Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello my 1 year female old dragon stoped eating. she will not touch dragon food greens or dryed crickets but still goes nuts for live crickets. I bathe her to make sure she drinks. temp in the basking spot is fine and her shade spot is cooler. its been 3 weeks since she had anything other than live crickets she dosn't look sick she hasn't lost weight that i can tell. Is this just a dragon thing like my ball python stops eating in the winter thanks for any help

ps Is 7 inches(nose to vent)to small for a 1 year old female?
If so how can I make her larger?

7" nose to vent is small for a one year old dragon. Giving the fact the tail of the dragon is a little more than it's nose to vent length (ie in your case, a 7" nose to vent could have a tail around 7-8" long, giving potential total length of 14-15" which is a bit small for a year old dragon. My dragon at one year old (and she brumated at around 9 months of age, so there was a growth slowdown because of it) was around 18" and grew up to a little over 19" before I had to sell her (she was nearly 2 years old at that time).

That being said, there are alot of smaller dragons in the market, some never making it over 16" even with optimal consitions. All the right foods, great appetite, no troubles with parasites or competition, etc. Sometimes it is just genetics. A good indication on how big your dragon should be is how long the parents were at a year old. Or are currently.

Basking temps should be somewhere between 95-115F with cool sides in the high 70's to low 80's. Nighttime temps can drop to mid 60's. The best and more accurate way to take temps is with a temp gun or digital thermometer with probe.

As your female is a year old, it is possible she is starting to or has entered brumation, which is something like hybernation in reptiles. Is she just as active as before? OR does she spend alot of time in her hide sleeping?

Other things to know is how often or when was the last time you changed her UVB bulb? Is she housed alone? What sort of substrate do you use? When was her last vet examination and fecal?
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the info.