My beardie hasn't eaten much in a long time and is shrinking

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alamb

Member
I have two beardies, one is growing like a weed and the other is shrinking. It's been so long since he has eaten normally that his tail is showing the structure. I have a separate feeding tank so he does not feel dominated and have offered a diverse diet of crickets, roaches, wax works, meal worms, and veggies. I have also tried watermelon and yogurt with calcium just so he would get some nutrition and to try to get him hydrated. He is down to refusing basically everything and will eat 1-2 crickets a day if I'm lucky. He was eating a TON in the beginning month and now nothing. Nothing in his enclosure or heating has changed, everything is consistent. Help!!

He has a 90 gallon enclosure with a 75 watt heat bulb and uvb dual light with another uvb light on the cool side of the enclosure. They have a hammock to sit right below the lights and it stays around 90 degrees by the lights and can get about 70-75 degrees while they are sleeping. He is losing energy and weight every day and I am out of ideas and advice.
 

Terry15

Sub-Adult Member
Beardies should not be housed together, one is dominating the other one. Please separate them or put a divider in the middle. They can and will bite each other, missing toes, tails, etc. The little one is probably stressed out.
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Forgetting that we need to know all of the specific details about your tank, lighting, and temperatures, I can tell you most likely what the issue is, and it's that they are housed together. It makes absolutely no difference that you feed him in a separate tank, the fact is that he is living inside a tank with another bearded dragon that is totally dominating him 24 hours a day, which is causing him extreme stress. And they don't just dominate over the food, they dominate over every little thing, like the best basking spots with the best temps and the most UVB exposure. Any time two bearded dragons are housed together, and one dragon is thriving while the other is slowly dying, it's due to one dragons completely dominating the other in every way. So he's extremely stressed, he's not getting proper basking exposure or time under proper UVB and proper temps (which compounds the lack of appetite on top of the stress), he's most likely not sleeping well because he's stressing about the other dragon, and now he's extremely sick due to this going on for so long. So taking him out of his enclosure and putting him in a separate feeding tank by himself obviously won't help him.

At this point you need to separate them immediately, and you must keep the sick dragon in the enclosure he's in, DO NOT MOVE THE SICK DRAGON, HE CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE STRESS! You need to get the bigger, dominate beardie out of that enclosure immediately, right now, and until you can go out and buy a second enclosure and lighting you can use a big plastic tub, like a 50L or bigger, and you'll need to put a basking light over top of the plastic tub. This is just a temporary tank so you can get him out of the enclosure and away from the sick dragon, he cannot handle any relocation stress right now, it will most likely kill him. The big dragon can take it, and he can also go without UVB light for a couple of days, the sick dragon cannot.

After you get them separated, if you could post photos of him and the enclosure and lighting it will be helpful. We also need to know what brands, models, and types of UVB lights you're using, and how old the bulbs are.
 

Mysty

Juvie Member
I would trial housing the weaker dragon on its own for a few days:

The reasons for this are as follows:

1. Living alone reduces stress throughout the day. A seperate feeding tank only reduces stress when used.
2. You can leave greens during the day and see clearly if anything has been taken.
3. You can offer livefood throughout the day with minimum disturbance - not having to move the dragon to a seperate tub.

If the dragon is not moving about normally, is not alert or has sunken eyes I would seek an emergency vets appt.

Parasites which can reduce appetite could be at play. It could be affecting one dragon worse than the other. A feacal test wouldn't hurt.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Mysty":1si3ejx6 said:
I would trial housing the weaker dragon on its own for a few days:
<<< Move the stronger larger one , not the weak smaller one, the big one can stand a period of relocation stress , whereas the other in too frail.
The reasons for this are as follows:

1. Living alone reduces stress throughout the day. A seperate feeding tank only reduces stress when used.
2. You can leave greens during the day and see clearly if anything has been taken.
3. You can offer livefood throughout the day with minimum disturbance - not having to move the dragon to a seperate tub.

If the dragon is not moving about normally, is not alert or has sunken eyes I would seek an emergency vets appt.

Parasites which can reduce appetite could be at play. It could be affecting one dragon worse than the other. A feacal test wouldn't hurt.

Worth while working through my cheatsheet , very likely there are issues with the setup (in addition to cohabitation) and perhaps you need to tweek the husbandry ,if you work through the cheatsheet methodically chances are the problems will pop right out at you.
Let us know if you need more explanation. Cheatsheet is here : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050

The sick one is very ill - I highly recommend you get it to a good reptile vet extremely soon ..
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
alamb":38llsl7g said:
I have two beardies, one is growing like a weed and the other is shrinking. It's been so long since he has eaten normally that his tail is showing the structure. I have a separate feeding tank so he does not feel dominated and have offered a diverse diet of crickets, roaches, wax works, meal worms, and veggies. I have also tried watermelon
<<< watermelon has ZERO nutrition in it\
and yogurt
<<< reptiles can not process dairy products

see http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html




with calcium just so he would get some nutrition and to try to get him hydrated. He is down to refusing basically everything and will eat 1-2 crickets a day if I'm lucky. He was eating a TON in the beginning month and now nothing. Nothing in his enclosure or heating has changed, everything is consistent. Help!!
He's not eating because he is too scared to (dominated by the other).
He has a 90 gallon enclosure with a 75 watt heat bulb and uvb dual light with another uvb light on the cool side of the enclosure. They have a hammock to sit right below the lights and it stays around 90 degrees by the lights and can get about 70-75 degrees while they are sleeping. He is losing energy and weight every day and I am out of ideas and advice.
 

alamb

Member
Original Poster
Ugh, thank you guys. I will do my best to follow your advice. I got them when they were the same size and they were male/female and everything I read said that was fine. The watermelon was a suggestion from a multi-beardie owner just for extra hydration to try to pass any blockage, the yogurt was a suggestion from a shop worker and obviously he was clueless.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
alamb":57ufba8v said:
Ugh, thank you guys. I will do my best to follow your advice. I got them when they were the same size and they were male/female and everything I read said that was fine. The watermelon was a suggestion from a multi-beardie owner just for extra hydration to try to pass any blockage, the yogurt was a suggestion from a shop worker and obviously he was clueless.

You might find this helpful , I use 100L converted tubs as my rearing tubs for my young lizards (skinks and dragons) see
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=233480
,were I explain how I set these up .

Some helpful tips and advice is in my cheatsheet : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=234738&p=1806050#p1806050
, chances are if you work through this methodically , problems and improvements / tweeks to your viv/s and husbandry will pop out at you. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need more info.
 

alamb

Member
Original Poster
UPDATE: I have separated them and put the bigger beardie in the newer tank with a full set up. It's only a 30 gallon so I'm hoping she still thrives in there. The little guy has already been moving around more and eating some. Hopefully this is a sign of positive growing for him.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

How is your little one this evening?
I'm glad to hear you did separate them & that he seems to be doing better now.
Are you using a UVB light for him too? I hope that he continues to be more active & eat more,
too.
Keep us posted on him!

Tracie
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
alamb":16mi1wve said:
UPDATE: I have separated them and put the bigger beardie in the newer tank with a full set up. It's only a 30 gallon so I'm hoping she still thrives in there. The little guy has already been moving around more and eating some. Hopefully this is a sign of positive growing for him.
I expect you'll find he's much happier now and will likely have a growth spurt in very short order now he no long has to compete with the other , and he will no longer feel scared (of her).

FYI , I had a similar experience with George and Mildred (by bluetongue skinks as babies - Mildred bullied George (who was originally bigger than her, even bit him on his head) , who originally shared a rearing tub).

Then I was told it was OK to keep a hatchling boy and girl in the same viv , so did this originally with Rex and Puff (the growth rates were different and I saw that Rex was getting the lion's share of the insects and food while Puff was only getting the dregs and only ate when Rex was napping) who originally shared a rearing tub.

Separating resulted in the bullied thriving, even catching up and growing bigger than the bully in both cases.
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Good, thank you for separating them, you should see vast improvement very quickly. Imagine if you were forced to live 24/7 in a single room with a big, mean bully that pushed you out of the way constantly and intimidated you all day long. That's the equivalent to bearded dragons being in the same enclosure. The only time I have seen that work at all, ever, is when multiple females are housed together in a massive enclosure the size of a small room. I know a very reputable breeder that has always housed his females together in massive custom enclosures the size of a large closet, usually 4+ at the same time (his breeder females). He feeds them all by hand twice a day at the same time, and they seem to get along fine (rare exceptions). He houses all of his males by themselves, alone and never together, nor does he house males and females together ever unless they are mating. I still don't like the females housed together, I've seen so many severe injuries and deaths out of no where, after two females are housed together for years with no issues, both are healthy, and suddenly one day BAM! one kills the other one...It's just not worth it. Besides, they hate it either way, even if they don't fight they are miserable. They live alone in the wild because they want to. They like their people, so we should be happy with that and let them be happy too.

Keep a close eye on the sick dragon, it will take some time but she should start eating normally and start gaining weight and strength.
 
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