Bearded Dragon help

[Ross1988]

Good afternoon all,

I recently took my mates ex girlfriends Bearded Dragon (Keith) off her, as he was no longer wanted.

When I got him, he was of a light sandy hue, but now he has turned into a much darker hue, His beard is very dark, Now I did read up on them, and I don't know what I am doing wrong.

Some internet sources say this is normal, and it is a precursor to a shed, but he has just shed a load!

Any advice is much appreciated.

If it helps, he is in the same viv as before, his diet has changed though, my local pet store didn't stock his usual grasshoppers, so I had to buy him meal worms and crickets.

Would this affect him?

He also doesn't drink much, I say much, but it seem like non at all.

Any help is appreciated.

[Nightmare]

how old is he? and how big/heavy?

drinking water...ive NEVER seen mine drink. ever. doesnt seem to have bothered her

mine has changed colour a fair bit over the last few years..... doesn't seem directly related to anything much. ..but its fairly reasonable to assume that given the very limited diet variety, some colour change could be ascribed to a diet change. Is he having vegetables of any sort?

Id be much more interested in behaviour change than colour change in terms of whether you're doing anything wrong.....so whats that like?

cheers
Night

[Ross1988]

Hmm, I'm not really sure if it has changed, as it's the first time we've met, he is now on a varied diet, he has not had veg, but is eating fruit. What veg and fruit is the best?

He is currently in his hide, he scratches at his glass a bit occasionally, usually for a poo. He does come out for a bit sometimes, but he just runs into walls or to high places.

He has no trouble feeding. Poo are quite regular so far. Is there anything specific you are interested in?

Thanks for your help.

[marcosgt]

Ross1988 said:

Hmm, I'm not really sure if it has changed, as it's the first time we've met, he is now on a varied diet, he has not had veg, but is eating fruit. What veg and fruit is the best?

He is currently in his hide, he scratches at his glass a bit occasionally, usually for a poo. He does come out for a bit sometimes, but he just runs into walls or to high places.

He has no trouble feeding. Poo are quite regular so far. Is there anything specific you are interested in?

Thanks for your help.

Sounds fairly healthy.

Ours is much less active in the winter months, but (aside from shedding time) doesn't really seem to change colour much (although her throat can be almost blue at times, it usually passes in a day or so at most.).

My wife regularly feeds ours dandelion leaves and mostly locusts (live or dried/frozen - mostly bought from the livefoods website, if you have trouble getting them locally) and she's a fairly vivid orange usually.

I've never seen ours drink either.

M.

Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 1st February 15:34

[Nightmare]

yeah sounds pretty normal to me too.

regular poo v important cos its good indicator of whether he's having enough calcium or not - I take it you know how critical that is. nothing you've suggested would worry me. Incidentally they do seem to shed a bit randomly; mine has often shed a couple of times in fairly close succession and then not for months.

fruit/veg...mine really likes rocket leaves, butternut squash and grapes. (though the missus fed her a whole grape straight out the fridge once which really p*ssed her off....was very funny) I think just a bit of variety is good.

re: running into walls...in a panicky sort of way? do you have any other pets? (mine once caught a brief glimpse of my python and had an absolute spack-out)

[Shabs]

black beard = pissed off, don't worry, it will go back to normal after he gets used his surroundings

on his vivarium, does he have the correct lighting, i.e. daylight full spectrum bulbs and are you gut-loading / powdering his food?

If you give him some vedge then he will probably get all the liquid he needs from that.

Shabs