Juvenile Beardy Not Eating

Hi,
I'm a fairly new bearded dragon owner to a juvenile beardy. I've had her for about 2 months now and she's been completely fine until the last week. She started shedding and finished about 3 days ago. She hasn't eaten in 3 days and I'm starting to get worried. This is very much unlike her as she could normally eat around 30-50 crickets or 20-30 roaches a day. She currently shows no interest in food at all but is still very active. She also has a much darker beard now and stress marks on her belly have returned. Her temps are fine (105 basking, 75-80 cool) and her lighting should be correct (Reptisun 10.0, Daytime heat lamp and Repti Basking spot lamp). She gets baths every 3 days, but I've been giving her baths almost every day because of this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How is your supplementation? Going off food could be early signs of MBD if you haven't been using calcium or vitamins. However, the correctness of the husbandry you've described leads me to believe you would not overlook that. Sometimes, beardies just go off food for a few days. I'd keep an eye on her, and if she doesn't improve within the next day, or couple of days, then I'd say bring her into the vet at the start of the week. It could be parasites if she doesn't improve.

Update: Her beard goes from dark to white when I handle her. Her stress marks also become faded. She ate 2 super worms and decided that was enough. I have also tried multiple foods. I currently have super worms, crickets, and dubias. I'm not sure what the issue is, maybe her vivarium is stressing her out? I cleaned her tank entirely yesterday and a week before that and always spot clean. I'm not sure what could be stressing her out.

Hello, is there any glass, plastic or screen between your BD and the uvb? How close can he get to it? How old is the uvb?

How are you doing supplements?

kyleena29":1jlj6cfd said:

Hello, is there any glass, plastic or screen between your BD and the uvb? How close can he get to it? How old is the uvb?

How are you doing supplements?

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No screen, plastic or glass between her and the UVB. In her basking spot she is around 11 inches away from the UVB as the Repisun indicates that this is a safe distance. Supplements are good, but I think I need to be on a tighter schedule. She ate a lot today and has a vet appointment this Thursday. She doesn't have a dark beard and was very ready to be fed today! I hope all is good and well. Thanks all for your help!

Sometimes they just go through moods and phases like that. If it doesn't last too long and they don't lose much weight it's not usually a concern.

Are you using a T8 ReptiSun or a T5? The T8 should sit about 6-8'' above the basking area while the T5 is best between about 12-14''.

Hello,

It sounds like she is doing pretty well today. Did she eat a lot?
Let us know how the vet visit goes this week.
The lighting sounds good. It is the regular T8 tube bulb, correct? Your basking light is a bright white light?
Do you have any animals in the house that could be stressing her out?
Sometimes they can just go through moods. Shedding affects them greatly, a lot of them get really grouchy. LOL

Tracie

Drache613":1k9rpbn9 said:

Hello,

It sounds like she is doing pretty well today. Did she eat a lot?
Let us know how the vet visit goes this week.
The lighting sounds good. It is the regular T8 tube bulb, correct? Your basking light is a bright white light?
Do you have any animals in the house that could be stressing her out?
Sometimes they can just go through moods. Shedding affects them greatly, a lot of them get really grouchy. LOL

Tracie

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Yes, I have 2 bright white bulbs. I have a leopard gecko in the same room, but I don't think they can see each other. I also have a dog that sleeps in my room that might be causing her stress but she hasn't noticed him before that I know of. She just finished shedding a few days ago and that might be it.

Hello,

That's great you have bright white basking lights & no colored ones. Have you double checked the temperatures to be sure they are accurate?
It is probably going to be the shedding then, they can sure act strange sometimes when they do shed.
I doubt that your leopard gecko would stress her but if your dog was real noisy that could impact her. If you don't think she has noticed him much, hopefully that isn't it.
Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

Drache613":28ibejuw said:

Hello,

That's great you have bright white basking lights & no colored ones. Have you double checked the temperatures to be sure they are accurate?
It is probably going to be the shedding then, they can sure act strange sometimes when they do shed.
I doubt that your leopard gecko would stress her but if your dog was real noisy that could impact her. If you don't think she has noticed him much, hopefully that isn't it.
Keep us posted on her.

Tracie

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Temperatures are fine, Air temperature is around 100 on warm side and in her basking spot 108. The dog shouldn't be an issue and the leopard gecko sleeps all day so that's not it. She now eats fine(ate 50 small dubias today ) but hasn't pooped in 4 days. She normally won't poop every day but this is a little long. Today I gave her a warm bath and fed her some applesauce(couldn't find canned pumpkin) with vegetable oil. She still hasn't gone. She has been hiding in her "cave" a lot more recently and been digging into the carpet. I'm not sure what this could mean or why she's doing this. I had to change her vet appointment because of work so she won't be seen until this Monday. She will normally come out after her lights turn on in the morning then go back in until I offer her more food.