Help! Awake from brumation 22 days and still has not eaten

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Drache613

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Hello,

Ok, a male then. Just making sure since many times, they can be a female, having some
egg issues as mentioned.
You are using a digital probe to check the temperatures, correct? The basking spot needs to
be in a range of 95-105 for adults & a cooler area of a range of 78-82. The actual ambient
temperatures for the entire tank really shouldn't be any higher than around 85 tops. Otherwise,
they wont be able to adequately cool off.
Is his beard normal color or has it been darker in color?
They can tend to take a bit of time to come out of brumation, fully because their metabolism has
been slown down for awhile.

Tracie
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Some adult dragons prefer it a little below 100 F so your temp. seems O.K. Good to hear that you have determined that he is indeed a he. :)
Still, there is nothing to say that he is sick , just not hungry right now after brumation. His stocky size is still sustaining him with no problem. Some dragons sleep for 3-4 months with no problem. How long was he down for ?
 

Saffron304

Member
Original Poster
To answer your question Dr. Tracie, his beard has been of normal color. We have never seen it turn black. AHBD, he went into brumation November 1st and woke up on February 2nd.

We ended up taking him to the reptile vet today. We found one that was a little bit closer-thanks to this wonderful site. They got him in immediately today! He was checked out thoroughly and the vet felt nothing was particularly wrong. He did say to mix critical care with chicken baby food and pollen (thanks Dr. Tracie!) and give him 1/2 to 1 ML a day. He only wants us to give him a small amount so he’s not actually sustained on this, just enough to stimulate him to start eating on his own.

Thanks again for all of the responses. All of your thoughts have been extremely helpful.

I’ll post any progress that we have.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That is great you got him into another vet then. It does sound like he is just sluggish & not
quite ready to come roaring out of his brumation.
Since he is of good weight, he wont need much of the critical care at all, to maintain his weight.
He is healthy since he didn't really lose much of any weight during his sleeping. We have had
dragons in the past sleep 4-5 months before so it definitely isn't uncommon! That was a pretty
short brumation phase for him.
You can use the bee pollen daily for awhile, it is very safe for them.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie
 

Saffron304

Member
Original Poster
Update: He pooped a few days ago and ate two crickets today! It has been 119 days since he has had any food on his own. It may have only been two crickets, but I guess it’s a start!

103365-6286839545.jpg
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's great he ate a couple of crickets! He finally went to the bathroom too, bless him.
Be sure to give extra fluids & sugar free applesauce or pumpkin to help out his system.
Or you could even give some probiotics for awhile, too.

Tracie
 

Saffron304

Member
Original Poster
He is still not eating on his own. We are at a loss. I researched and found out about probiotics and have used them. The only other thing we can think of...is the incandescent bulb too close for his comfort. Up until this enclosure we had domes sitting on top and therefore much further away. Any further advice would be greatly appreciated. After seeing 2 different reptile vets, they just say they can’t find anything wrong with him.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Is he losing weight? If he's not losing weight and sustaining it his appetite has just not come back - did the vet do blood work ? X-rays? I went thru setting w/ hiccup at about same age and he never lost weight but would just not eat - spent almost $500 on him trying to figure out what was wrong and there was nothing wrong w/ him-- he decided to start eating one day
Karrie
 

Saffron304

Member
Original Poster
Hi. Thank you so much for your reply. We have gotten x-rays and bloodwork and both of came back normal. He has lost some weight since he woke up. He didn’t lose weight during the actual brumation. We were directed to give him critical care and baby food about 1-2 cc a day, no more than that. He's had three bowel movements over the past month-small ones because of not having much intake. Otherwise he has no interest in any type of bug that would be possible for him to eat as we tried the mall or any type of vegetable. How long was it until your baby started eating again?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I don't remember- I just remember feeding critical care and one day I said ok no more of this force feeding crap and he started eating the next day - go figure! I was watching his weight tho - so I would do that
Karrie
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Sorry I missed your last replies, how are things with your dragon?
Is he still losing weight or has he started eating again? I would try giving some bee pollen
to help out with his appetite right now.
Are you keeping him around 75-80F overnight to boost his immune system, that may also
help out.
Have you double checked his basking temperatures to be sure they are optimal for him?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Saffron304

Member
Original Poster
He is still losing weight and not eating. We have tried pollen, reptaid, probiotics, every vegetable and bug you can think of. He will take some syringe food but very little usually a mix of critical care and baby food. he drinks water from a pipette and gets a bath every other day. He has had three small bowel movements within the last couple weeks. He continues to seem somewhat lethargic. Definitely not back into his energetic self like he was prior to brumation. The warmest that we’ve seen him get with our temperature gun is 102. The current enclosure has the incandescent bulbs on the inside. They are not on top of the screen In domes as they were in his previous enclosure. The only other thing I can think of is that even though the bulb is providing the correct temperatures, perhaps it is too close to him and uncomfortable? We have thought about ripping it out and putting screen on top and changing it back to having domes on top. Do you think something like this could be causing this situation to happen? Any advice is so appreciated. We are afraid of losing him.
 
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