Bearded dragon not eating or coming out, shouldn't be in brumation

[BreeRed15]

Hi all, would appreciate some help.
I have a 3 year old male beardy, we got him last year. He came with an enclosure which was too small, and we've since upgraded him to a larger one, hoping it would help.
Early in the year during summer, he stopped coming out and basking and stopped eating. We took him to the vet who gave him a flush to get him to poop and we then had to worm him and feed him a supplement through a syringe, very tricky to do but we did it.
He came good once the worming course was complete, and was out and eating and basking again. We constantly checked temps and didn't mess with them so long as he seemed happy.
Then the cold weather hit, and he disappeared again, but we thought this time was just brumation. Fast forward and it's now Psring here in Australia, and he still won't come out and eat. We've seen him out a couple times and he's eaten once or twice, won't even take bugs. I've adjusted the temps in the new tank, made them hotter and cooler for a period of time to see if he prefers different temps. We've taken his loose substrate away and just have plain rubber mats on the floor in case he's taking in dirt/sand. We offer him veggies daily, which he used to like. I've offered him bugs from time to time, which he's taken once. He has pooped recently since changing him away from loose substrate.
But I'm at a loss for what to do with him. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[Sadie]

Hi all, would appreciate some help.
I have a 3 year old male beardy, we got him last year. He came with an enclosure which was too small, and we've since upgraded him to a larger one, hoping it would help.
Early in the year during summer, he stopped coming out and basking and stopped eating. We took him to the vet who gave him a flush to get him to poop and we then had to worm him and feed him a supplement through a syringe, very tricky to do but we did it.
He came good once the worming course was complete, and was out and eating and basking again. We constantly checked temps and didn't mess with them so long as he seemed happy.
Then the cold weather hit, and he disappeared again, but we thought this time was just brumation. Fast forward and it's now Psring here in Australia, and he still won't come out and eat. We've seen him out a couple times and he's eaten once or twice, won't even take bugs. I've adjusted the temps in the new tank, made them hotter and cooler for a period of time to see if he prefers different temps. We've taken his loose substrate away and just have plain rubber mats on the floor in case he's taking in dirt/sand. We offer him veggies daily, which he used to like. I've offered him bugs from time to time, which he's taken once. He has pooped recently since changing him away from loose substrate.
But I'm at a loss for what to do with him. Any advice would be appreciated

We are going to start w/ lighting and temps -- tell me how your getting surface basking temps and what are they? UVB NO coils and where is the UVB how old is the bulb? Has the dragon lost weight? Is he sporting a black beard? Are you keeping him hydrated?

 

[BreeRed15]

We are going to start w/ lighting and temps -- tell me how your getting surface basking temps and what are they? UVB NO coils and where is the UVB how old is the bulb? Has the dragon lost weight? Is he sporting a black beard? Are you keeping him hydrated?

UVB is a long bulb, not coil, along the right side of the enclosure. It's a new bulb we got with the new enclosure maybe a month ago.
I have basking lights on the left side of the enclosure and have adjusted the temps every few weeks to see if something changes, and check surface temps with a laser thermometer. I'm in Australia so using celcius. At the moment it's cooler, surface temps around 30°C, I've had surface temps up to 40°C. Surface temps I take at the warmest spot closest to what globes, and he generally hides in the hide just underneath it.
He doesn't have a full black beard but has a stripy belly and beard, and is generally darker than when he used to come out daily.
When we last took him to the vet when we thought he may have been impacted he'd lost some weight, put a little back on after his worming treatment and has since lost it again. I'm wondering if I get another course of worming stuff from the vet and try that again, as it worked last time before he went back into brumation, but he's since not come out of brumation. The vet back at that time said temps were perfect sitting in the low-mid 30s. Lights are all on a timer matching what the sun is doing outside.
When he has natural substrate in his enclosure I would most him and he has a bowl of aater available at all times. When he was supposed to be brumating I left him alone, but now I've been giving him water through a dropper which he licks up. I tried yesterday to give him some Wombaroo that the vet had me give him last time when he was doing his worming treatment until he started eating again, but I'd didn't have syringes so tried to get him to lick it off a spoon, but he got very minimal of that.

 

[Sadie]

UVB is a long bulb, not coil, along the right side of the enclosure. It's a new bulb we got with the new enclosure maybe a month ago.
I have basking lights on the left side of the enclosure and have adjusted the temps every few weeks to see if something changes, and check surface temps with a laser thermometer. I'm in Australia so using celcius. At the moment it's cooler, surface temps around 30°C, I've had surface temps up to 40°C. Surface temps I take at the warmest spot closest to what globes, and he generally hides in the hide just underneath it.
He doesn't have a full black beard but has a stripy belly and beard, and is generally darker than when he used to come out daily.
When we last took him to the vet when we thought he may have been impacted he'd lost some weight, put a little back on after his worming treatment and has since lost it again. I'm wondering if I get another course of worming stuff from the vet and try that again, as it worked last time before he went back into brumation, but he's since not come out of brumation. The vet back at that time said temps were perfect sitting in the low-mid 30s. Lights are all on a timer matching what the sun is doing outside.
When he has natural substrate in his enclosure I would most him and he has a bowl of aater available at all times. When he was supposed to be brumating I left him alone, but now I've been giving him water through a dropper which he licks up. I tried yesterday to give him some Wombaroo that the vet had me give him last time when he was doing his worming treatment until he started eating again, but I'd didn't have syringes so tried to get him to lick it off a spoon, but he got very minimal of that.

Ok lets adjust the surface basking temp to 95-100 F-- cooler side down to 80ish F-please get a digital probe thermometer for accurate basking temps the screen on the tank is a fine mesh or wide hole type or is the UVB in the tank ? I would get another fecal NO enemas feed plain canned pumpkin that will make him poop or baby food pumpkin -- water dishes dragons usually dont drink out of them have you ever seen him drink out of it? The stripes on the belly sound like stress marks - post a pic of him please - is he losing weight?

 

[BreeRed15]

Ok lets adjust the surface basking temp to 95-100 F-- cooler side down to 80ish F-please get a digital probe thermometer for accurate basking temps the screen on the tank is a fine mesh or wide hole type or is the UVB in the tank ? I would get another fecal NO enemas feed plain canned pumpkin that will make him poop or baby food pumpkin -- water dishes dragons usually dont drink out of them have you ever seen him drink out of it? The stripes on the belly sound like stress marks - post a pic of him please - is he losing weight?

I've had the temps at that heat before, I have both the ambient temp from the thermostat and take the surface temps to make sure the surface he's sitting on isn't scorching. But I can turn the heat back up again, I've just been slowly weaning it down in case the heat was what is making him hide.
The UVB is in a tank, it's a melamine tank with glass doors and ventilation, same as what he was in previously but bigger.
My vet last time did just a saline enema to get him to poop which worked immediately, other than some natural bugs not much was visible in his poop, so the vet thought to worm him anyway in case he had too much going on and it perked him up before brumation.
Ive never seen him drink from the water bowl, I don't expect him too but I have it there on offer anyway. Will get him some canned pumpkin, he has pooped since changing his tank, but probably only twice. He's probably rated a couple of days, one day where he ate his veggies, the other he took some woodies.
I'll get a more recent photo of him shortly

 

[BreeRed15]

Ok lets adjust the surface basking temp to 95-100 F-- cooler side down to 80ish F-please get a digital probe thermometer for accurate basking temps the screen on the tank is a fine mesh or wide hole type or is the UVB in the tank ? I would get another fecal NO enemas feed plain canned pumpkin that will make him poop or baby food pumpkin -- water dishes dragons usually dont drink out of them have you ever seen him drink out of it? The stripes on the belly sound like stress marks - post a pic of him please - is he losing weight?

Photos of him and the enclosure

 

[Sadie]

Photos of him and the enclosure

Your UVB needs to go into a fixture w/ a reflector - right now those rays are bouncing all over that tank and doing him no good - the fixture will make the rays stronger for him and direct them downward to him - distance for that bulb should be 12-15 inches and he should be able to sit directly under it -- how are you getting surface basking temps? I dont see any gauges in the tank - the belly is shed that has not come off yet - once you get the UVB on par and basking temps on par his scales / skin should clear up -- the temps and UVB is also going to help w/ the pooping --

 

[BreeRed15]

Your UVB needs to go into a fixture w/ a reflector - right now those rays are bouncing all over that tank and doing him no good - the fixture will make the rays stronger for him and direct them downward to him - distance for that bulb should be 12-15 inches and he should be able to sit directly under it -- how are you getting surface basking temps? I dont see any gauges in the tank - the belly is shed that has not come off yet - once you get the UVB on par and basking temps on par his scales / skin should clear up -- the temps and UVB is also going to help w/ the pooping --

The UVB in his old tank had an Arcadia reflector fixture I installed, his original tank when we got him didn't have UVB at all, just haven't gotten to getting a new reflective fixture for him with the current setup. The ambient temp is through the thermostat probe in the heat side of the tank, surface temps I take manually at different times so I make sure I get the hottest temps to avoid over heating.
He did most of his she'd before going into brumation, but I suppose there's a few bits left. Would it be worth giving him a soak for a bit?
We used to have an enclosure we'd put him. In outside in part sun and shade with supervision, but the weather here destroyed it over the last few months. Going to get a new one today and hopefully sit out with some natural light for a bit with him.
Thank you for the advice and not being nasty about it, just trying to get him well again Was weird when he stopped coming out cause we hadn't changed anything, and iw as recultant to change things for a while as I know that can stress him out too. Hoping he's had enough time to adjust to his new enclosure and not having loose substrate and that with some adjustments he'll perk up soon, otherwise back to the vet for him

 

[Sadie]

The UVB in his old tank had an Arcadia reflector fixture I installed, his original tank when we got him didn't have UVB at all, just haven't gotten to getting a new reflective fixture for him with the current setup. The ambient temp is through the thermostat probe in the heat side of the tank, surface temps I take manually at different times so I make sure I get the hottest temps to avoid over heating.
He did most of his she'd before going into brumation, but I suppose there's a few bits left. Would it be worth giving him a soak for a bit?
We used to have an enclosure we'd put him. In outside in part sun and shade with supervision, but the weather here destroyed it over the last few months. Going to get a new one today and hopefully sit out with some natural light for a bit with him.
Thank you for the advice and not being nasty about it, just trying to get him well again Was weird when he stopped coming out cause we hadn't changed anything, and iw as recultant to change things for a while as I know that can stress him out too. Hoping he's had enough time to adjust to his new enclosure and not having loose substrate and that with some adjustments he'll perk up soon, otherwise back to the vet for him

The outside UVB is great-- since you cant get him out in it tho please get the fixture fixed and the surface basking temps taken w/ a digital probe thermometer 95-100 - start there watch the behavior - the shed will come off eventually I dont think bathing is going to help-

 

[BreeRed15]

The outside UVB is great-- since you cant get him out in it tho please get the fixture fixed and the surface basking temps taken w/ a digital probe thermometer 95-100 - start there watch the behavior - the shed will come off eventually I dont think bathing is going to help-

His temps were originally set like that, and I didn't change them until just before we got his new setup. I've since changed his temps back to 35-40°C, it didn't make a difference last time they were set up there. Worried about his vitamin D cause he won't eat and when we got him he didn't have a UVB at all

 

[Sadie]

His temps were originally set like that, and I didn't change them until just before we got his new setup. I've since changed his temps back to 35-40°C, it didn't make a difference last time they were set up there. Worried about his vitamin D cause he won't eat and when we got him he didn't have a UVB at all

He needs the UVB bulb put into a fixture as soon as possible -- he wont eat w/ out proper UVB and the UVB is going to help w/ the vitamin D -- I recommend getting a Arcadia T 5 12% bulb 24 watt w/ D3 bulb - get it into the tank directly above him 12-15 inches and you will see a difference in his behavior

 

[Sadie]

Arcadia D3+ T5 Bulb- 22"

A revolutionary new range of high performance T5 reptile lamps from Arcadia. Offering a significant increase in both visible light and UV output compared with T8 lamps of similar length.

www.reptilebasics.com

Arcadia ProT5 UVB Kit 24"

ProT5 is a highly adaptable lighting kit with high quality internal electronics, a high effective but removable reflector, power cable, fittings kit & bulb

www.reptilebasics.com

Both bulbs are good

 

[BreeRed15]

He needs the UVB bulb put into a fixture as soon as possible -- he wont eat w/ out proper UVB and the UVB is going to help w/ the vitamin D -- I recommend getting a Arcadia T 5 12% bulb 24 watt w/ D3 bulb - get it into the tank directly above him 12-15 inches and you will see a difference in his behavior

I definitely plan to put a new light kit up but the thing is he did this before in his old enclosure with the Arcadia UVB and reflector before. He's only been in this enclosure for a little bit but before this he did the same thing with the right lighting and temps, so while I'm 100% willing to do it I'm not convinced it'll actually help

 

[Sadie]

I definitely plan to put a new light kit up but the thing is he did this before in his old enclosure with the Arcadia UVB and reflector before. He's only been in this enclosure for a little bit but before this he did the same thing with the right lighting and temps, so while I'm 100% willing to do it I'm not convinced it'll actually help

The distance and placement for the UVB is crucial - screens block 30% of UVB rays- what kind of screen is on the tank fine mesh or wide hole type and where did you have it placed at?

 

[BreeRed15]

The distance and placement for the UVB is crucial - screens block 30% of UVB rays- what kind of screen is on the tank fine mesh or wide hole type and where did you have it placed at?

There's photos above of the setup, it's inside a melamine tank so no screens or mesh between, which was the same as his old setup

 

[Sadie]

There's photos above of the setup, it's inside a melamine tank so no screens or mesh between, which was the same as his old setup

Ok so make sure he can get directly under the UVB fixture approx 12-15 inches

 

[BreeRed15]

Ok so make sure he can get directly under the UVB fixture approx 12-15 inches

After giving him some Wombaroo for a few days to hopefully give him some energy and hydration (recommended by vet as he's not eating) he had half come out of hiding this morning. We offered him his usual veggies, which he stared at. I thought today as he'd come out on his own and had warmed up a bit I'd offer him some crickets, he ate a bunch and is now chasing the escapees around his tank. Hopefully this means we're onto better days!

 

[Sadie]

After giving him some Wombaroo for a few days to hopefully give him some energy and hydration (recommended by vet as he's not eating) he had half come out of hiding this morning. We offered him his usual veggies, which he stared at. I thought today as he'd come out on his own and had warmed up a bit I'd offer him some crickets, he ate a bunch and is now chasing the escapees around his tank. Hopefully this means we're onto better days!

Has he sat under the UVB?

 

[BreeRed15]

Has he sat under the UVB?

Yes I sat him under there after giving him the Wombaroo the last few days and he sat himself there for a bit after the crickets

 

[Sadie]

Yes I sat him under there after giving him the Wombaroo the last few days and he sat himself there for a bit after the crickets

So are you noticing any changes?