Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 6 1/2 mo.old beardie. He has always been active until around 8:30 at night. In the last week or so he is ready to go to sleep around 6pm or so. His eating of crickets has slowed down some. Doesn't want his veggies too much right now. If you pick him up, he acts just fine and climbs all over. My husband took him to the vet today and they did a complete fecal, exam, etc. and said he is in perfect health. He weights 255 grams and is 15" long. I have noticed that his growth has stopped for now. The vet said his metabolism could be changing as he is growing older. Any ideas on what might be going on. He is in the same lighting enviroment (UVB light and basking light)as he's always been. He's in a 29 gal tank and my husband is in the process of building him a 4 x 2 x 2 new home. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Dragons will sometime slow down around 6 months for a few weeks. Mine did around that age for a week or so then started eating more and her greens. They also tend to slow down sometimes even stop eating when shedding. Just keep him well hydrated, continue to offer food, a luke warm soak would be nice as well.

One other note, if he has the same UVB bulb for more than 6 months I would change it, they really start to lose UVB outage after 6 months.

Are you giving him multi-vitamine/calcium dusted insects regularly?
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PHLdyPayne

I dust his crickets each day with calcium. A few times a week I dust them with vitamins. He gets a soak in water several times a week. Your right about the bulb. It is about 6 mos old, so I will replace it this week. The vet suggested that we start taking him outside to let him get some real sun (we have a leash, but haven't used it yet) Thanks for the information. We love him and don't want anything to happen to him. It is amazing how you can become so attached to them. Thanks, D

natural sunlight is deffinitely the best. I never used a leash with mine, mostly because she was a bit too flighty to try and put a leash on. What I used to do was just put her in a large rubbermaid container, with the lid covering half, for shade (or I put half hte container in shade) so she has a place to go if she starts getting to hot. Then I just sit out with her and read for about an hour a day. About 6 hours of natural sunlight a week (over a few days, not all at once LOL) pretty much replaces the need for uvb or vit D3 suppliments.

I would cut back on dusting with calcium to about 3-4 times a week though, as too much calcium can be as bad as too little. Since yours is 6 months old or older (assuming you didn't hatch her yourself) is enough. Its really only th e first couple months they need daily calcium dustings. Once they are a year old you can cut back to a couple times a week.
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PHLdyPayne