Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two young bearded dragons a male and female. My female is growing just fine but in the last few days I've noticed that my male's thinned out some. I feed them crickets and vegetables but he doesn't seem to be gaining any weight. I put vitamin dust on their crickets and their vegetables. I've even tried hand feeding him to get him to eat more but he's just not gaining weight at the moment. He's starting to worry me and I don't know what else to do short of taking him to the vet. These are my first bearded dragons and my second set of lizards so I'm really new to this, any help would be appreciated.

Two possibilities come immediately to mind:

1. Parasites. Have you had a fecal screen done? Parasites can lead to poor appetite, poor digestion and absorption of nutrients, weight loss, etc.

2. Are they housed together? If so, one may be dominating and intimidating the other, causing underfeeding and stress, or simply the stress of shared space. Some dragons do fine with shared housing, others do not.
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house

Okay if this posts twice I have no idea what the problem is and I'm sorry. Yes they're housed together and they get crazy when seperated. I do seperate them when I feed them crickets. They both have different tastes in vegetables. They won't eat the vegetables the other one will. He prefers things like lettuce and greens. She prefers any vegetable with a sweet flavor. When I give them something they don't like they use the bathroom on it. I haven't had his fecal matter tested for parasites yet but if this persists I will. I was hoping that maybe he was growing again but it doesn't look that way. If it comes down to it wether like it or not I'll seperate them to make sure that they both stay happy and healthy.

If one has parasites, they both have parasites. Separate them before it's too late.