Still can't get him back to eating

[milo0]

Hey hey. I posted back in December when my beardie, who is now a year old, stopped eating. I think he was going through a "pre-brumation" of some sort because his behavior changed as soon as the weather got cold. It's now March and he still isn't eating much. Before, he was eating his greens everyday until that weather change, and he hasn't eaten even a handful since. I gave up on greens and switched over the a lot of veggies. I've tried different squashes, sweet potato (which he ate a LOT of, then stopped, then went back, now stopped), okra, zucchini, papaya, green beans, cactus pear, berries... Probably a few more but I can't remember. I'm running out of ideas and I'm so afraid he's going to become sick. He hasn't grown much at all since this weird behavior started so he's very tiny at a little over 15 inches @ 12 months old. I can't remember the last time he has gone through a major shed either, besides random small things.
I'm super worried now but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I lowered the bulb and his UVB light inside so now his temps are higher at like 105-110 basking and he's getting 100% of the UVB light which was replaced less than a month ago and is a 10.0.
He still poops nearly everyday but they aren't big because he barely eats, but it's normal consistency. He gets bathed twice a week and drinks water still so he's hydrated. I give him only dubia's, which he has stopped eating much of... but I gut load them with greens and veggies so he gets some sort of nutrition and dust them.

Is there anything else I can do? The weather is still very funky here so it's pretty cold and I'm wondering if his behavior will change when it warms up? It's just, it's been 3 months he's been this way... He's a lot more active than he was the past couple months and looks healthy, so I don't want to have to take him to the vet if I don't have to... They will insist on putting him on meds and I don't want that for him. If anyone has any ideas, whether it be new foods to try, or anything at all please let me know. I just want to see him eat normally again.

p.s. Since the last time I posted, I have gotten him on a 12 hour schedule and uvb replaced and both are inside the cage. I thought this would help but it hasn't changed anything really.

 

[gilliesexotics]

Hi, sounds like he just needs a little more time. Some bru for longer than others, depending where you are in the country and how well your house is insulated he may still have another month. Just be patient, as long as your not seeing noticeable weight loss. Everything will be ok.

 

[milo0]

That's what I'm hoping.. My room is near the outside wall so it tends to be the warmest/coldest of the house and he's right against that wall. He's not AS fat as he was before, but then again I overfed him a few months back... He's not huge but also not skinny, but he has gotten thinner. He at least looks normal now.. I'm just shocked how he's rarely even interested in roaches anymore.

Okay, I might start monitoring his weight but I don't think that's a problem. Hopefully he gets back to normal soon.
Thanks

 

[river-7]

Hi; Milo; Have you tried grasshoppers?? When mine were off their food i gave them some can ones[as we can't get live over here][canada] so i bought can ones and gave them some. but mine were 5-6-months old. It seemed to stimulate their appetite. Then they resumed their proper eating habits. It's worth a try and of course a couple of worms won't hurt either[but not as a staple] river-7-aka-bella

 

[milo0]

I've thought of grasshoppers, locust, silk worms, and horn worms but I fear that they'll go to waste/die off before he eats any, and there are no store that sells these so I'd have to buy them online. I've tried waxworms and the baby mealworms (which I've given maybe a max of 10 total since I've had him) but he wasn't too interested in them either. I refuse to go back to crickets after a nasty parasite outbreak with them, so my options are limited atm.

edit- forgot to mention, I've tried phoenix worms in the past when he was a baby and he didn't like them at all, so those are off the list too.

 

[river-7]

Milo; Have you tried feeding every 2-days instead of daily?? that might be of some help-maybe he is just not hungrey enough lol-It's worth a try and maybe you will get some responce. bella

 

[milo0]

Yes, I went 3 days with only veggies, nothing. Went a week, and he only ate 1 roach. I got him to eat another roach tonight after... convincing him. I can get him to eat a couple of bites a day but it's from tricking him. Today, I did see him earlier at the veggies though eating something but as soon as he saw me walk in the room, he stopped. T_T At the most, he probably ate a shaving of zucchini. He hates it when I watch him eat, no clue why. As soon as that eye contact is made, he's like NOPE and just stops. He's strange.

 

[Pat B]

My Spike does not like me watching him eat so I leave the room. Go figure. Some beardies will do that. Is he pooping anything? Spike went into brumation the end of October and still sleeping. I woke him up for about 10 days....he didn't like that....so he took himself into a corner and went back to sleep. I would definitely monitor his weight and maybe he just isn't hungry. Good luck!!

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Hi Milo
Assuming it was a pre-brummation thing you saw then I would agree with what Gilliesexotics said and I can certainly 2nd the fact that a little patience goes a very long way when dealing with these dragons as well as with most other creatures folks keep as "pets".
That being said I wanted to add my twenty seven cents worth
You mentioned in your post that you have been trying a wide variety of vegetables and fruits in his diet to try and stimulate interest. In my experience variety is kind of a double edged sword of sorts as most reptiles are very leery about a lot of change in their "normal" diet and when new things are added are very slow to accept them. Constantly changing the diet keeps them on guard and again in my experience can easily make them go off food.
I feel that the best approach is to find one or two good staples that they will go too most times and stick with those. In Mungi's case he has always showed consistent interest in Collard Greens and Turnip Greens. Other things he may pick at but will soon loose interest in. The Collard and Turnip Greens therefore are the basis for his "salad" and whether he eats them or not are offered fresh to him every day.
We don't add many new things to his salad dish but if we do and are thinking about adding it as a staple food because he shows great interest then the new ingredient is added to his salad for a couple of weeks straight before we decide to judge it staple or non-staple.
One thing that we have had great success with using is the Rep-Cal Adult Bearded Dragon Food and Mungi's daily salad does include these. I might add that many days that Mungi may not eat much of his greens he still gobbles his pellets. Note that most dragons will usually only eat the green pellets. the red and brown we usually save and feed to our roach colony so he still gets them but as of recent Mungi has become fond of the red and brown pellets..go figure...lol.
Here is a link but they can be found at Petsmart and many other pet stores.

Rep-Cal Bearded Dragon Food

Another product that I personally have had huge success with is a product called Reptaid. This is a wonderful all natural product that among other great benefits will boost and supercharge your dragon's immune system as well as stimulate his appetite. We used this product with Mungi when he was near deathly ill last year and was completely off feed for a couple of months due to a serious coccidia outbreak that I had missed thinking he was going into his brummation cycle. Within a few days of treating him with it his appetite made a 100% about face and he started recovering in a truly miraculous way. I personally consider this product worth it's weight in platinum and believe it should be part of every dragon keeper's basic arsenal. We currently use this as a once a month two day booster with Mungi as well as with our Iguana and leopard geckos too.
Here is the link to their website. You can order it straight thru them and btw the folks there are only more than happy to talk to you and assist on how to properly use it should you have any questions. Good Folk, Great Product

Reptaid-Herbal Alternative

I fully understand your not wanting to make an unnecessary vet visit but at the same time you can relieve some of the anxiety of not knowing by simply taking a fecal sample to your vet and have them test it to see if there is a parasite issue causing your dragon to not have a hardy appetite. These dragon's are very good at masking underlying ailments so it is worth the cost of the fecal float test to be sure.
Along with this I would highly recommend as others have that you purchase a gram scale and start keeping track of his weight. Walmart has scales for around 20 bucks that work quite well. Sometimes rapid weight-loss is one of the only signs that we get that something is amiss with a dragon's health. Keeping track of weights on a weekly or bi-weekly basis can give you a heads-up long before a you will catch it by just visually checking your dragon.

Hope something here has been of help and that your dragon comes around soon.

Enjoy!