ZolloKaptain
Member
(Sorry about the long post, just wanted to make sure that the process goes quicker)
Hey everyone,
This is my first post here, but I'll try to at least act as if I'm competent at writing in forums. For about 3-4 months now my bearded dragon has been eating on and off, and recently, maybe since 2-3 weeks ago, my beardie has stopped eating completely. When she was eating on and off, she would eat healthfully, run around the cage after her food one day, and then completely refuse all food for a few days or longer. Usually I'd have to introduce a new food to have her eat again, but then she would stop soon after and I'd have to repeat the process over again. Also, since about 3-4 months ago she has completely stopped eating her greens and I have given her varieties of different stuff, like Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Endives etc. I've tried different tactics of presenting food to her as well, sometimes I will leave food like Black Soldier Fly larvae in there so she eats on her own time, that worked for like 2 days and then never worked again. I've tried presenting food on a white paper towel, both her greens and staple diet, and that only worked a few times too. The list goes on with all of them ending practically the same way.
Now she refuses all food given to her, and what makes this particularly confusing is that she is still very active, if I take her out she'll explore and run all over the house as if she hasn't skipped on 20 meals. I took her to a vet to discuss the problem about 3-4 weeks ago. She said that everything: lighting, temperature, enclosure layout was up to par. She also said that physically my Bearded Dragon looks great, her weight is normal and everything like that. She suggested though that I hydrate her even more, which means that now I keep a water bowl in her tank 24/7 and give her baths every other day, about 20 minutes long. I've been doing this for a while but there is absolutely no evidence that this working, in fact it almost seems as if the opposite has happened.
It does not seem as though she is impacted because she still poops, in fact a vet tested her poop multiple times and it tested negative for worms. Also her poops are relatively normal, however with the way she acts it seems she might be a little constipated at times, but I'm not sure how this would lead to all of these issues. I have switched her tank but I did this about a month before she started to exhibit any problems and since she has grown, switching to her old tank seems less than viable.
For anyone interested, these are my specs:
Staple diet: Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Crickets (gut loaded), and roaches (gut loaded) usually with no supplements
Heat Bulb: Exo-Terra Sun-Glo Basking Infrared 150 Watt
UVB Bulb: Repti Sun 10.0 t5HO 54 Watt 46in
Supplemental Bulb: ZooMed Ceramic Infrared Heat Emitter 60W
Tank Size: 75 Gallon
Tank items and substrate: Ceramic tiles are used as a substrate, bridge pushed against wall that provides for a hiding spot(she usually doesn't use it very often), hammock, a few pieces of drift wood, a ledge that is fastened by magnets from the outside of the tank, wallpaper covering the back of the tank.
Temperatures: (Day Time)Under her basking area it can vary between about (95 - 105 F), in the cold spot it gets down to about 80 F, (Night Time) Where she usually sleeps it gets down to about
(80 - 90 F), the other side can get down to about 75 F.
Note: I keep the Ceramic Heater on 24/7, so when she goes to sleep I usually put her in that spot.
I would be grateful for any help, thanks!
Hey everyone,
This is my first post here, but I'll try to at least act as if I'm competent at writing in forums. For about 3-4 months now my bearded dragon has been eating on and off, and recently, maybe since 2-3 weeks ago, my beardie has stopped eating completely. When she was eating on and off, she would eat healthfully, run around the cage after her food one day, and then completely refuse all food for a few days or longer. Usually I'd have to introduce a new food to have her eat again, but then she would stop soon after and I'd have to repeat the process over again. Also, since about 3-4 months ago she has completely stopped eating her greens and I have given her varieties of different stuff, like Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Endives etc. I've tried different tactics of presenting food to her as well, sometimes I will leave food like Black Soldier Fly larvae in there so she eats on her own time, that worked for like 2 days and then never worked again. I've tried presenting food on a white paper towel, both her greens and staple diet, and that only worked a few times too. The list goes on with all of them ending practically the same way.
Now she refuses all food given to her, and what makes this particularly confusing is that she is still very active, if I take her out she'll explore and run all over the house as if she hasn't skipped on 20 meals. I took her to a vet to discuss the problem about 3-4 weeks ago. She said that everything: lighting, temperature, enclosure layout was up to par. She also said that physically my Bearded Dragon looks great, her weight is normal and everything like that. She suggested though that I hydrate her even more, which means that now I keep a water bowl in her tank 24/7 and give her baths every other day, about 20 minutes long. I've been doing this for a while but there is absolutely no evidence that this working, in fact it almost seems as if the opposite has happened.
It does not seem as though she is impacted because she still poops, in fact a vet tested her poop multiple times and it tested negative for worms. Also her poops are relatively normal, however with the way she acts it seems she might be a little constipated at times, but I'm not sure how this would lead to all of these issues. I have switched her tank but I did this about a month before she started to exhibit any problems and since she has grown, switching to her old tank seems less than viable.
For anyone interested, these are my specs:
Staple diet: Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Crickets (gut loaded), and roaches (gut loaded) usually with no supplements
Heat Bulb: Exo-Terra Sun-Glo Basking Infrared 150 Watt
UVB Bulb: Repti Sun 10.0 t5HO 54 Watt 46in
Supplemental Bulb: ZooMed Ceramic Infrared Heat Emitter 60W
Tank Size: 75 Gallon
Tank items and substrate: Ceramic tiles are used as a substrate, bridge pushed against wall that provides for a hiding spot(she usually doesn't use it very often), hammock, a few pieces of drift wood, a ledge that is fastened by magnets from the outside of the tank, wallpaper covering the back of the tank.
Temperatures: (Day Time)Under her basking area it can vary between about (95 - 105 F), in the cold spot it gets down to about 80 F, (Night Time) Where she usually sleeps it gets down to about
(80 - 90 F), the other side can get down to about 75 F.
Note: I keep the Ceramic Heater on 24/7, so when she goes to sleep I usually put her in that spot.
I would be grateful for any help, thanks!