Worried I'm not a good enough caretaker.. please advise

If applicable this could be moved to the "health" section; I am very new at posting on this site, and also worried about my dragon.

I have an ~11 year old beardie, and I've had him since his first year of life.
As I was rather young when I first got him, I wasn't always good at making sure he ate enough veggies.

He would eat them occasionally, along with crickets, but over time juggling my studies and taking care of him made it harder and harder for me to get him the variety of food suggested.

Having my family take care of him while I've been away at college has likely made it harder for him, as they don't care as much as I do about at least trying to give him greens and fruit.

These days he doesn't really move often (regardless of season), and he only voluntarily eats mealworms. As such I don't often offer him much else because it seems to be wasteful.

We have to open his mouth and give him water because he won't/doesn't drink it on his own, and he now refuses to eat all vegetables.

Not eating vegetables has led to more difficult poops, which is why we have to force him to drink. Even so, his poop has pink tinge in the white portion, and seems to take a large amount of effort to excrete. I worry that he is in pain, and I collected a stool sample today in case I need to take him to the vet soon.

I feel awful that he has never grown to like vegetables or drinking water, as I also feel it is my own fault.

I genuinely want to treat him as well as I can, and so I need to ask:

Am I so inept I should give him away to a better caretaker?
If it would let him live out the rest of his life without pain, I would want it that way even if it's sad.

If it is better for me to continue caring for him, are there any tips you could give me for helping him eat veggies?

Here is a photo of him in his terrarium: (sorry the photo quality is bad; I will try to get a better one tomorrow when his lights turn back on)

there been times where i didn't give my dragons any attention! because i am tired from work or going out. but a good way to get him to eat his veggies it to put super worms under the salad, and they see it moving, it made lizarto eat his veggies, he used to be abandoned, by his last owner, he a normal light, no usb, no heat. but ever since i took him, he's been eating his crickets and his veggies!
i would give that a try, and try some crickets, and for sure give him a bath, sometimes dragons are stubborn and rather drink from the sink then the dish!
i love these little monsters :lol:

What kind of food dish do you use? If I leave the worms sitting in the dish for too long they will escape to go die somewhere in the terrarium (my beardie has a hard time finding them).

I tried it today and I don't think he ate any of it...

I have a better photo of his (In my opinion rather decent) living conditions, but somehow I've forgotten how to add photos to user uploads between yesterday and today... Would someone help me do this?

Just go to https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to attach pics to your post.

Here are his living conditions. As of today he has still not eaten the veggies or worms left out for him. I'll be putting them back with the other worms out of pity, and throwing out the shriveled veggies


It really seems like he has no energy to get up or do anything, and it's worrying me a lot.

11 years is a very good run so he is well cared for. His setup looks quite nice. What do you have in place for UVB? How old is it?

Since he isn't showing interest in food and does look pretty distressed, I'd focus on hydration. Keep offering him water drops on the nose and try to get him to lick it up. If he responds to that, focus on veges. Either try some baby food green beans, squash, or sweet potato or create a slurry of baby food consistency using water and veges and offer that to him.

I'm not a pro, but I read that beardies can soak water/hydration through their skin. I mist my baby once or twice a day because he used to refuse to eat or drink or do anything, but now I keep a big bowl of shallow warm water In his tank and he gets in it sometimes. ( I also have a normal water bowl 4 drinking ) So try misting him with a spray bottle. A cheap one or special reptile one works just as well. hope this helps you and your buddy!

He does look dehydrated and skinny. Might be age related even though I have heard of bearded dragons living for 17+ y/o.
My thoughts are that since you have had him since he was a baby, it would probably be stressful to rehome him. The stress may be too much for him to take. I would try to increase hydration and try to find something he will eat. You could try force-feeding but that is also stressful.
Bearded dragons don't absorb moisture through their skin or through their vent. Misting might encourage drinking, but the skin is actually designed to keep stuff out, not allow stuff in. There have been some misinformation on this for a very long time and it still shows up on some care pages.
A lot of dragons won't drink from a dish, they get much of their moisture from the food they eat. But dripping water on its nose is also a good way to get hydrated if the dragon isn't eating.
Unsure if the health issues are age related or not, but 11 y/o is pretty old for a bearded dragon.

I can tell that you care a lot about your dragon's well being, and that makes you the ideal caretaker for his 11 years is decently old for a pet bearded dragon. He does appear to be declining in health. He seems lethargic and the fat stores on his head and tail base look like they are depleting. Also, you can begin to his spine protrude and his skin seems is sort of lose a wrinkly. All of these signs indicate that he isn't getting the nutritional intake needed to be healthy and active. He is metabolizing his stored fat in order to maintain body function. Honestly, this could just be age related and basically out of your control... Or it could be a symptom of than underlying disease or illness, which you would need a vet to diagnosis. Either way, try not to blame yourself! Animals, just like people, often get sick for seemly no reason...especially when their old!

I agree that the best thing to do right now is to keep him as hydrated as possible. If you can entice him to eat something that would be great. You could try to force feed him some sort of soft food, but that might just stress him out and make him feel worse. If you want to figure out if he would benefit from medical intervention then see a vet, preferably one with some expertise in reptiles. His enclosure looks great and he still appears to be quite alert, with his head raised and eyes open, which indicates that he is still feeling okay. Hang in there!

Thank you all very much for your replies. I will be doing my best to follow them, although regrettably I have to leave him with my folks soon, to go back to college for one last semester... I will give a copy of your instructions to them; hopefully they will follow the most important parts.
It's upsetting to not be able to care for him myself, but hopefully things will work out.

Thanks again.

Did not see the question from earlier-
He has two lights. Assuming the UVB is the one that does not emit very much heat, it is almost certainly not the problem; we change it every 6 months. The other one is used just for heat, so it is not likely the problem either. I have made sure this was all set up properly before; thank you though.

Wow, 11 years is pretty old so you did take pretty food care of him. It's sad to see them get older + have health issues, but you've been given some good advice. I'd suggest a couple more things. Since he's getting a bit boney and his joints may not be as flexible as in his youth you might want to cover the tile [ or take it out ] and replace with several thick layers of newspaper and then a layer of non adhesive shelf liner. The reason would be just for comfort because this would be much softer....tile is not at all anything like what they would live on in the wild , it would be dirt and sand and areas of scrub grass. The hardness of tile is not really great for an old animal that needs much comfort as possible in his aging years. Second, replace the loose sticks with a nice basking log that supports his whole body. You can either buy one or find one outside , bake it in a preheated 250 oven for an hour + 10 minutes to kill any potential hidden pests.