BlueParrot
Member
I have a young adult bearded dragon called Otto. He's around a year old and I am at a loss. His behaviour has been getting increasingly weird for weeks so it will take a bit of explaining I'm afraid.
First a few weeks ago he became a more fussy eater, turning his nose up at various foods and then showing interest in others but gradually he just started turning his nose up at everything. He's barely eaten in the last couple of weeks but hasn't dramatically lost any weight. He also started regularly making a fuss wanting to get out of his viv.
We took him to the reptile specialist shop and they thought it was probably brumation but he hasn't been sleeping more so I took him to the vets to check. The vet says he's looking really healthy and not showing any physical reason why he wouldn't want to eat so also concluded brumation but advised us to encourage him not to brumate (I guess because of his age and size).
A week on we have decided (with the vets permission) if he wants to brumate we'd better let him because he's very stubborn but I am now having doubts that's what it is. The past few days his behaviour has been increasingly weird. He's been head bobbing, waving and tried to attack my partner several times. This morning he attacked again and this time bit my partner's shoe whilst writhing about for several minutes, he says he was specifically rubbing the vent area. My partner was afraid there was something wrong with him and tried to inspect him but he wouldn't stop. Eventually he did and has been fine for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I'm wondering could this have anything to do with breeding behaviour? We don't have any other beardies, he lives alone so it seems unlikely but this is like nothing I can find described on the internet and the vet says he's healthy so I'm stumped. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I've measured his temperatures and they're all good, although we started to turn them down thinking he wanted to brumate. He's got the standard UV lighting and he was having his regular supplements although obviously much less since he stopped eating!
First a few weeks ago he became a more fussy eater, turning his nose up at various foods and then showing interest in others but gradually he just started turning his nose up at everything. He's barely eaten in the last couple of weeks but hasn't dramatically lost any weight. He also started regularly making a fuss wanting to get out of his viv.
We took him to the reptile specialist shop and they thought it was probably brumation but he hasn't been sleeping more so I took him to the vets to check. The vet says he's looking really healthy and not showing any physical reason why he wouldn't want to eat so also concluded brumation but advised us to encourage him not to brumate (I guess because of his age and size).
A week on we have decided (with the vets permission) if he wants to brumate we'd better let him because he's very stubborn but I am now having doubts that's what it is. The past few days his behaviour has been increasingly weird. He's been head bobbing, waving and tried to attack my partner several times. This morning he attacked again and this time bit my partner's shoe whilst writhing about for several minutes, he says he was specifically rubbing the vent area. My partner was afraid there was something wrong with him and tried to inspect him but he wouldn't stop. Eventually he did and has been fine for the rest of the afternoon.
Now I'm wondering could this have anything to do with breeding behaviour? We don't have any other beardies, he lives alone so it seems unlikely but this is like nothing I can find described on the internet and the vet says he's healthy so I'm stumped. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I've measured his temperatures and they're all good, although we started to turn them down thinking he wanted to brumate. He's got the standard UV lighting and he was having his regular supplements although obviously much less since he stopped eating!