Dragon not eating?

[Luvthemanimal]

@sean8172 is your beardie loosing weight? Getting skinny? Sunken in eyes? Sunken in tail at base?

If yes to any, your beardie most likely has parasites which all beardies have BUT when stressed etc, can become a problem and a stool sample to vet is required..........

I personally would take a stool sample to your vet regardless of anything and have it tested..... If it's like mine 30$ for the test than when comes time for med bring in beardie to have weighed for proper meds etc.....

Do yourself a favor and het this done SOONER THAN LATER for the sake of your beardie

 

[sean8172]

He's lost three grams (from 25 to 22) over the last week. He seems skinny, but he's also grown a LOT (about two inches in the weeks to a month). No sunken eyes, no sunken tail. Other than a severely decreased appetite, he has shown literally no signs of any other medical problems. I agree, a stool sample is in his very near future, just to be safe.

 

[sean8172]

A little update. Gemini drank some water during his bath today, and had about 12ml of pedialite/Gatorade/water mix (a fair amount of that ended up on my arm and hand of course), and I basically force fed him one tiny piece of collard, but I have yet to see him eat. He sees the vet tomorrow morning, so here's to hoping we find out what's going on.

 

[PatsyB]

Drinking water is good, at least he's hydrated. Let us know what happens at the vet tomorrow.

 

[sean8172]

You know I will Patsy. Thanks!

 

[jarich]

By the looks of it, that is a T8 fluorescent you have there. Given that its over to the side of the basking spot, your dragon is getting almost no UV exposure at all from it. That light requires that the dragon be within about 6" without any screen in between, so with it sitting on the screen, you need it to be within about 4" of the dragon. Sitting on his log, off to the side of the light, he isnt getting any exposure, and since the light is so far from the floor of the enclosure, he wont be getting any there either. Since he is growing so quickly, it means he is in need of lots of calcium, but isnt able to absorb any due to the lack of UVB exposure.

For now, I would recommend you start taking him outside for at least half hour a day, that will increase his Vit D metabolite production. With your fixture, take the bulb out, and tape tinfoil around the back of the fixture behind the bulb. This will help reflect more of the light back down into the enclosure. Move the fluorescent light over so that it is also sitting directly above the basking branch. Then look into getting the T5 high output fluorescent light from either Zoomed or Arcadia. Im guessing the vet probably (hopefully) caught this by now and has given you some calcium for it already.

 

[sean8172]

Well, it seems Gemini is slightly impacted (I have no idea how that could have happened). I also allowed the vet to convince me to buy some "deworm/parasite" medicine. It was only $8. He basically told me to continue doing what I'm doing, and increase his soaks to three a day for the next week. He also showed us how to force feed Gemini, so he'll at least get food that way. We were able to, but the wife could only handle getting three wax worms down him, as the process is pretty gruesome to watch.

@jarixh: Thank you very much for the additional advice. I take all three of my BDs out for at least hour or so every day the temperature is above 80°. I have a fixture that I'm placing inside his tank later today. I try to make husbandry paramount, which is why Gemini's recent behavior baffles me so much.

 

[Luvthemanimal]

That's very odd that vets says it's impacted. Especially with the temps you reported. But get pure pumpkin. It's a natural laxative for them..... Warm baths with massaging the belly will help move the impaction... Also make sure it stays very hydrated.

 

[sean8172]

I fixed it. :-D

 

[RaceDiva]

I would try turkey baby food it really helped my baby dragon get back to eating well again.

Hi Stephanie, my name is Leslie and I have a male beardy named Scotty, He has always had a good appetite until 3 days ago. He likes crickets and mealworms but am having to coax him to eat any.He's been getting endive, kale, corn and green beans for veggies and I do dust with vitamines and calcium regularly. He's never been interested in drinking water from a dish but I put extra on his greens. He is about 10 or 11 months old, 16" long. he's in a 45 gallon tank, and has a 150 watt UVB light on for about 10 hours a day. I've looked him over and he looks fine no sign of dehydration, does seem a bit quieter than usual but not lethargic. Should I try baby food? If this was later in the year, my first thought would be brumation since he is close to 1 year but I thought that was a winter thing. Any advice much aappreciated,

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

Your dragon could just be bored. All but two of my dragons won't eat the same thing day after day. Some days are lazy days where they just want "dragon time". Think of them as cooler and better cats, no two are alike.

 

[ilovebeardies]

Well I would try baby food reptar loves it! Turkey with gravy its a good source of protein! Mix with a little bit of water. And put it on a flat lid in his Viv. I even give it sometimes as a treat. Stools might be a little soft from it. Also maybe try collard greens.

 

[RaceDiva]

I will try a bit of turkey baby meat, thanks. Also, I got him some wax worms and ordered some phoenix worms. Will keep trying crickets and offering fruit as a treat. Discovered he likes raspberries, blackberries and blueberries but turns up his nose at strawberries. Is eating greens (endive and kale) fine, now likes green beans carrots not so much and am still trying to convince him to give peas a chance. Is it possible to set up a way to raise my own wax and phoenix worms?

 

[sean8172]

Sadly, we lost Gemini this morning. He hadn't eaten on his own for a month. We're not sure what caused it, and that makes it that much more difficult to deal with. Thank you all again for all of your advice.

 

[PatsyB]

Awe, Sean so sorry for your loss.

 

[Canicke]

Condolences

 

[ilovebeardies]

I'm sorry to hear this