7 Month Old refusing to eat anything!

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The title pretty much says it all. Mushu my 7 month old bearded dragon, has recently not been eating anything! He loves superworms yet he refuses to eat them and he just closes his eyes! Please help he hasn't been eating properly for a couple of weeks. Is he starting to brumate??
 

Scion19801

Hatchling Member
A 7 month old is way too young to brumate. Also you mention feeding superworms. You should not be feeding them to a beardie that is less than 14 inches long. Not sure how long yours is. Supers can cause impaction issues with young beardies. I would try warmer than normal baths to see if your beardie is bound up possibly causing the lack of appetite. Bath water around 98 degrees or so for 10 to 15 min, unless mushu is pooping ok.
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
Scion19801":3njjqvju said:
A 7 month old is way too young to brumate. Also you mention feeding superworms. You should not be feeding them to a beardie that is less than 14 inches long. Not sure how long yours is. Supers can cause impaction issues with young beardies. I would try warmer than normal baths to see if your beardie is bound up possibly causing the lack of appetite. Bath water around 98 degrees or so for 10 to 15 min, unless mushu is pooping ok.

He poops as normal which is weird! he is 16 inches long so he should be fine. and he is showing symptoms of brumation he is always tired and I researched that each bearded dragon has there own schedule of brumation. It is winter and I dont know what to do. I curently have him wrapped in a blanket and he doesn't mind at all! He usually hates it too.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Work through this : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=236150&p=1815390#p1815390

Strongly suggest the superworms be cut for the diet for now , best only offered as occasional treats to adult dragons.
Better worms to offer , and most dragons love them are silkworms (a 7 month old should be big enough to eat a 2" long silkworm, and will take 2 or 3 in a meal), plus silkworms are nearly a perfect feeder insect and perfectly suit to be used as a daily staple.

At 7 months old he should be on 2 meals of insects per day + some salad.
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
I usually feed him insects twice a day and offer a salad but he is the pickiest bearded dragon ever! Seriously not kidding. I will cut the worms and he poops as normal so how would I know if its impaction? He has recently been digging around his vivarium and I can't get any calcium/vitamins into because he wont eat... I am really worried.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
MushuDaBeardie":297h52zo said:
I usually feed him insects twice a day and offer a salad but he is the pickiest bearded dragon ever! Seriously not kidding. I will cut the worms and he poops as normal so how would I know if its impaction? He has recently been digging around his vivarium and I can't get any calcium/vitamins into because he wont eat... I am really worried.

The hard exoskeletons are the issue, very hard to digest and they tend to accumulate and form GIT blockages - not good.

I strongly suggest changing the staple feeder insects to either:
crickets or roaches or locusts (gut loaded and dusted)
silkworms
BSFL

If he's not getting any calcium , you need to find a way of getting dietary calcium into him either on his insects (dusting them) , in his insects (by feeding them calcium rich greens when gut loading) , or by dusting his salad and giving calcium rich greens , or by giving vet grade liquid calcium (usually calcium glutamate , I recommend VetaFarm CalciVet ,
https://vetafarm.com.au/product/calcivet/
this is orally given daily by measured doses (based on the body weight of the dragon) , I've found this is very well taken by skinks and dragons , and is easy to give by syringe.
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
kingofnobbys":2r5ik6a1 said:
MushuDaBeardie":2r5ik6a1 said:
I usually feed him insects twice a day and offer a salad but he is the pickiest bearded dragon ever! Seriously not kidding. I will cut the worms and he poops as normal so how would I know if its impaction? He has recently been digging around his vivarium and I can't get any calcium/vitamins into because he wont eat... I am really worried.

The hard exoskeletons are the issue, very hard to digest and they tend to accumulate and form GIT blockages - not good.

I strongly suggest changing the staple feeder insects to either:
crickets or roaches or locusts (gut loaded and dusted)
silkworms
BSFL

If he's not getting any calcium , you need to find a way of getting dietary calcium into him either on his insects (dusting them) , in his insects (by feeding them calcium rich greens when gut loading) , or by dusting his salad and giving calcium rich greens , or by giving vet grade liquid calcium (usually calcium glutamate , I recommend VetaFarm CalciVet ,
https://vetafarm.com.au/product/calcivet/
this is orally given daily by measured doses (based on the body weight of the dragon) , I've found this is very well taken by skinks and dragons , and is easy to give by syringe.


I plan on taking to him a vet as I believe he is going to brumate as he shows all the symptoms I cannot get any calcium in him as he isn't eating. I've tried everything he's the pickiest bearded dragon ever I have tried everything. I personally think he is going to brumate and I will take him to a vet to make sure he doesn't have any parasites and hopefully clear him so he can happily and healthily brumate. I may need to get a liquid calcium but I will hopefully talk to the vet about that.
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
Everyone I am planning on taking him to the vet today! To clear him for brumation or to determine if he has parasites. However, I have a gut feeling he is brumating as he is showing more symptoms of that than parasites! Sad news either way because if he does have parasites then it would suck so much and if he's brumating then I can't see his face for a couple weeks/months :(. Thanks, everyone for the input and I will update everyone on if he is brumating or if he has parasites later today! Thanks, everyone! Hope this thread helped anyone else out who's dragon is acting similarly.
 

HanG

Member
Hello, how is mushu after the vets?? My old beardie had this same thing and turned out to have parasites which ate away at his eyes. Hope this isn’t the case for mushu!
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
HanG":d2x8434i said:
Hello, how is mushu after the vets?? My old beardie had this same thing and turned out to have parasites which ate away at his eyes. Hope this isn’t the case for mushu!

That's so terrible I am so sorry! Poor Baby!! I took him to the vets today and she strongly believes he is going into brumation. She couldn't test for parasites as he hasn't pooped due to not eating at all. She recommended for me baby food with only vegetables to start transitioning him into more veggies and she says he looks overall very healthy! No MBD or parasites as she examined and I am happy to report Mushu is starting his brumation officially tomorrow. Thank you for your concern. Half the battle is only won as I will still be worried and anxious about him brumating in general. Just making sure he is still breathing and healthy! Also any recommendations for brumating in general?? as being the parent of a beardie?
 

HanG

Member
With my beardie, when he started to go into brumation he spent a lot of time digging in the cold side of his viv, I personally have made him a little bed in a box full of nesting materials so Zeus is able to sleep longer and I can keep an eye on him! But, if you want to keep him in the viv you could help by simply extending lights out at night time by a couple of hours! Glad to hear he’s healthy :)
 
IMO, there is no such things has too young. You can't just let him sleep like an adult cause he is growing he needs his food and light. Winter arrived super early in November just after the time change and my 6 months old dragon is trying to go into winter dormancy real bad too. Hard to get her to eat. My other adult dragon has also slow down and refusing his greens.

I got some silkworms and was really happy to see that they are still going crazy over it. I also got some Repashy veggie burger and grub pie that i mix and they will eat some, most of the times. Sometime I get more lucky hand feeding them outside their vivariums. Oh and they will both eat bluberries too. you need to test different food and figure out what yours still like.

I removed all hides and keep putting Heidi back on her basking spot for 2 hours after she eat. After that I let her sleep where she want without disturbing her until next meal. I make sure she drink water from my finger and bath her 2 x times a week instead of once.

Also when I see them with their mouth open, I quickly squeeze a piece of collar green in their mouth and they will usually eat that one piece. :lol:

I got really worried too, but I really think its the cold.
 

MushuDaBeardie

Member
Original Poster
DragonFrenchy":3j4lydft said:
IMO, there is no such things has too young. You can't just let him sleep like an adult cause he is growing he needs his food and light. Winter arrived super early in November just after the time change and my 6 months old dragon is trying to go into winter dormancy real bad too. Hard to get her to eat. My other adult dragon has also slow down and refusing his greens.

I got some silkworms and was really happy to see that they are still going crazy over it. I also got some Repashy veggie burger and grub pie that i mix and they will eat some, most of the times. Sometime I get more lucky hand feeding them outside their vivariums. Oh and they will both eat bluberries too. you need to test different food and figure out what yours still like.

I removed all hides and keep putting Heidi back on her basking spot for 2 hours after she eat. After that I let her sleep where she want without disturbing her until next meal. I make sure she drink water from my finger and bath her 2 x times a week instead of once.

Also when I see them with their mouth open, I quickly squeeze a piece of collar green in their mouth and they will usually eat that one piece. :lol:

I got really worried too, but I really think its the cold.
I strongly disagree with you about not letting them brumate "like an adult". It is a natural instinct inside them and if they need to brumate I believe you should let them. It is a way of there bodies restarting. Mushu has been asleep for a couple months now and is very healthy in weight and apperance!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I was told to follow their lead--- if he is of healthy weight and not losing weight he should be fine- Hiccup went into a semi brumation and did a lot of sleeping wouldnt come out of his hide - so when he was doing this I weighed him to make sure he wasnt losing weight and he actually had gained 4 oz- he did come out every couple of days to eat and bask but for the most part he was doing alot of sleeping and the digging thing-- just keep an eye on him and follow his lead - you know hes not sick

Karrie
 
MushuDaBeardie":383s2frm said:
I strongly disagree with you about not letting them brumate "like an adult". It is a natural instinct inside them and if they need to brumate I believe you should let them. It is a way of there bodies restarting. Mushu has been asleep for a couple months now and is very healthy in weight and appearance!

I am definitely not going to argue about my way being the best or not. It worked for me but mines went into semi dormancy only not full brumation. Truly I thought that the question was mainly about not eating and you asking for help with that. I misunderstand you, sorry about that.

I am glad to hear that all is going well for your dragon.
 
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