Hi,
We're worried about our bearded dragon, she hasn't been eating the same way she used to for the last month or two. We've taken her to a local vet twice and we're going to take her to an exotic vet next Tuesday or potentially sooner if we're able to get an appointment.
Tank setup:
Basking spot: 105F
Cool side: 80-85F
Lights: Reptisun 10UVB tube light & Reptisun 10UVB, also a heat lamp
Normal feeding: Mix of live crickets and then a salad, but she wasn't a huge fan of salad often but dug mangos and squash. She absolutely loved super worms, but we didn't give her those very often. Here's a summary my wife wrote the vet:
At the vet today the vet said her blood seemed thin and didn't really have anything useful to say or any real suggestions other than giving my wife some food to take home.
We're both really worried, we want to figure out why she isn't eating and get her to eat again. We've read everything we can on why beardies stop eating and have replaced the lights, double checked temps, got her checked for parasites, anything we can think of.
Does anyone have any other ideas for what might be going on or how to get her to eat?
Her shed:
Her watching me write this post:
We're worried about our bearded dragon, she hasn't been eating the same way she used to for the last month or two. We've taken her to a local vet twice and we're going to take her to an exotic vet next Tuesday or potentially sooner if we're able to get an appointment.
Tank setup:
Basking spot: 105F
Cool side: 80-85F
Lights: Reptisun 10UVB tube light & Reptisun 10UVB, also a heat lamp
Normal feeding: Mix of live crickets and then a salad, but she wasn't a huge fan of salad often but dug mangos and squash. She absolutely loved super worms, but we didn't give her those very often. Here's a summary my wife wrote the vet:
"Aug - November
Active and healthy appetite. She shed her legs and the top of her head. She put on a lot of weight.
Dec - March
Very lethargic, not eating much. Figured she was brumating so I wasn't too worried. I took her to the vet because she hadn't pooped in over 3 weeks so I thought she might have been impacted. She pooped at the vet and so I had her stool checked for parasites. Negative.
April
Got more active. Started eating more again and then all of a sudden she stopped eating. Her behaviour changed dramatically and she seemed very irritable. Her beard was often dark. Her urates were hard. I thought she might be gravid because her attitude had changed so dramatically.
May
Towards the end of May, I took her back to the vet. You took a blood sample and gave her some vitamins and fluids. They said her calcium and phosphorus levels were high.
June
After the vet visit, she got her appetite back for about a week and a half. She ate some crickets and worms, very little salad but I was happy that she was eating at all. Then all of her scales went dull and she stopped eating again. I know that they often don't eat when they shed, so I wasn't too worried. She did a full body shed in June, everything except the tip of her tail and the top of her head. The shed went well (see attached picture). She seems to be done shedding now except for a small piece on her left leg, but her appetite hasn't returned. It has been about a month now that the shed has finished.
July
She spends more time sleeping now than usual. But doesn't seem irritated like she did in May. She just isn't interested in food, not even her favourite worms for which she usually gets so excited. It has been about a month since she ate. As expected, her poops are small and her urates are even smaller (attached a picture below).
What I have been doing...
I got her some BSFL just in case she was bored of crickets, but she wouldn't eat them either.
I make her a salad every day, but she never eats it.
Lately, I made her some lizard smoothies with her greens, bugs and a bit of mango. I drop in on her nose and eventually she licks it off but she doesn't ingest much.
I have been taking her outside daily for a bit of real sun, at least 5 minutes a day.
I replaced all her bulbs, both UV bulbs and her heat lamp. I keep an eye on her temperatures regularly.
At the vet today the vet said her blood seemed thin and didn't really have anything useful to say or any real suggestions other than giving my wife some food to take home.
We're both really worried, we want to figure out why she isn't eating and get her to eat again. We've read everything we can on why beardies stop eating and have replaced the lights, double checked temps, got her checked for parasites, anything we can think of.
Does anyone have any other ideas for what might be going on or how to get her to eat?
Her shed:
Her watching me write this post: