Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, This is my first beardie, so I need some help from you other owners out there. I have had Spike since August... he is now 11 months old and was doing awesome until about 2 weeks ago. He stopped eating his crickets completely one day. He will eat his veggies half the time. He is basking all day long, not hiding out. He does go to the bathroom every few days (since not eating much) it's normal looking. I did not change anything he just stopped the crickets!! I live in CA, it's starting to get warmer so not Winter brumating attitude. Any help or suggestions would be awesome. Thank you.

I suggest changing his UVB bulb, if it hasn't been changed since you bought him in August, double check his basking temps and the cage temps...to make sure its not too cool. Try different greens and insects he could simply be tired of crickets. Also, keep in mind as he is nearing full maturity he could simply not be hungry as much as his metabolism is slowing down. It is normal for dragons to slow down growth around the one year mark, though they will still grow in length for another 3-6 months (or till two, some could still grow)

Weigh him weekly to see if he is maintaining his weight, gaining or loosing...that will be more accurate to tell if he's just slowing down as he has reached his top size, or something else can be happening.

Do you have females? It is possible he is showing more interest in breeding females, than eating..as this time of year would be when many breeders have started or already been breeding their dragons. Males can lose interest in food especially if they see or smell a mature female in the area.
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PHLdyPayne

It would be real helpful to know his length and weigh. As a rule of thumb, if he stops or slows eating but doesn't lose weight there is nothing to worry about.

Oh no, my 9 month old beadie is doing the same thing i have 2 identical homemade wooden enclosures stacked on top of eachother and he lives on the bottom and my 9 month old female lives in the top enclosure. I have bathed them together and let them roam my room together but i dont house them together. I was told not to let him near her from now on until im ready to breed but he has a black beard and he sits at the front glass window looking like he wants to get out. is this normal?what do i do?

I took in a 3 year old male rescue in December. He is crazy when he sees another dragon, I'm guessing he has never seen one before. I have 15 other dragons right now. If he can see any, even a reflection he is too distracted to eat and loses weight. A week or so ago he moved from a quarantine tank into his permanant enclosure. He was 494, and a perpetual motion machine since he can see other dragons in enclosures in a reflection in the glass of my sliding glass door onto the patio. He dropped to 460 from activity and not eating. I blocked his view and now he is back to 490 and calmer.

The moral of the story is to block their view of other dragons and then wait it out. Having the male interacting with a female outside the cage probably is not helping. In nature animals only jobs are eating and making babies and this time of year making babies is most important.