, I am saving money for a second digital one. The temp on the basking side always changes during the day from 100 F to 109 F, but stays in that range. The humidity is always between 14% and 29%. The cool side is in the 80s for temp and 30-40s for humidity. On the basking side I have a rock that I keep on the bottom of the tank, which gets warm from the lamp, and I have a branch that rests on the rock, with a suction cup pathway thing that goes across all of it to the floor. On the cool side I have a small water dish for him to go in (not deep at all) and a small food dish with veggies and a wood tunnel type thing they sell in pet stores. The pathway on the basking area does get very hot from the lamp and my bearded dragon seems to always lay on the floor near the rock with his eyes closed, never up high on the branch or pathway basking. I mist him 2-3 times a day and give him a warm bath 2x a week. 5 days a week I dust his crickets with calcium powder and 2 days a week I dust them with vitamins. I gutload his crickets and they are smaller than the space between his eyes. I cut up his veggies very small but he never seems interested in them. I've tried EVERYTHING - from handing feeding, to placing him in the dish, to placing the veggies on the floor of the terrarium, and to squeezing grape juice over the veggies to attract him to the smell and he still doesn't touch them! As for the crickets, I read everywhere online that babies are supposed to eat 50 a DAY! I'm lucky if I can get him to eat 15 a day. I feed him in the morning and he goes after a few but then stops, I check again a few hours later and there is normally a lot of crickets left, and at night I end up having to vaccum them out cause They hide eveywhere and I can't get the out any other way! Is there any other way to feed my bearded dragon crickets easier than that? Besides handing feeding and feeding in a separate container? I've tried both. I'm sorry for the long post but please help me. Is there anything I am doing wrong to why he wont eat a lot of crickets or eat his veggies or bask higher up? I do have a strip UVB light as well that my bearded dragon can get as close as 8 inches to it.

• Answer:

  Exnay the Water-ey. The water bowl is probably messing up the humidity. As to your beardie, you shouldn't have him in a 40 gallon. I'd switch him to a 20 gallon immediately, and save the 40 gallon for adult hood. Heres how you can tell if he's healthy: his eyes should be clear, he should be alert of his surroundings, good color contrast on scales, not alot of loose skin. A sunkin in tail means he is too thin. You want a nice round tail . They need to be active and not constantly laying in one spot. If he does nothing but lay in one area he is probably too cold. If he still attacks live food then that is a good sign. He is probably too cold due to the too big of a tank. Switch to a 20 gallon, and he should be fine. Theres too much space for him, thus causing him to not get enough heat. As for the cricket situation, every beardies appetite is different. As long as your feeding him twice a day and as much insects he accepts within 10 minutes he'll be fine. Some are pigs, and some do not eat much at all when babies. Also make sure you're not feeding him any lettuce... some good veggies are collard greens, mustard greens, etc. Keep in mind also baby beardies are more carnivorous, so most don't really eat veggies, but once they become a juvenile you should switch to a diet with more veggies. I'd also use the vitamins once a week, and calcium dust daily. Also make sure you have UVB and UV in the light source you are providing. Make sure somewhere in the tank he has a place to get out of the heat. Hides aren't the best for babies since they sometimes go in it and don't allow the needed heat to go to their body. But I use a log hide for my beardies.