Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new baby bearded dragon (1 month since I bought it) is having trouble. He won't eat on his own. I've tried crickets, mealworms, and vegetables chopped in a blender, and he wont take any of them. He is very lethargic, and just hangs out in his basking spot all day long. His eyes are always closed and never opens them. The first week I had him went well--he'd eat crickets and even shed his skin, but now he just wont do anything. I bathe him every day, and mist his cage once a day as well. He has access to water deep enough to swim in, with a branch allowing him to climb out, but he never uses it.

He lives in a 38 gallon Reptarium open air cage. The temperature in my room is around 75 degrees, and he has a night time bulb on one end which I leave on 24 hours, raising the temperature to 90 or so on that end. On the other he has a basking lamp that provides heat over 100 degrees. I leave that on 12 hours a day. He is by a window and gets natural UV light that way. Crickets are still always available.

He looks deathly thin, and it has come to the point where I force feed him moistened bearded dragon pellets to give him nutrients and hydration. I do this by prying open his mouth with my fingers (gently) and having someone else drop the pellet in. He will eat about 2-4 pellets in this way before spitting them back out. He WILL have a bowel movement the next day, so I know he digests it. Please, if you have any ideas on how to save my beardie, let me know. My area does not have a vet that specializes in reptiles.
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1 Snow Corn (Egg)
1 Anery Corn (Sevitt)
1 Creamsicle Corn (Flonne)
1 Spotted Python (Normande)
1 Pueblan Milksnake (Lamington)
1 Banded Gecko (Vyers)
1 Leopard Gecko (Cubone)
1 Emperor Scorpion (Noodle)

get to the vet ?

do you give this beared dragon water or baths ? possibly dehidrated babys tend to need more water then usual ..

still im sure someone could give you better info then me .

OK. I assume he is housed alone. Correct?

His eyes are closed which is a sign of stress. Not good.

Below is a link for US members of the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians. I would strongly suggest that you see one and have a fecal done.

http://www.arav.org/USMembers.htm

Temps. You need a digital themometer with a separate probe. The basking site should be 105-115 closer to the 115 range. The hot side where the basking spot is should have a background temp of about 85, 90 is fine. You should let the cool side be at room temp. since you say the room is 75. At night let the entire cage cool to about 70 if the room gets that cool. You may not need the night bulb. I've used the red night bulbs in the past but they keep my dragons awake even though they say reptiles can't see the red light. I only use the black bulbs now.

If all he does is sit on the hot spot all day it just may be too cool.

Enclosure. I don't believe in open air enclosures for Bearded Dragons but it may work for you because you must live in a warm area. The other issue with open air enclosures is that it may too humid. Sustained humidity of 60% or more will cause respitory problems.

His eyes may be closed because he is stressed (scared) by the suroundings. I would cover 3 sides of your cage so he feels more secure. Outside there may be a lot of bird activity that scares him and he feels he can't escape. So keeping his eyes closed is his way of hiding.

UVB. If the window is closed he's not getting any UVB. If it's open and has a screen, between that screen and the cage he's getting very little UVB. I'd buy a UVB bulb and block his view to the outside for now.

Vitamins. Crickets should be dusted every meal with Calcium with D3 and no Vitamin A or Phosphorus. Rep Cal is good. Once a week dust with a multivitamin instead of the Calcium. Again Rep Cal.

Food. Forget about vegitables at his age. Offer greens only misted with water. Collard, mustard, or turnip greens or escarole, endive or dandelion. I also don't blend my food into mush. I tear the greens into small pieces (little smaller than his head), that way it looks like normal food.

I hope this helps. But I strongly suggest that you bring him to the vet too. Even if there isn't an ARAV vet in your area you should call around. I bet there is some vet that sees reptiles as they've become much more popular recently. A furry vet should be able to at least do a fecal.

Hi
avoid mealworms they r hard to digest .
100 is to low raise baskingpsot to 110 -115
naturalsunlicht ?
does he not have a uvb/uva licht in the tank ?
does the naturalsunlicht shine troug his glas tank?"
r does he get it direct on him ?
tel more about his set up .
herpvetconection.com
there you can see if a vetr is nearby .
byeeeeee
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www.dragoncave.nl

All screen cages are difficult to maintain a steady temperature. Also, it means he is exposed to drafts from his surroundings (ie open window if it is cool outside etc) and depending on how busy it is in his environment, he can be stressed by the regular goings on around him.

I would remove him from the reptarium and place him in a 20-30 gal long tank or sterlite container. Cover 2-3 sides (back, both sides, or just back and one side) with some opaque material (construction paper, bristal board, cardboard etc).

Next, get a digital thermometer with probe. Lay the probe end directly on his basking spot to get a more accurate reading of his basking temp. It should fall between 105-115F near the top of the basking area. It is also good to have a large enough basking area to provide a range of basking temps so your dragon can choose when he wants to be warmer or cooler.

Get a good UVB bulb (repti-sun or repti-glo are good UVB florescent tubes available at most pet stores. Aim for one that is at least 5.0 (one brand goes to 8.0, the other has 10.0 both are good. Pretty much the higher number, the more uvb the bulb puts out).

UVB rays will not travel through standard household windows (these are specially coated to filter out UVB rays, so only about 1% of them get through the glass. Then most of that is filtered via the screen, then it has to get through the reptarium screen (or aquarium glass) and you pretty much have no UVB getting to your dragon). Depending on your outside temperatures, the draft from an open window can be freezing your dragon. When he is in the new tank, move him completely away from the window (in a glass tank the sun coming in from the window can cook your dragon, as glass tanks heat up fast in the sun).

Lethargy, closed eyes, lack of appetite, etc, are all signs of improper husbandry, stress and possibly disease etc. Fix the husbandary areas first, if he doesn't perk up immediately, (within a day or two), take him to a vet for examination. Being under stress for a month has a high chance of allowing harmful bacterial in his gut and parasites to get out of control and can be making things even worse.

I also suggest you ease up on the constant baths..taking him out and soaking him, then force feeding him, can stress him out even more. If he will take moistened and blended dragon pellets willingly from a spoon or needleless syrenge, you really don't need to bathe him as he will be getting moisture from that.

I also suggest reading some of the back posts here, as many talk about the basics of bearded dragon care. You can get great tips from reading back posts and thus safe yourself some time in waiting for a response.
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PHLdyPayne

All right. I moved him into an aquarium with the sides covered with construction paper as you have suggested. I increased the temperature and bought the UV heating lamp and even moved him away from the window just to be safe. He has not recovered his energy and has not voluntarily taken food, but he HAS started moving around. Since this appears to be stress, I've also stopped holding him as much. I guess my next step is to try feeding him through a syringe. Thanks for the help
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1 Snow Corn (Egg)
1 Anery Corn (Sevitt)
1 Creamsicle Corn (Flonne)
1 Spotted Python (Normande)
1 Pueblan Milksnake (Lamington)
1 Banded Gecko (Vyers)
1 Leopard Gecko (Cubone)
1 Emperor Scorpion (Noodle)