Not active for weeks, turn body away from food.

Our little beardie has never been the social creature many others claim to have. But for several weeks at a time he refuses to eat (dubia roaches) and never eats any salad. I often use a syringe to food him baby food so he dont get dehydrated. We've had him a year, and I'd say he was about 14 to 16 months old. However, as crazy as this may sound, we went on vacation for two weeks leaving him in the care of a family member who knows nothing of beardie care. I figured he would just sit and do nothing, but within a day of being there (same cage, same lights, same food) he became so active, i was getting pics of him sunning and eating. She even had to get crickets because he ate so much. When i got there i was over joyed to see him reacting to us by moving his head about, and coming to the glass for food, something he hadnt done for a long while. We brought him home and the next day he was back to a dormant state. And im back to feeding baby food. My thoughts are she has carpet and his wood cage is only 2inch from floor could that make a difference? She put him in the most active room with tv and people? Her house temps? I just dont know. We are currently making him a bigger cage for our livingroom. And i really would like to correct anything that could be causing this dragon to be almost depressed? Also his heat sittings, basking 95 to 97 degrees, cool end 78 (cage is 4 feet), uvb bulb t5 ho always changed every 6 months. Thanks for any help.

That's very odd. It sounds like something in the environment either made him happier there or something is off at your house. From what I've seen, they tend to really enjoy being in active rooms. I have my enclosure in my living room and it works well. If you can post some current photos of your setup then perhaps something might stand out as a potential issue, but maybe just moving it to an active room or up higher will do the trick.

CooperDragon":2z3tjoa2 said:

That's very odd. It sounds like something in the environment either made him happier there or something is off at your house. From what I've seen, they tend to really enjoy being in active rooms. I have my enclosure in my living room and it works well. If you can post some current photos of your setup then perhaps something might stand out as a potential issue, but maybe just moving it to an active room or up higher will do the trick.

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For the full two weeks he was moving about and acting like a normal lizard, so it wasnt just he was hungry that day. I will try and post pics. I feel it has to be something simple. Im wondering if something outside of his tank could cause such a behavioral issue. Maybe this could help others too. Im always seeing post about beardies that are not social, hate contact, dont eat, dont poop, and these posters (like me) seem to really try.

Is the tank by a window where he can see outside?
Karrie