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Beardie not growing or eating.

Alyssa erin

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
2
Location
Ohio
Hello,

My name is Alyssa and I own about an 8-10 month old Beadie. He is the first one I have owned and I have several friends who own/or have owned one. I got him in May 2018 and since that time I have had a lot of problems with him. Im going to go in order of the issues I have had and the setup, temp, humidity, and diet. I got him from a coworker who got him from a neighbor. The neighbor was housing him with another beardie and they were fighting. My coworker already has a Blue tongued skink and knew I wanted a beardie so she gave him to me. I don't know much information about him besides the fact that he is male, roughly was 5 months. I have no idea if any of that is correctt or where he came from. The first incident was in August, I noticed his tail started to turn a discolor and it looked like there was a indiction on it like it was bit or got caught in the top of the tank. I took him to the vet, they checked everything, his tail was fine, no signs of tail rot. They also did a fecal wet mount which came back negative and he received a vitamin shot and was tested to adenovirus which was also negative. He continued to be fine briefly and then completely stopped eating and was sleeping all day and night. He didn't eat for about 3 weeks when I took him back to the vet in October. They checked his fecal matter again for parasites and other viruses because at the time I was feeding him crickets. It came back negative, they gave him some fluids, another vitamin shot and repashy so I can force feed him when necessary. He had lost 10 grams from august to October. Around this point, I stopped feeding him roaches and started feeding him dubia roaches because I learned about the parasites crickets can carry. I go to a reptile only store to get my roaches and the owner is extremely knowledgable. He is the one who actually helped me figure out what was going on with him. I realized I got the wrong watt bulb for his basking and I didn't have anything for him to climb on to reach the bulb and to be closer as he wishes. So from him I got a 100 Watt basking bulb and some grape vines so he can be as warm as he would like. He came around very quickly and started to eat daily and acting normally and basking. He was well until recently. He eats daily, has normal bowel movements and continues to bask and act normally. He hasn't grown since September and remains fairly small. I have a 40 gallon tank and I have his basking area around 90-100 degrees. I have an 36 in UVB bulb that is 10.0 that runs across the back of the tank, however, I recently replaced it thinking the UVB stopped working and he has reacted better to a small UVB that is 5.0. I have a hiding home for him and grape vines and a rock he can climb on to reach the light better. I have a cool side with plants and i keep a water dish in his tank. I feed him roaches, mealworms, kale, collared greens, and raspberries (even though he isn't interested in veggies). He seems to only want to eat things that move and now will only eat his mealworms and not even the roaches. I have ordered bearded dragon multi vitamins, canned silkworms, and beardie bites but he isn't interested in any of it. He doesn't like wax worms either. When he does eat, he isn't a big eater. He will eat about 2 roaches and a few worms a day. He hates the repashy and when I try to force feed him ( the way the vet showed me) he will spilt it back out or will hold it in his mouth until i let him go and won't eat it. I have started weighing him, the visit in August he was 35 grams. In October he was 25 grams. I didn't weigh him in november because I didn't get a scale until late December. He was 26 grams- dec 19, 27 grams- dec 22, 25 grams- dec 29, and I weighed him today Jan 2nd- at 24 grams.
I wanted to make a post on here before I took him to the vet again and they tell me they aren't sure whats wrong with him. The past few days He has started not eating again, sleeping all day, and seeming very sluggish. I'm very worried about him and not sure what i should do. All the help is appreciated and welcomed, Thank you
 

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PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
What are you measuring your temps with? The vet you are seeing, so they specialize in exotics?

He’s still little so you really want his basking temp to be 107 degrees. You also want the basking light to be either in front of the UVB or behind it but they need to overlap in the basking spot. The heat from the basking light is what helps the body synthesize the D3 from the UVB.

Mealworms are very high in chitin and are a poor choice to feed. Dubia are excellent, as well as BSFL and fresh silkworms.
 

Tabasco

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
98
Get his basking spot temp to 105. Make sure he spends at least 10 hours a day (at night) in total darkness. No colored heat lamps, CHE only if needed (below 60 degrees). No mealworms! Try hornworms, maybe 1 a day to make sure he is well hydrated. Try small superworms.

Dust live food with calcium w/D3 5 days a week, vitamins other two.

Give him a salad every day, turnip, mustard,collard greens with powdered bee pollen on top.

It could be he is an example of really bad genetics, a super runt. Or it could be medical issues. Hard to tell. Sounds like your vet has ruled out medical?

UVB bulbs will put out light long after they stopped putting out UVB, to be safe Change out every 9 months if using a quality bulb (reptisun or Arcadia).
 

Alyssa erin

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
2
Location
Ohio
What are you measuring your temps with? The vet you are seeing, so they specialize in exotics?

He’s still little so you really want his basking temp to be 107 degrees. You also want the basking light to be either in front of the UVB or behind it but they need to overlap in the basking spot. The heat from the basking light is what helps the body synthesize the D3 from the UVB.

Mealworms are very high in chitin and are a poor choice to feed. Dubia are excellent, as well as BSFL and fresh silkworms.

Yes he does specialize in exotics. I am using a 100 watt basking bulb, would you recommend a 150 watt bulb? I was going to get one of those and the hoods I have for my light bulbs said nothing over 100 watt which is why I haven't gotten them.
I have gotten gut loading diet for my dubia's. Do you have any sites that would be helpful for purchasing silkworms and BSFL online. The store I go to doesn't sell them.
Also thank you so much! I am going to go out and get the new bulbs tomorrow.
 

PatsyB

Super Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
Messages
9,390
Location
Chicago
I don’t think necessarily getting a 150 watt bulb is the answer. You should be able to get to 107 with a 100 watt bulb. You should be measuring your temps with a digital probe thermometer or a temp gun. You can even try to get your basking spot closer to the light.

As far as the bugs go, places like josh’s frogs, rainbow mealworms, lindasgonebuggie, dubiaroaches.com all have BSFL for good prices. Coastal Solkworms had silks in stock the other day. Sometimes lindasgonebuggie has silkworms too.
 
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