cwnj
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 2
hi 
basically my 2yr? beardie Felix has pretty much totally stopped eating and I don't really know what to do. He isn't showing any dire signs, he is not lethargic and will run around if I take him out, he still poops fine (just less) and drinks water. But he won't eat and is not basking as much. It is summer where I live. More details below.
ok this is gonna be long. I've owned reptiles and frogs before with no issues, I got my first bearded dragon in November 2018. I didn't want him, I'm a teenager and he was a gift from my parents to my brother. By December he wasn't interested anymore (as expected :/) so now the lizard is mine.
We went to the exotic pet store, he was in a 20/30??? gallon tank on the floor with a sign that said he was 2 years old and had been given up by previous owners that day. They had no other info, he had been dropped off anonymously. He had a basking light and maybe a heat lamp on the tank (can't remember) but I'm almost certain that was it. There was a styrofoam rock in there and a bowl, that was it.
Took him home, set him up in a 40 gallon breeder with some more hides and basking surfaces. We went through like ten different basking, heating and UVB lights before we found ones that got to the right temp, and in all of that trial and error I stupidly ended up forgetting to give him a UVB light... didn't realize until much later so he had no UVB from November-March and possibly before we got him.
We tried feeding dubia roaches, wasn't really interested.. tried waxworms, butterworms, probably other stuff, wouldn't take. fed him crickets the first night which he ate happily, then switched to mealworms which I've heard are healthier and are the only other insect he has been willing to eat.
What he ate:
mealworms every other day -- he would eat 12-14 regularly, dusted in Rep-Cal (which didn't do anything cause he had no UVB :/ )
also he only drinks in baths, which I give 2x a week, and he is currently still drinking. I tried a dripping bowl he didn't care.
Buuut he would not eat any vegetables at all. For the first few weeks we left bowls of vegetables and fruit in there hoping he'd eat it, but he didn't, even if I put it in his face or waited for him to lick it. I figured it was the winter and he might be in some kind of brumation stage, he'd eat in the spring.. (he has not). He was still basking, behaving and pooping normally. In March/April? maybe later? I can't remember exactly when it happened or how quickly he stopped eating but he did--i think i let him go for two weeks, still trying every night to make him eat mealworms and offering vegetables although he never touched them. I think sometimes he would have a worm or two. I also remembered to add a UVB around this time.
After those two weeks we bought all of the insects above and tried to make him eat them, he wouldn't. So I gave him crickets, and he ate crickets every other night for about three weeks. better than nothing ig. At the end of april he stopped eating crickets. Around this time he began basking less.
I gave him his bath in pedialyte just for the heck of it, can't do any bad, and syringe fed him blueberry babyfood for a few nights. He didn't get upset or anything; he did not willingly swallow it or sit in my lap for this but he wasn't like clawing me to escape. He doesn't seem lethargic.
About 3 weeks ago: I was really stressed and busy because of finals at school so I stopped trying to feed him as much.. I still gave him baths twice a week and he was still drinking and pooping, but he was not basking very much and I was not taking him out to let him run around. If I put him on his basking hammock he would stay there for a few hours, but a lot of times I just didn't feel like moving him and so he would lay under his hide until I moved him. A lot of times his belly would be cold when I took him from the cool side. Pretty sure if I just left him under his branches on the cool side he would never even move to bask.
Now..
School is out so for the last week I've been offering worms and medium dubia roaches, as well as fruits and vegetables. Maybe 1 out of 5 attempts he will voluntarily eat. I do sports and a lot of times if he won't eat voluntarily I just put him back because I don't have the energy. He only eats mealworms the vast majority of the time, and even then it's not much. Three days ago he ate 6 or 7 mealworms, but hasn't eaten since then. So tonight I just kind of force fed him a bunch of fruit-- it takes a really long time because I try to be patient with him. I've done it a bunch of other times too, since I don't feel like buying baby food. I just pull apart his lips gently on the side of his mouth and slip in a little tiny slice of grapes or something, and then if I slide it to the front of his mouth he'll open it and chew it. You can see why this is so annoying to do. He will shake his head sometimes and maybe walk away but he doesn't turn black or run.
The warm side of his tank is consistently at about 98F. Pics of lights attached. I've seen him gaping while basking before so I'm pretty sure it's hot enough. The cool side is always 80F, and he spends a lot of time there.
I'm not exactly sure what the lights are, I know they are all on and working. Pretty sure they're both ZooMed not certain because I went through so many returns. Everyone's probably gonna say i need a new UVB haha. saving up for that straight bar one.
His tank is a 40g breeder and does have substrate.. I knowww it's bad but I never feed him in his tank and he really likes to dig and lay in it. It's big pieces of ZooMed repti-bark and I shake it out and strain it before putting it in so it's not dusty. I scoop it out whenever he poops and I wipe out and refill the substrate once every two or three months. I've never seen him eat it and throughout this whole time I think he's pooping fine still and I've never felt his stomach be hard or anything. I do wonder if the digging makes him feel like brumating or something?
So, he sleeps most of the time under his hides on both sides of his tank. When I take him out he usually won't eat but if I bathe him he will drink. He will walk around, run around, bask outside in the sun with me. Doesn't appear lethargic? When I look up beardie poop his looks normal lol. He never glass surfs or tries to get out of his tank, and never has stress lines. I've only seen him turn black once. When I take him out in front of his tank he does try to get back in though.. lol. Also he has no obvious physical abnormalities and doesn't look skinny to me.
Yayy, you made it to the end congrats.Sorry I wrote so much, thank you for reading. Wanted to make sure I included all the info, tho I'm sure I forgot something. Basically, do I just wait for him to be hungry? Force feed him different stuff? I don't think a vet visit is likely... would really like to avoid that if possible. I don't know if there is an answer. Just figured I'd put it out there. Thank you! Pics of my thermometers in case they're a bad brand or something and of the terrible little man himself :>
basically my 2yr? beardie Felix has pretty much totally stopped eating and I don't really know what to do. He isn't showing any dire signs, he is not lethargic and will run around if I take him out, he still poops fine (just less) and drinks water. But he won't eat and is not basking as much. It is summer where I live. More details below.ok this is gonna be long. I've owned reptiles and frogs before with no issues, I got my first bearded dragon in November 2018. I didn't want him, I'm a teenager and he was a gift from my parents to my brother. By December he wasn't interested anymore (as expected :/) so now the lizard is mine.
We went to the exotic pet store, he was in a 20/30??? gallon tank on the floor with a sign that said he was 2 years old and had been given up by previous owners that day. They had no other info, he had been dropped off anonymously. He had a basking light and maybe a heat lamp on the tank (can't remember) but I'm almost certain that was it. There was a styrofoam rock in there and a bowl, that was it.
Took him home, set him up in a 40 gallon breeder with some more hides and basking surfaces. We went through like ten different basking, heating and UVB lights before we found ones that got to the right temp, and in all of that trial and error I stupidly ended up forgetting to give him a UVB light... didn't realize until much later so he had no UVB from November-March and possibly before we got him.
We tried feeding dubia roaches, wasn't really interested.. tried waxworms, butterworms, probably other stuff, wouldn't take. fed him crickets the first night which he ate happily, then switched to mealworms which I've heard are healthier and are the only other insect he has been willing to eat.
What he ate:
mealworms every other day -- he would eat 12-14 regularly, dusted in Rep-Cal (which didn't do anything cause he had no UVB :/ )
also he only drinks in baths, which I give 2x a week, and he is currently still drinking. I tried a dripping bowl he didn't care.
Buuut he would not eat any vegetables at all. For the first few weeks we left bowls of vegetables and fruit in there hoping he'd eat it, but he didn't, even if I put it in his face or waited for him to lick it. I figured it was the winter and he might be in some kind of brumation stage, he'd eat in the spring.. (he has not). He was still basking, behaving and pooping normally. In March/April? maybe later? I can't remember exactly when it happened or how quickly he stopped eating but he did--i think i let him go for two weeks, still trying every night to make him eat mealworms and offering vegetables although he never touched them. I think sometimes he would have a worm or two. I also remembered to add a UVB around this time.
After those two weeks we bought all of the insects above and tried to make him eat them, he wouldn't. So I gave him crickets, and he ate crickets every other night for about three weeks. better than nothing ig. At the end of april he stopped eating crickets. Around this time he began basking less.
I gave him his bath in pedialyte just for the heck of it, can't do any bad, and syringe fed him blueberry babyfood for a few nights. He didn't get upset or anything; he did not willingly swallow it or sit in my lap for this but he wasn't like clawing me to escape. He doesn't seem lethargic.
About 3 weeks ago: I was really stressed and busy because of finals at school so I stopped trying to feed him as much.. I still gave him baths twice a week and he was still drinking and pooping, but he was not basking very much and I was not taking him out to let him run around. If I put him on his basking hammock he would stay there for a few hours, but a lot of times I just didn't feel like moving him and so he would lay under his hide until I moved him. A lot of times his belly would be cold when I took him from the cool side. Pretty sure if I just left him under his branches on the cool side he would never even move to bask.
Now..
School is out so for the last week I've been offering worms and medium dubia roaches, as well as fruits and vegetables. Maybe 1 out of 5 attempts he will voluntarily eat. I do sports and a lot of times if he won't eat voluntarily I just put him back because I don't have the energy. He only eats mealworms the vast majority of the time, and even then it's not much. Three days ago he ate 6 or 7 mealworms, but hasn't eaten since then. So tonight I just kind of force fed him a bunch of fruit-- it takes a really long time because I try to be patient with him. I've done it a bunch of other times too, since I don't feel like buying baby food. I just pull apart his lips gently on the side of his mouth and slip in a little tiny slice of grapes or something, and then if I slide it to the front of his mouth he'll open it and chew it. You can see why this is so annoying to do. He will shake his head sometimes and maybe walk away but he doesn't turn black or run.
The warm side of his tank is consistently at about 98F. Pics of lights attached. I've seen him gaping while basking before so I'm pretty sure it's hot enough. The cool side is always 80F, and he spends a lot of time there.
I'm not exactly sure what the lights are, I know they are all on and working. Pretty sure they're both ZooMed not certain because I went through so many returns. Everyone's probably gonna say i need a new UVB haha. saving up for that straight bar one.
His tank is a 40g breeder and does have substrate.. I knowww it's bad but I never feed him in his tank and he really likes to dig and lay in it. It's big pieces of ZooMed repti-bark and I shake it out and strain it before putting it in so it's not dusty. I scoop it out whenever he poops and I wipe out and refill the substrate once every two or three months. I've never seen him eat it and throughout this whole time I think he's pooping fine still and I've never felt his stomach be hard or anything. I do wonder if the digging makes him feel like brumating or something?
So, he sleeps most of the time under his hides on both sides of his tank. When I take him out he usually won't eat but if I bathe him he will drink. He will walk around, run around, bask outside in the sun with me. Doesn't appear lethargic? When I look up beardie poop his looks normal lol. He never glass surfs or tries to get out of his tank, and never has stress lines. I've only seen him turn black once. When I take him out in front of his tank he does try to get back in though.. lol. Also he has no obvious physical abnormalities and doesn't look skinny to me.
Yayy, you made it to the end
congrats.Sorry I wrote so much, thank you for reading. Wanted to make sure I included all the info, tho I'm sure I forgot something. Basically, do I just wait for him to be hungry? Force feed him different stuff? I don't think a vet visit is likely... would really like to avoid that if possible. I don't know if there is an answer. Just figured I'd put it out there. Thank you! Pics of my thermometers in case they're a bad brand or something and of the terrible little man himself :> 