Not Basking??

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Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
My beardie hasn't really been acting herself lately. She mostly stays in her hide, but she's not lethargic, and when I take her out of her enclosure she still runs around a bit. Also, while she used to eat endless amount of dandelion flowers and three or four dandelion leaves a day, now she'll only eat one or two flowers if I'm lucky. The only things that she will eat are dubia roaches, maybe a couple crickets, and specifically red bell peppers?? I don't know why, but when I gave her a bowl of mixed yellow, orange, and red bell peppers she only ate the red ones. I'm worried because red bell peppers aren't meant to be a staple veggie, but they are the only thing besides dubias that she will eat in normal amounts. She's pooping fine, her last poop being today, but while cleaning up her mess I noticed that the white part was pretty hard. She also isn't losing any weight, in fact, she's even gaining it a little. She's two years old and weighs 610 grams. She has a T8 UVB that was replaced only a month or two ago. I'm starting to get pretty worried about her. :( Thank you for any replies!
 
Sounds to me like she might be gravid :)
Have you noticed any aggressive digging?
Mine was acting very similarly the past month - then two weeks ago she laid her very first clutch of eggs :) Now she's back to her usual self!

Make sure that when you feed her she gets enough calcium and force her to stay under the UVB for a while after if she insists on hiding.

Also you might want to prep up a dig box. I didn;t manage to prep mine for her - but it should be some mixture of soil and play sand (I'm sure the others will correct me on this)
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
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Thank you for the response! Would I be able to feel any lumps if she was? I haven't really been noticing much digging, she mostly just sits with her head out of the hide, although she had seemed to take a bit of a liking to calcium powder a couple weeks ago, but I don't know if that really matters.
 
Licking the calcium on its own might mean that she's not consuming enough through food itself. Its quite normal though, I've seen mine do it numerous times and I dust her food. It could be another sign that she's preparing to lay because she needs more calcium for the eggs.

I tried to feel my dragon for eggs, and I couldn't feel them individually, but she did feel swollen and "full" sort of. I read once that if you hold them up and look at their bellies from the side you would see lumps of the eggs, I tried that so many times with my Kira and nothing - but she still laid eggs.

You could try and calculate how long she's been acting like this and see if it makes sense (or just to keep track). According to this : https://www.thesprucepets.com/bearded-dragon-eggs-4171698 ; gravid dragons last 3 weeks (I think mine lasted about 4 though) until they lay. Just to have an idea.

I'd still try to feed and bath her - make sure she doesn't dehydrate! and give her lots of cuddles <3

Also - is she still active if you prop her outside of her tank? (Mine would be lazy and stay in the hide in her tank but once she was out and about she'd constantly hunt for the perfect digging spot - finding corners and digging into the tiles ((another sign that she needed a dig box )) )
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
When I take her out, she is sorta active, but I haven't really noticed her digging anywhere yet. I took her out today and she's running around my room as I'm typing this. I think I first really noticed this about two to three weeks ago, so technically she should be ready to lay pretty soon. What size lay box would you say she would need? Also, she finally ate normally yesterday! She finished her entire salad along with four dandelion flowers! It took pretty much the whole day, but she managed to finish all of it! (Excluding some stems that she never really likes) Anyways, I'll keep on watching her to see if she starts digging.
Edit- Just as I posted this, I heard her digging a bit, but she just looks like she's trying to find a place to sleep, since now she's sorta curled up in that corner. Her eyes are still open and the spot isn't in the dark though, so I'm not sure if this means she is gravid or she just wants to sleep there for some reason?
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I moved the thing she had curled up next to to create a new, more enclosed corner and she went in there, and now it looks like she's gone to sleep. I took some pictures of her, but my phone can't seem to upload them for some reason. I don't know if it's normal for a gravid beardie to sleep in the place they where digging, but I would imagine they would just continue to run around, and dig more then just a couple of soft strokes to the ground.
 
Hmm they do scratch a bit to find their comfiest position when prepping to sleep. I think that happens regardless of the dragon's gender. If she's active outside her tank I'd always take that as a good sign, even if its to find a comfy spot to sleep in :wink:

That's good that she ate! Maybe she's going through a funk and didn't want to eat for a while - mine does that sometimes too. Did she bask after eating though?

By the way - what are the temps where you're from? I noticed my Kira staying on the cool side before I fed her yesterday - then I remembered we're going through a heatwave and I concluded that it's fine because after she ate she remained under the heatlamp for at least an hour (and it was getting pretty late like 7pm ish). Could that be the case also? Or maybe if you're from the southern hemisphere she should be brumating about now. Also - does your uvb reached its 6 month/ 1 year since you bought it? Maybe that needs changing - you'd be surprised how it effects their mood!
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I just replaced the UVB a month or two ago, and the temperature isn't really hot either. She came out of brumation three or four months ago. She didn't go out to bask after she ate from what I could tell, but she ate a little while after I had placed her on her basking spot, and then just went back in her cave. She has some BSFL on the way, and maybe she'll perk up a little after she gets them?? I've been feeding her mostly dubias and occasionally some crickets, but she hasn't really had very many worms, and maybe she'll decide that they are fit for her queenly diet :lol: She's sometimes a bit of a picky eater, so maybe that's a part of the problem?
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Also, what size laybox would you recommend? How deep should it be? How long and wide? Marta is about 16 inches long (if that matters). I've also been contemplating bringing her to the vet's. She's really starting to worry me since it's been like a month now and I've been wondering if she could have some sort of parasites? Do you know if her behavior could be similar to that of how a beardie acts when they have them? Also, thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it, I've been so worried about her these past couple weeks!
 
If you feel the need to take her to the vet by all means do so! it's no use worrying yourself to death! I know exactly how you feel! Make sure you find a decent one (I ended up mistakenly trusting someone who didn't even know if their tails fall off or not - not going there again)

Regarding parasites; they would still be hungry as per usual selves, eat but gain no weight. And their poo would be really nasty smelly and more liquid than solid. Mine (not even a year old) had similar symptoms to yours now just before her first brumation, she was lethargic, off food, constantly in the cold side. Took her to the first vet and took a fecal sample with me - confirmed she had parasites but the symptoms she was showing were of brumation. Its so difficult to tell - that's where the vets should be involved!

Obviously I can only give you advice based off what I experienced, so if you feel uncertain definitely go seek out a vet <3 You're doing the best you can for your baby and I totally understand the worry - but at the same time; your dragon's an adult and if its not like a serious infection that needs treatment asap - they'll be fine. They live off the wild in far worse conditions remember that!

Here's a video of the ideal dig box with really good information : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz4Aymw2VbQ
However, as I said before, I wasn't sure mine was gravid, didn't manage to prepare her laybox in time and she laid her very first clutch on the sofa XD (For next time!)

Regarding the lights - sounds good! Has she stopped eating veggies also? They are SUCH picky eaters - I can't get mine to eat anything other than Rocket leaves - maybe your dragon is also starting to switch from insects to greens?
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Maybe- today she decided to eat her salad again! She gobbled up all five flowers and even a couple pieces of the leaves again! The BSFL are taking longer than expected and I'm thinking of buying her some Superworms from Petsmart. I don't want her getting an impaction, but I don't think one time having them will do that, so I'll probably buy them to see how she reacts to worms.
 
She shouldn't get impacted from the laybox because she's not ingesting it as there's no food present. (When impaction happens usually is over a course of a long time that they ingest a little bit of substrate with every meal they have) So I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it helps settle your mind you could always bathe her afterwards.

Glad to hear that she ate :) Maybe she's just going through a phase tbh! Mine also barely touched her food in the past two days that I was away from home - but I found out my mum switched off her tank lights (attached to a timer) from the wall. So yep 2 days no heat lamp and UVB =.= damn.

She might really appreciate the wormies as a treat ! :) a little change in her food will do her good also :)

Hope she continues to get better :)
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Although she only ate a couple flowers yesterday, she basked all day! I gave her the BSFL today, and she stayed on the basking spot for a pretty long time after I put her on it. (she wasn't going on her on so I decided to put her there so that she could digest what she ate) I hope I'll see some improvement now that she has the worms!
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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