DesiMorgan
New member
This is my first ever beardie, Remy, he's about 1 year 10 months old, 18 inches long. His tank is 65 gallons, with a live desert vivarium, about 3-4 inches of dirt and leaf litter for substrate (from The Bio Dude), with real succulents/plants (he doesn't eat them, but they're safe if he ever does decide to). I believe he went through his first brumation period this past winter starting around November 2019. I never changed heat/light levels or timing, or had any major changes in my home, nor changed up his tank, he just did this on his own. He wasn't in deep sleep mode during this period, but definitely became less active, basked a lot less, and ate and pooped a lot less...to the point where he has now NOT eaten ANYTHING (bugs or greens, even his fav treat of blueberries), or pooped, for about 4 months straight, going on 5!!!
He has a recent clean bill of health from the vet just last week (with the exception of pin worms found in a stool sample, which the vet said is common and not concerning enough to treat), and all temperature levels are in the correct ranges (vet confirmed). He hasn't lost any weight or muscle strength throughout this period either. The vet is kinda stumped.
He's never been extremely motivated by food, but he definitely used to love to eat (picky with greens though), and his usual favs are roaches, mealworms, and superworms. I've tried everything the vet and my local reptile store (where I got him from) have suggested to get him to eat again. He will literally look directly at the squirming bugs right in front of him, then just not eat them and either look or walk away. Among other things, I've tried feeding at different times of day (I used to feed him in the morning before leaving for work). I've gotten new and fresh bugs. I've made sure he's warmed up before feeding. I've let him outside in the real sunshine, which I think helped him to FINALLY poop a HUGE one last week (which I was hoping was a good sign that maybe he was coming out of brumation and would eat again). But going outside seemed to freak him out a bit, and when he got back into his tank, he dug so much he reached the bottom of the tank! He's NEVER dug like that before! I had to rearrange his tank a bit so the branches wouldn't fall and crush him. I live in WI, so it's been difficult to give him real sunshine daily, and it's been overcast or raining all day with a slight cold spell for the last week-ish. I'm really hoping I don't have to resort to force-feeding!
The vet said we shouldn't see brumation behavior since we give them a controlled environment (but don't instinct and evolution kinda trump that??). And I keep getting conflicting or not enough information from my local reptile store and every beardie site I find. The next step at the vet is a $200+ blood test, so I'm trying to figure this out before spending that much money to probably tell me he's fine.
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to get my beardie to eat again? Any help is much appreciated!!
He has a recent clean bill of health from the vet just last week (with the exception of pin worms found in a stool sample, which the vet said is common and not concerning enough to treat), and all temperature levels are in the correct ranges (vet confirmed). He hasn't lost any weight or muscle strength throughout this period either. The vet is kinda stumped.
He's never been extremely motivated by food, but he definitely used to love to eat (picky with greens though), and his usual favs are roaches, mealworms, and superworms. I've tried everything the vet and my local reptile store (where I got him from) have suggested to get him to eat again. He will literally look directly at the squirming bugs right in front of him, then just not eat them and either look or walk away. Among other things, I've tried feeding at different times of day (I used to feed him in the morning before leaving for work). I've gotten new and fresh bugs. I've made sure he's warmed up before feeding. I've let him outside in the real sunshine, which I think helped him to FINALLY poop a HUGE one last week (which I was hoping was a good sign that maybe he was coming out of brumation and would eat again). But going outside seemed to freak him out a bit, and when he got back into his tank, he dug so much he reached the bottom of the tank! He's NEVER dug like that before! I had to rearrange his tank a bit so the branches wouldn't fall and crush him. I live in WI, so it's been difficult to give him real sunshine daily, and it's been overcast or raining all day with a slight cold spell for the last week-ish. I'm really hoping I don't have to resort to force-feeding!
The vet said we shouldn't see brumation behavior since we give them a controlled environment (but don't instinct and evolution kinda trump that??). And I keep getting conflicting or not enough information from my local reptile store and every beardie site I find. The next step at the vet is a $200+ blood test, so I'm trying to figure this out before spending that much money to probably tell me he's fine.
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to get my beardie to eat again? Any help is much appreciated!!