Max isn't eating :(

[obryantfam]

Hey y’all! We’ve had our beardie for about 8 months. We got him when he was about 3 weeks old. Over the last week or so he has become withdrawn and not eating. He has small poops. It’s like he’s depressed. He use to eat 30+ crickets daily when he was a baby, and eventually moved on to eating one big salad with mealworms daily and about 3 cricket meals with 5-8 crickets each. In November he was eating primarily salads and had cut back on the crickets which I understand is normal. But he’s gone several days now without eating. We’ve even tried his favorites and he won’t touch it. He doesn’t want to lay under his lamp, he doesn’t want to climb or exercise. And it doesn’t even seem like he enjoys being out of his cage anymore. What are your thoughts?

 

[Sadie]

Hey y’all! We’ve had our beardie for about 8 months. We got him when he was about 3 weeks old. Over the last week or so he has become withdrawn and not eating. He has small poops. It’s like he’s depressed. He use to eat 30+ crickets daily when he was a baby, and eventually moved on to eating one big salad with mealworms daily and about 3 cricket meals with 5-8 crickets each. In November he was eating primarily salads and had cut back on the crickets which I understand is normal. But he’s gone several days now without eating. We’ve even tried his favorites and he won’t touch it. He doesn’t want to lay under his lamp, he doesn’t want to climb or exercise. And it doesn’t even seem like he enjoys being out of his cage anymore. What are your thoughts?

It sounds like hes not feeling well --- lets go over the lighting first --- UVB brand and bulb is it a coil or a tube? Where in the tank is it? How old is the UVB bulb? Are you using a CLEAR bright white basking bulb? NO colored NO heat emitters NO day time bulbs -- those have a Neodymium coating that is bad for the eyes-- next what are the basking temps and how are you taking them? NO stick ons please you need a digital probe thermometer that is taking surface temps -- probe on the spot where he basks -- 95-100-- now what does the poop look like? Is it real runny and smell REALLY bad? If so that could be a parasite problem which could be from the cricket diet--- if the parasites get to be too many they will cut back or stop eating and give the behavior your getting --- or it could be just the weather and hes partially brumating --- but before we rule in brumation we need to see if all this other stuff I posted is not the cause for the behavior your getting---