My precious Lenny doesn't have much of an appetite lately :(

We got Lenny in November 2016, and he immediately became one of the family. He is our first beardie, and with a lot of help from this site, he was thriving in his setup. His temps, UV, food and furniture have been as recommended with no major changes in recent months, unless you count a couple of road trips that he joined us on. (Just to clarify, this is his "carseat" tank, used only for travel because I can strap it in. He does not live in this tiny tank.) I had put in a large hammock for him about a month ago, but he showed zero interest after a week, so I removed it in case it was stressing him out.

Since April, his appetite has not been good, and although my porky angel hasn't lost any weight, I am concerned. This is from about January and this is just last week. . Also, he used to poop every day and now he poops 2-3 times a week, though they're VERY healthy sized poops. He is bathed 2-3 times a week, as he seems to really enjoy it. He drinks water at bath time, though I do offer water nose drips daily, and mist his greens. He used to bask all day, eat nonstop, and stamp around his tank and the the house (supervised, of course, limited areas,) but lately he just lays flat under his stairs for most of the day, and when he's out in the house, he seeks out a place to burrow down and sleep.

Is he trying to bruminate? Is this normal? He used to shed nonstop but hasn't had a shed in a few months. He has nothing to dig in his tank, except the little blanket he uses at night. The only thing I can think of is replacing his UV bulb, which is a reptisun 10.0 tube, mounted in his tank, and is less than 3 months old. Since he isn't eating much, I've lately noticed a few dubias living in his tank when I clean it. I vacuum it daily, spot clean as needes and give it a thorough cleaning about every month. Any suggestions or advice?

Hi. The older he gets the less he'll shed and poop. He's a healthy boy The older he gets his appetite will slow down. All normal behavior

I love hearing about Lenny, you really push his personality through.

You got your little Lenny about a month after I got my Richter. Richter was an eating machine, but he really slowed down his appetite within the last month and really wants his veggies much more than his roaches right now. I think he realized he was getting super big and needs to calm himself.

Lenny looks plenty plump and healthy in those photos. How sharply did his appetite dip? What is he willing to eat per day? What is his current weight?
Richter went from 3 live feedings a day to 2 live feedings a day at 8mo old now, his choice, not mine. I still offer a third meal and sometimes he will decline.

Our sweet Lenny was eating us out of house and home, January- March I was buying about 250 large dubias every 3 weeks! I had started a roach colony in February, but it wasn't producing those numbers yet, and I didn't want to feed out of it so it would be well established for the future. He never has liked salad, though I still faithfully chop, shred, and mince his veggies daily...

About the second week of April, I went in to offer the hated salad, his bowl of dubia, and clean his morning poo, but there was no poo, and he didn't come over to his roaches. I tried to hand feed him one (not something I usually do, but hey, I'd probably chew the thing for him if I thought he needed me to) I was horrified, thinking he was impacted or sick. He always pooped in the morning, then ate several servings of roaches. I fretted, I bathed, he drank, I massaged, I even set him in a basket of clean towels (his favorite pooping spot.) Nothing. I was almost frantic the next morning (first road trip day) when there was still no poo, and he again ignored his bugs. Thankfully, he pooped during the car ride, and I practically wept with happiness. Since then, he's only eaten a couple roaches a day. He used to eat up to a couple dozen a day, and then drape himself on his basking spot to digest, but since that day he eats maybe 1-4 a day, tops, and remains under his stairs in the shade. It was a huge, abrupt drop! I was so worried, but he seems comfy, alert, and content, so I was really puzzled.

That's definitely an abrupt drop.. I never really kept track of how fast Richter was going through his food, I feel like I should have now... but his drop wasn't as abrupt. He was still eating roaches (I always hand feed him.. he's way too spoiled now, but will chase crickets if I get them) but seemed to be a little more "eh" about it. He did have 1 day he didn't eat at all, but I was also giving him panacur for pinworms which affects their appetite.

Nowadays he eats probably 15-20 large to xlarge dubia a day and his salad which isn't too far off from his like 30ish roaches he was eating not that long ago.

Does he have a shed going on or anything that could be bothering him?

Hi there, Lenny is surely pampered, beloved, spoiled and adored. It's obvious that you want the best for him ! However, he is also quite overweight. Beardies are eating machines and it's easy to overfeed them which sustains fast growth when they are young but can cause serious health problems down the road. Actually , 2 -4 large roached a day is quite enough and you really won't see him lose weight because it's been on an upward trend and now he's nearing adult size. How old is he actually ? I can see he's young, but he is overweight.

Beardies are being overfed and this seems to be the new normal for some of them. Best to let him eat far fewer bugs and try to keep him on more greens. Pooing even once a week can be O.K for most older dragons, so 2-3X a week is fine.

If there were an underlying health problem, it could be attributed to his overeating and may be a fatty liver problem. As long as he's eating it may just be that he is self regulating and eating the smaller amounts because his body doesn't need all the food. If he begins to look ill or completely stop eating you might want to get some bloodwork done to check the liver enzymes for fatty liver disease. I doubt that's it, but keep that as a consideration. One more thing, are you sure Lenny is a male ?

Be careful about feeding so many insects, this can lead to gout as well, which can flare up overnight.

AHBD":17s4iisa said:

Hi there, Lenny is surely pampered, beloved, spoiled and adored. It's obvious that you want the best for him ! However, he is also quite overweight. Beardies are eating machines and it's easy to overfeed them which sustains fast growth when they are young but can cause serious health problems down the road. Actually , 2 -4 large roached a day is quite enough and you really won't see him lose weight because it's been on an upward trend and now he's nearing adult size. How old is he actually ? I can see he's young, but he is overweight.

Beardies are being overfed and this seems to be the new normal for some of them. Best to let him eat far fewer bugs and try to keep him on more greens. Pooing even once a week can be O.K for most older dragons, so 2-3X a week is fine.

If there were an underlying health problem, it could be attributed to his overeating and may be a fatty liver problem. As long as he's eating it may just be that he is self regulating and eating the smaller amounts because his body doesn't need all the food. If he begins to look ill or completely stop eating you might want to get some bloodwork done to check the liver enzymes for fatty liver disease. I doubt that's it, but keep that as a consideration. One more thing, are you sure Lenny is a male ?

Be careful about feeding so many insects, this can lead to gout as well, which can flare up overnight.

Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to weigh in! I'm not experienced with reptiles, but I'm sure crazy about Lenny, and I want to facilitate his long, happy, healthy life. I'm not sure how old he is, he was a gift, and there was never any credible information about where he came from or his age, etc. This was when we first got him in November.
He grew and ate and shed constantly! He has never eaten his salads, though I try very hard to make them appetizing. I even posted before about how he'd do anything but eat his salad, haha. I still serve him though. I have seen him eat a bite or two of greens a couple times, but I've never once seen him eat any of the squashes or fruits I offer. He always has salad in his viv, and I used to feed him dubias 2x daily along with that, but lately I've been feeding him dubias only once, and he doesn't eat hardly any.

Today I weighed and measured him, he is about 353g and 17 inches. I don't know for sure that "he's" a male, because every time I've tried to flip him over to do the shining flashlight thing, he seems uncomfortable and I can't bring myself to do it. From what ive read and what I see, I think he's male.This is as close as I get, and he doesn't seem to enjoy my dangling him either.
He appears to be content, comfy and in no distress, I am just a little worried about the sudden (and prolonged) change from his norm. He still loves attention, cuddles, playtime and baths, and he has always been alert and (I think) happy.
What kind of feeding schedule or menu do you suggest? I don't want his adorable porkiness to be detrimental to his health. :/ Are there other changes you would advise for him?

Actually, all those pics were very helpful. He actually looks much chunkier in the pic with you you on your neck, these other pics put him more in proportion. At 17" his weight is just slightly high but not really bad at all. I apologize for the fat shaming of dear Lenny. If he isn't aware of my post, please don't tell him.

His baby pic looks like a typical 1 month old so you can safely say that he's about 8 months old.

Unfortunately there's no way to tell his sex by that pic. He has to be on a flat surface with his feet on the ground and his tail arched up in the air like a happy dog.

And just keep offering the roaches but not in large quantities. I don't use dubias but I know they are large + meaty. Four-five a day should be enough. And keep offering the salads. When he's closer to a year old, skip a day of insects + offer only salad.

AHBD":2vy9y7mq said:

Actually, all those pics were very helpful. He actually looks much chunkier in the pic with you you on your neck, these other pics put him more in proportion. At 17" his weight is just slightly high but not really bad at all. I apologize for the fat shaming of dear Lenny. If he isn't aware of my post, please don't tell him.

His baby pic looks like a typical 1 month old so you can safely say that he's about 8 months old.

Unfortunately there's no way to tell his sex by that pic. He has to be on a flat surface with his feet on the ground and his tail arched up in the air like a happy dog.

And just keep offering the roaches but not in large quantities. I don't use dubias but I know they are large + meaty. Four-five a day should be enough. And keep offering the salads. When he's closer to a year old, skip a day of insects + offer only salad.

Click to expand...

Haha, yes when he cuddles in, he spreads like a little pancake batter. His nicknames around here are "jigglebelly" "meaty" and "little lard," but he has yet to take offense, so I think he (or she) has a pretty secure body image. I guess the motivational poster/ makeshift wallpaper we used when he was little worked, haha.
If I may ask, what do you feed your reptiles if not dubias? I had a tarantula who ate crickets when I was younger, and though he lived for 13 years, I was never able to establish or maintain a cricket colony. I was quite happy to find out that beardies could eat dubia instead, and they've been very easy to keep. I had given different types of worms when Lenny was younger/smaller, but I always worried about impaction, biting, high fat content, etc., so they've never been a staple for him.

Wow .... Lenny has got it made .... he's got a great slave.

If he was maybe 4 weeks old (about 10g-14g) in November , then he's 6 months old (give or take a week or two) now.

As a comparison , my gang at 6 months old were
Puff (M) 167.3g
Rex (F) 209.5g
.... I was housing Rex and Puff together and Rex was the boss of the 100L rearing tub and was getting the lion's share the crickets and prime basking spot .... I was new to raising young beardies and don't know better. I so noticed domination and separated the pair into their own 100L rearing tubs soon after.

Peppa (F) 241.7g
Toothless (M) 174.6g
.... reared in their own separate stacked rearing tubs and fed identically (by hand).

Peppa and Toothless were EACH getting 20 x 1/3 size (medium) gutloaded crickets split over a large meal at about 10am and a smaller meal at about 5pm + their greens and veg with the second meal.
Lights on 6am , off 10pm.

RachelG":41uqpx09 said:

AHBD":41uqpx09 said:

Actually, all those pics were very helpful. He actually looks much chunkier in the pic with you you on your neck, these other pics put him more in proportion. At 17" his weight is just slightly high but not really bad at all. I apologize for the fat shaming of dear Lenny. If he isn't aware of my post, please don't tell him.

His baby pic looks like a typical 1 month old so you can safely say that he's about 8 months old.

Unfortunately there's no way to tell his sex by that pic. He has to be on a flat surface with his feet on the ground and his tail arched up in the air like a happy dog.

And just keep offering the roaches but not in large quantities. I don't use dubias but I know they are large + meaty. Four-five a day should be enough. And keep offering the salads. When he's closer to a year old, skip a day of insects + offer only salad.

Click to expand...

Haha, yes when he cuddles in, he spreads like a little pancake batter. His nicknames around here are "jigglebelly" "meaty" and "little lard," but he has yet to take offense, so I think he (or she) has a pretty secure body image. I guess the motivational poster/ makeshift wallpaper we used when he was little worked, haha.

If I may ask, what do you feed your reptiles if not dubias? I had a tarantula who ate crickets when I was younger, and though he lived for 13 years, I was never able to establish or maintain a cricket colony. I was quite happy to find out that beardies could eat dubia instead, and they've been very easy to keep. I had given different types of worms when Lenny was younger/smaller, but I always worried about impaction, biting, high fat content, etc., so they've never been a staple for him.

<<< I buy my insects by mail order every two weeks ( currently 800 x 2/3 size crickets ) , only insects I've bothered breeding have been mealworms and silkworms.

Good staple feeder insects for a 6 month old are
LARGE SIZED phoenix worms (USA)
medium sized (2 inch long) and large silkworms
crickets , roaches and locusts (size to suit and gutloaded with calcium rich greens and dusted daily)

Click to expand...

If he's about 6 months old , and it's spring there where you, he's naturally slowing down and becoming more laid about the "grub" as he has the routine sussed and KNOWS more live insects will be coming soon.

Also he's probably getting hormonal and will soon become a sex mad teenage boy who will likely find shoes, soft toys, socks, cushion and feet weirdly sexy and alluring. You are likely in for torrid few weeks any time now. Fear not , you will survive and he will become your smoogy boy again.

Actually he's closer to 8 -9 months....they got him in November when he was about 1 month old. That would mean he hatched around October, bringing his age to about 8 -9 months.

Rachel I have always raised mine on crickets, and like the other poster mentioned I get mine mail order by the 1,000's. I use superworms also for my sub adults + adult beardies along with crickets. I buy hornworms once in a while as treats, but they are very expensive. All my beardies also eat greens from the time they are tiny hatchlings, about 2 weeks is when they start . Some breeders don't offer much greenery, others do but it's good to have them eat greens at a young age. I would shred or cut the turnip, mustard + collard greens in to very small pieces and drop them in the tank like I would drop the crickets. As the babies saw the greens fall in, they would pounce, attracted by the movement. So their staples as babies were crickets and greens, as they get older I add superworms. And you can offer the other insects mentioned to have a nice varied diet.