Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some advice. I have a beardie who is almost a year or so about 2 months ago he started not eating as usual some days he would eat some worms no crickets or veggies other days nothing and hiding on the other side of the cage where its cooler under a rock ledge. now a week or so ago he started coming around the other side where the basking light is. he has seemed to maintain his weight although i dont weigh him so visally he looks the same and he always remained alert so i figured he was going through the bromate stage. He will still eat worms some days he will gobble em up other days maybe one or two. but will absolutly not touch crickets or veggies or fruits. he is alert strong and fiesty but im concerned about this. he is my first that me and my son have ever owned and living in cheyenne the people with knowledge are limited including vets but the 2 people i have asked one a pet store manager who has a few of his own dragons said not to worry and a vet here in town said the same but i dont think much of his opinion. so any advice? i think it is odd that before he would eat 10-30 at a time now he wont even give them a second look and veggies were always eaten but nothing. thanks for the read

It's very hard to say, My dragon Bob did the same thing, he stoped eating and his stools where runny, he also lost some weight and that was when I took him to the vet and found he had a pinworm infection. I had to feed him with a suringe and baby food for a week along with medication. He is doing great now.
I recomend you get a digital kitchen scale and keep track of his weight and consult a vet, a fecal exam may also be needed.
Never feed wild caught insects as well, never know what they may have in them or on them.

Really hard to say what could be wrong. Could be nothing, could be parasites, could be brumation, he could just be bored with what you are feeding him.. not enough details to say at this point.

What I suggest, double check the cage temps, use a digital thermometer. If you are already using one, change the batteries if they have never been changed. Weakening batteries may make the thermometer less accurate. Change your UVB bulb if you haven't changed it in the last 9 months. Take a fresh stool sample to your vet for a fecal.(store in fridge till you are able to take it to the vet, but try and bring one that is less than 24 hours old if possible. Do not freeze it, it will make it worthless for testing).

Try different types of insects though at this age, your dragon shouldn't be getting much anyway. Use a new type of greens and vegetables along with some of his favorites to encourage him to try to eat them.

Make sure he isn't dehydrated as well, a nice 10-15 min soak in luke warm water should get him to drink and probably defecate as well.

Keeping track of his weight is a good ideal as well, this way you can know for sure if he is maintaining weight or loosing it. Dragons can loose alot of weight before it is really noticeable. Most of their fat deposites are not really noticeable as they reduce till they are practically gone.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the advice much apperciated. Now, I bought a t-rex uvb bulb that is supposed to last a year. but, the aforementioned vet said there is no possible way uvb bulbs can last that long. PHladyPayne mentioned 9 months in the reply so whats the word on this matter??. Also I live in cheyenne wy and i dont know where all of you reside so if any of you are within 50 or so miles can you direct me to a excellent vet. I bought lenny from aquatic apperences in Greely Colorado and a very knowledgeable young man by the name of pablo refered to a clinic in greely but for the life of me i cant remember the name so any help on the vet subject would be so much welcomed. thanks to all who replyed and reply its NICE to have a site for our scaley little friends THANKS again.

My apoligies to PHldypayne on the misspell

Hi there!! Glad to see you on the bored. Sucks the reason your here tho!
You had mentioned that you have heard a couple different recomendations on when to replace the UVB bulbs.
I know on most of them its printed to change every 12 months, atleast thats what it says on mine.
From the research I have done on the bulbs and the production of UVB it is best to replace every 6 to 9 months. I would not go over 9 months of use myself. The older they get the less amount of UVB they put out wich only hurts your dragon.

Not sure if you know many of the people on this forum but as far as Lady goes I would take her advice over most here. Just a FYI in my humble opinion.

Good luck and hope you get it all straightened out soon!
M
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Mike & Wendy

2.0.0 Siberian husky, Jackrussel/schitzu
0.0.1 Ball Python
1.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.0.0 Beardie
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