Beardie Loss Of Apetite and Weight Loss

Hello all. New to the forum here, but anxious to get all the advice I need to make sure my Beardie gets alright.

I have a exotic Vet near me who has helped me with her and some of my other beardies in the pass. He’s super awesome, and can see him on short notice if need be. One of the times I took her turned out to be a waste because we thought she had yellow fungus but it wasn’t that, just an odd color change. It’s been about 7 months since then so no worries on that!

However, I’ve recently moved in with my girlfriend (now wife). She’s recently changed UVB lights. Gone from a tube UVB light to a compact reptisun 150, 13W light. I have since realized this a problem and this will be resolved soon. These lights do not provide adequate UVB for Beardies and as I said, it’ll be resolved. However, my boy, Poseidon was under this light for a semester of college and he’s grown in size substantially. Basking spot is around 2-3 inches from basking lights and UVB. Basking light gets the temp up to 105 degree Fahrenheit.

I first started noticing a decline in appetite when she still had her tube UVB. She was in a 55 at this time. She’s since been moved to a 40 gallon Breeder. I have 4 beardies and some days we let them free roam our living room. We set up a “universal basking spot” where a nice basking spot with heat and UVB is offered. Poseidon is our only make is younger than my female who is of concern named Psyche.

Poseidon loves our other female (Zeus, long story). He pays little attention to Psyche and our third female. So, I know it’s frowned upon to house multiple beardies together, but do to their lack of care for each other, Psyche and Poseidon are living together. They gotten along well. Poseidon has always been good about “sharing” basking spots whether he realizes it or not. There’s a big board along with a second basking spot and they either are on separate spots or share the one big spot. There’s very little stacking and domination tactics between the two.

So, two big reds flags, I know. We will be getting it taken care of just in case this is indeed the issue. We would just like some consulting before we decide to spend money on a vet visit. Also, I’d like to mention that Psyche has not shown much signs of stress with being with the male. She’s been moved in for about a month and even started to have an appetite whenever we first moved in. By no signs of stress, I mean she’s been super active, and a vanilla white. She’s a regular Beardie, super dark when stressed, whiter when happy.

Another thing I think it’s important to mention is her age, and the weather. She’s a year old and the winter so I know brumutation/“puberty” is happening at this time. Weight loss is noticeable, but not substantial. Zeus is our eldest Beardie and he went through a similar stage a few weeks ago when he stopped eating around his one year mark and has since regained his big appetite!

So, in conclusion, is she stressed about the male presence? And the poor UVB? Along with the stress of the move and just being a late adjuster? ALONG with Brumutation? We appreciate all the responses. I know some may be offended by the red flags and know that I’m aware of it but have been keeping beardies for 10 years. So I would just like to clarify I am aware of the red flags but I wanted to see if they would be able to be happy and healthy together. Thank you again in advance! Have a wonderful day, and happy keeping

-Brodie

My apologies. I forgot to mention that she still runs around quite a lot for awhile then she tries to sleep. Along with this, she hasn’t eaten more than a couple of crickets every other day. She eats some superworms here and there but not every day. She gets gut loaded crickets, superworms that eat fruits, and all food is dusted in calcium powder.

It's hard to say for sure what the issue is, but all of the flags you mentioned could certainly cause a problem and should be addressed. How much weight has she lost? Have you been tracking it with a scale? Drops under 10% aren't unheard of but that tends to be fluctuation rather than trend. If there is a downward trend over time it might be good to have a blood test done to check systems function. My dragon was in brumation for 3 months and lost just under 4% body weight. I suggest installing long 22'' T5 UVB tubes to provide a broad beam and intense sunlight levels of UVB. That tends to help overall health quite a bit. The basking spot is a bit too close to the lights at 2-3 inches as well. That will provide a more narrow beam and could be a burn risk. I try to keep my basking zone at least 12'' away from the bulb. Using a more intense basking light at greater distance (depending on the bulb reflector) will cast a wider basking zone which I prefer and will be easier for larger or multiple dragons to utilize. I would track her weight and watch the trend, upgrade the lighting, try separating the dragons, or get a vet checkup & blood test to see if there is an underlying issue.

I suggest you follow this chart through methodically : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=236150&p=1815390#p1815390
chances are you'll discover the likely cause for this behavior change.

I think cohabitation stress / dominance stresses are at the nub of this , you are really better off housing all 4 dragons separately and never allowing them to come together (be out together) unless you want them to breed.
Can go pear shaped very fast with dragons and you can easily end up with a dead dragon.

Thanks for the replies. We just got her out and she has had a good amount of kale, about 12 crickets and three superworms!

About the cohabitation, whenever there is dominance/stacking she’s usually on top. Whenever they free roam one of us is always watching them. They’ve known each other almost all their lives and I don’t think there would ever be any violence. My male only is interested in one of the females but that female runs away after teasing him.

I understand they’re not supposed to interact unless breeding, but I truly mean it when there have been no problems. They bask, they eat, then they take off to sleep.

I’ll be back tomorrow or the day after to report her eating habits. Awaiting the new lights to come in to get her in a desperate cage. She’s currently running all over the room.

Also, that chart was really helpful, so thank you for that. I’m thinking it’s just a lot of little things adding up. So we’re gonna fix all the little things and figure it all out! Thanks for the help guys

I think your absolute main issue is that you are keeping more than one dragon together, as what you are describing is the most classic problem that results from keeping them together. One dragon thrives, and one dragon dies. That's just how it goes. And it never, ever matters whether YOU think they are fine together and that they "get along", or that there has yet to be any violence or aggression, as we cannot tell at all what is actually going on. Basically the bottom line is that in the vast, Austalian Desert they don't live together, so forcing them to live together in a tiny (in comparison to the desert) tank is causing a constant, 24/7 stress on the one that is losing weight. And this is exactly how this always starts, one dragon starts to become lethargic and lose their appetite, then starts to lose weight, then their overall health takes a nose-dive.

I don't think you need a vet here, I think you need to make sure that all 4 of your dragons are in separate enclosures/tanks that are totally out of sight of each other, either by stacking them once on top of the other, or by keeping them in separate rooms. They each need their own set-up with an adequate UVB tube (the switch to a compact UVB bulb, especially if it's being blocked by any type of mesh tank lid is also a HUGE issue, as they are far too weak to begin with for a Bearded Dragon at 13 watts, plus they do not get magnified/reflected throughout the tank, then you block 40% of the UVB and UVA light by putting them on top of a mesh lid, which also goes for a weaker T8 UVB tube as well, they also must be mounted/strapped to the underside of any mesh lid and within 6" of the basking spot). And having the compact UVb light within 2-3" of your dragon is not helping the problem, but is probably causing other issues, like eye and neurological issues. This situation needs remedied immediately.

I don't know how old your prior UVB tube was, whether or not it was mounted underneath the mesh lid (if it was a T8), or if it was a low-quality brand, but any of these could have started the appetite loss, especially having a T8 tube on top of the mesh lid or having one that was older than 6 months. As Cooper already mentioned, I'd be ordering a T5 strength UVB tube and matching T5-rated tube fixture, at least 22" and either the Reptisun 10.0 T5HO or the Arcadia 12% T5, for this particular dragon,and getting her into her own tank immediately, as she is totally stressed out and being completely dominated by the other dragon. You can use a large, plastic tub from Walmart if you need to until you buy her an adequate tank/enclosure, and place the long, T5-strength UVB tube across the plastic tube, with a bright-white colored basking bulb inside a clamp lamp right beside the T5 UVB tube, both being over the Hot Side of the plastic tub, and locating a basking platform within the hot side...and actually, now that I think about it, don't move the stressed dragon out of the tank, move the other one, as the relocation stress might make her worse at first.

As far as your other dragons, you need to get them separate before they all end up either deteriorating, or what typically happens if they are left together long term, one day you're going to come home to one or more dead dragons. When this happens it happens without any warning at all, it just suddenly happens, and one bite to the skull is all it takes. Sometimes it takes a week, a month, a year, 2 years, 4 years, etc. but it will happen. They aren't reptiles that naturally want or need to live together, and as such they are constantly competing for everything, the best food, the best temperature spots, the best basking spots, everything, and this constant competition creates constant stress that we can't necessarily see. The all need to be housed alone to totally avoid the dominance-situation you're in now, as well as a violent aggression situation that inevitably always happens...

I agree you definitely need to separate them, an attack can come from no where trust me.

When my two older beardies were 6 months i kept them in a 55 gallon for a short time and even though they were together for quite sometime at the store, around 2 months or so.
Just like any normal day, took them out to feed them their dusted crickets and the next thing i know my female suddenly turns around and clamps down hard on Saturns head. Luckily he survived and didnt have anything wrong with him afterwards.

This was about 3-5 weeks in having them so they were "getting along" great together in their temporary tank, but for what ever reason Venus just randomly became aggressive at that moment with no warning even though ever since buying them during that time i'd always take them out to feed them the second portion of their insects.
An attack can happen when you least expect it.

Also the fact you have 4 beardies in a really really small tank that is literally the bare bone minimum for a single beardie just increases the danger.

Hello, all. I appreciate the feedback. We have since gotten 10.0 T5 UVB lights. They’re tubes and run the length of their enclosures. The basking spot has since gone down. The day after this post Psyche went back to eating more and more. Now she is eating 10+ crickets with kale, and superworms for a snack.

Also, I know that they never “get along” but I also have my own experience with them and know their personalities. And, to clarify, we don’t have 4 of them in one cage. When I talked about all four of them being together, they were free roaming a big room we have. They hardly interact with each other, and disperse and nap.

She’s been acting more normally, and I believe she’s just brumutating due to her obsession with sleeping. I spoke with my exotic vet yesterday while getting a checkup on my water dragon, and he agreed that it is probably just brumutation. But he also agreed that UVB and lighting may be an issue.

I’d like to also touch up that SHE is the dominate dragon. I was only concerned about her eating and wanting to sleep all the time.

I know of all the horror stories with keeping dragon together. But I want you all to know I’m experienced and spent a majority of my life with these creatures and I KNOW they’re not going to ever fight when they’re just free roaming a room. It’s just not how they are. They all go a different direction to nap. At the end of the day, they sleep on one of our fuzzy pillows and have their own blanket. They all sleep together, and wake up together. My male rests just the tip of his nose on his favorite girls back. I know it’s supposed to be domination, but I can’t help but think he finds comfort in their presence. He freaks out when he’s alone and runs to find the other dragons. Even the ones he doesn’t bob at.

With the utmost respect to you, I have to tell you that I've seen that exact reply written probably 20 or more times and then one of the dragons was severely injured, killed, or died from the stress causing nutritional deficiencies, MBD, etc...You don't know, none of us know, we're not Bearded Dragons. And this has been proven over, and over, and over, and over again, and tragedy strikes very experienced owners every day that think "They Know Them"...I wouldn't feel right if I wasn't truthful with you about that, because I cannot tell you how many times we have this exact conversation, then a day, a week, a month, a year later the owner is back on here frantic and devastated. And it never gets easier for us either whenever that happens, because no matter how many times we warned the person, they insisted they "Knew"...so there ya go.