Is prolonging his life worth it?

Additionally, the hornworm is getting slightly less squishy (as in i think maybe it is slowly going into its cocoon phase) and i've been told that its moth form is extremely invasive, so i'm worried if i can't feed it to him i'm going to have to kill it myself.

If that is all he'll eat (and he HAS to eat), I suppose it is your only option at this time. Just don't overdo it. Watch him closely for signs of impaction though. I wouldn't normally suggest superworms (I am normally against them, other than occasional treats) but, at this point he has to have something. Just reading this makes me want to hug my dragon every chance I get.

Hello,

At this point, superworms are perfectly fine for him! He just may not like the hornworms, some don't. Have you tried silkworms, they are white & he might like them. He showed interest then which is excellent. You can't always give up so easily on them, sometimes they just change their eating preferences. He is a bit older & they oftentimes before a little picky.
Your dad is giving up way too easily on him though!
Try more superworms then, to see if he will go for them. He needs some nutrition so I would recommend feeding him some more if he wants them. Once he gets more strength, then you can see about greens, etc if possible.
Let us know if he eats more of them. Have you tried the chicken/turkey baby food from the end of a syringe to see if he will lick that off? Or, you could put some on your finger & wipe it on his little snout & maybe he will eat that also.
OH, the moth will be fine, if it changes into a cocoon, you can just let it outside.

Tracie

thank you! I haven't but I'll see if I can try some of these things; not sure if it will be possible yet but thank you regardless.

Hello,

Terrific, let us know if anything works for him. I think with some effort you should be able to get him eating something again! I am pulling for him.

Tracie

Update: Spike is muscularly very weak; he has difficulty keeping his head up or moving around very much.

He has not progressed past eating more than one mealworm in any given day, and it takes 15 minutes of coaxing to get him to eat one.

Most days though, he does not eat them, and it's honestly hard to offer them to him every day when he looks at them like he wants to eat them but then doesn't do more than that.

It's saddest when he attempts to eat them by sticking out his tongue to nab them only to fall short by several centimeters and then assume nothing is there...

What should I be thinking at this point?

It is a sad situation, I don't know if I have anything to offer as advice, just that at least he doesn't seem to be in pain. At the same time he doesn't have much quality of life so that all has to be factored in. You'll have to decide if + when he's gone far enough.....just a sad situation for you, but you're doing the best you can. He may pass peacefully at home, that's one option.

Honestly, my 6 year old (healthy) bearded dragon will often have difficulty grabbing her supers and other fast(ish) moving bugs. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they can't see directly in front of their faces, so they really can't see what they're grabbing for. It's very frustrating because you can tell she wants the worm, but when she fails to get it she acts like there was nothing there in the first place.
After reading this thread, it's very sad what you're bearded dragon is going through... I know 12 years old is supposed to be really old for a bearded dragon, so I'm not sure what you can really do aside from help him along for the last bits of his life...