I know the stress hormone you are referring to, it was talked about during a experiment on the reaction to tracker implants placed in snakes during IHS...it can be measured in blood but I can't remember what it was called. I am not sure if this same hormone is common in all animals, or if each animal or most animals have different kinds. But...doing a bit of research via google on stress hormones, I did come across two types that are common in both humans and animals (and even in plants) which sounds like the one talked about in the studies presented at the IHS.

It may be a good ideal for your doctor to look at the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine. The former chemical also causes the brain to release glucose into the bloodstream, which may account for the higher levels of blood sugar you mentioned was in the blood results. However, keep in mind that being stuck with needles in a vet's office is likely to cause stress by itself, so the results may be inconclusive because of this.

If stress is playing a role in your dragon's lack of activity, reassessing his environment will be necessary. Buy another digital thermometer and double check temperatures. Check for anything in and out of the cage that could be intimidating to your dragon (pictures of predatory animals, high traffic area, change in the environment around time this all started etc). It could easily just be a plastic owl set outside the window to scare away pigeons, which the dragon is seeing through the window and thinks it is a hawk hoping to eat him etc.

DO you have a ceiling fan? Being warmer weather, if you have it on now but didn't over the winter, and its not far from your dragon's cage where he can see it, the spinning blades could be stressing him out. I noticed this with my female dragon, she would hide almost all day, but when I turned off the ceiling fan, she comes out now (though it took a day before she was convinced the circling thing was gone LOL). If your dragon can see the fan spinning, maybe a good ideal to move the cage or just not use the fan all the time, maybe just at night.

If your dragon is stuck in your room all the time, alone, put a small tv in there and have it on. I find bearded dragons will watch a television (or most likely the moving images) though not sure if this is something they enjoy or just a distraction to relief the everyday boredom.

I know moving a large cage can be a pain, and impractical if you can't get help to move your dragon's cage. Perhaps you can spend more time interacting with your dragon (other than taking him to a vet). Take him outside for an hour of natural sunlight (best to keep him in a container, be it a large rubbermaid or a flexarium type cage. Just be sure there are shaded areas in the cage so he can get out of the sun if it is too hot. Also, don't leave him alone out there, stay with him the entire time. Bring a book and something to drink.

I believe you also mentioned ot place your dragon on a windowsill to get UVB...he won't, not through standard window glass. It filters out 99% of UVB rays. He has to be in direct unfiltered sunlight (or at worse, filtered through a screen...still reduced UVB through screen but not as much as glass)
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PHLdyPayne

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