Little guy stopped eating. Need advice!

[Michael-Dean]

I have had fitz for a little less than a month. He started shedding as soon as I got him and now he is at the end of his shed (just his tail). He was eating fine before (like 15 BSFL or 20 crickets a day) and now he won’t touch the BSFL or the crickets. He used to wake up in the morning and go all out eating because he was hungry. This loss of hunger seems to be going on the last two days. He at least ate something yesterday but not a lot. He did not eat anything at all this morning. Should I be concerned? I am not sure if this is normal or if I need to take to a vet ASAP. His poop was slightly orange yesterday but I did give him carrots as well (and it was solid poop not runny). His temps are good (checked them this morning) and he has good lighting from the repti 10.0 bulb. Nothing has recently changed with his enclosure either. Best advice?

 

[Tabasco]

What is your enclosure setup like? What are night time temps? Do you put a salad out for him every day? This is not unusual, beardies will often take a break from eating much for several days at a time. I find hornworms seem to stimulate appetite and hydrates them.

 

[Michael-Dean]

Temps at night drop to about 65-70 inside the enclosure(I have a temp gun to measure). I try to mix it up with the salad but I offer everyday. Mostly collard greens and occasionally some carrots if he is not eating his greens. At what point should I be concerned of his eating habits if it’s normal for them to stop eating every so often? Like a week of no eating is abnormal or 4 days? I would think he is still too little for horn worms. He is only a little over 3 months old and not very big. He was the runt amoung the hatchlings.

 

[Tabasco]

As long as he is not losing weight I would not worry unless he is looking sick. Hornworms have no skeleton, so he can eat small ones no problem. Up to 1-1/2" will not be a problem. Also try dusting his salad and feeders with powdered bee pollen, it helps their immune system. And of coarse calcium with d3. I have a couple of dragons that were runts, very small for their age. One came loaded with parasites, the other was fine, just small. Got rid of the parasites and Scarlett has tripled in weight in 7 weeks. Puff has doubled in 4 weeks.

Every dragon is different, but if worried have him checked for parasites. I would not be alarmed unless he starts losing a lot of weight. For instance, Sunshine who is 18 weeks went a week without eating much at all. Lost 5 grams. The next week she gained 24 grams, ate like a pig. Sometimes there is no logical explanation.

 

[Michael-Dean]

As long as he is not losing weight I would not worry unless he is looking sick. Hornworms have no skeleton, so he can eat small ones no problem. Up to 1-1/2" will not be a problem. Also try dusting his salad and feeders with powdered bee pollen, it helps their immune system. And of coarse calcium with d3. I have a couple of dragons that were runts, very small for their age. One came loaded with parasites, the other was fine, just small. Got rid of the parasites and Scarlett has tripled in weight in 7 weeks. Puff has doubled in 4 weeks.

Every dragon is different, but if worried have him checked for parasites. I would not be alarmed unless he starts losing a lot of weight. For instance, Sunshine who is 18 weeks went a week without eating much at all. Lost 5 grams. The next week she gained 24 grams, ate like a pig. Sometimes there is no logical explanation.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep watching him and make sure he does not deteriorate. I might look into hornworms as treats. I was using the calcium with d3 and then switched to the Rapashy calcium plus which has the vitamins as well. I did just check his poop and it looks like his urate is orange so he might have too much calcium at the moment. I will upload a picture as well

 

[Tabasco]

Was that a fresh poop? If so looks like he is dehydrated.

 

[Michael-Dean]

Was that a fresh poop? If so looks like he is dehydrated.

Not fresh like within a couple of min. More like couple of hours. I gave him a bath to try and get him to drink water but I’m not sure he drank a lot. He doesn’t love bath time like most beardies. Should I try misting in the morning? He was staying hydrated before on his veggies and feeders but now that he hasn’t eaten at all he might be.

 

[Tabasco]

Dont mist, maybe use an eye dropper to put a drop on his nose, often they will lick it up as it runs down. Hornworms have a lot of fluid in them, are real juicy suckers. Best deal I have found is from eastcoastfeeders.com

 

[Michael-Dean]

Dont mist, maybe use an eye dropper to put a drop on his nose, often they will lick it up as it runs down. Hornworms have a lot of fluid in them, are real juicy suckers. Best deal I have found is from eastcoastfeeders.com

Thanks for the advice!!!