When to feed baby dragons?

I had four bearded dragon babies hatch out 5 days ago. I tried offering very small Pinhead crickets on day three but they just seemed really scared and stressed out and ran away from them. I tried again yesterday on day 5 and they still seemed very scared of the feeders and would not even attempt to eat. This is my first ever clutch of dragon babies so I am curious as to what other people’s experience is concerning when they start wanting to eat. I’ve read that the egg Sac usually sustains them through their first week but I just want to make sure I’m not doing anything wrong with these precious babies.

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How are you housing them? Can you add a picture of their enclosures? They usually won’t eat for a while, but you can still try.

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Since this was one of my female’s first ever clutch she actually only produced five fertile eggs and one did not make it so since I only have the four I have them in a 40 quart tub right now with a basking bulb and a UVB bulb clamped on the side. As soon as I can tell they have an appetite I plan on separating them into their own 20 gallon long enclosures. It’s going to be a few days before I will have the money for their individual enclosures and I’m just worried about all the horror stories I’ve heard of hatchlings nipping each other

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Do you have lots of hides and cover in the enclosure? If so they will likely just eat when they are hungry.

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I take everything out of the enclosure when feeding my babies. Keep putting the feeders in everyday, give them 15 minutes then remove what’s not eaten. They’ll eat soon enough.

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This is the picture of the temporary Nursery setup I have them in. I offered them again today small Pinhead crickets and they still did not want to eat. I’ve been leaving the Pinhead crickets in for about 15 minutes and then I’ll take them all back out so they don’t stress the babies. Like I stated earlier in the thread, this is my first ever clutch I produced and I’ve just heard so many stories about how voracious they are as babies and I’ve seen so many horror stories of babies losing Toes or tail nips from hatch mates trying to eat them. They are now 8 days out of the egg and are Super Active and running all around


but still no signs of having any interest in food

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8 days is a long time, I’ve got 4 day old babies that fed today. I would get them in a enclosed viv as soon as possible, they’re probably not getting enough heat. Babies need to be at around 110-115 basking spot. Facebook marketplace has some cheap second hand vivs :slight_smile: I’d probably go up a size in crickets as well, I use hatchling crickets.

Try adding more hides/cover. You could use old food containers as hides or a piece of cardboard leaned on a rock for cover.

I am pretty religious with my husbandry and that was my first thought, that they were not getting hot enough but I have been checking their temps multiple times during the day and they have a fairly large basking area that’s getting up to 115° three of them have eaten but I still have one that will not take food yet.

Ah well there you go :slight_smile: have you been putting veg in as well?

Yes I been putting little bits of finely chopped up dandelion greens and minced bell peppers