Bearded Dragon not eating.

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I have a 1+ year old male bearded dragon who has not been eating for the last 2 weeks. I have tried everything from changing his lighting to coaxing him with meal worms, but he simply refuses to eat. The good news is that he still seems active and alert, though he also has a problem with glass surfing. I took him to an exotic animal vet, which took his blood as well as an xray. The bloodwork showed that he seemed to have a slightly high white blood cell count which could imply an infection, but the vet did not seem so sure. Xray showed nothing irregular. I have been giving him his prescribed antibiotics for a few days now, and I have seen zero change in his condition (and frankly I worry about the stress that giving him the medicine might be causing him) so I am wondering if I should seek a second opinion.

He has a 120 gallon wood panel enclosure by zen habitat with reptile carpet as a substrate. His basking temperatures range from 96 - 102 degress, (taken via temperature gun) and the temperatures on the cool side range from 77-80. He has a Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0 T5 flourescent tube with a reflector for UVB.

I have noticed a few loose scales on his belly which seem to flake off, but no unusual discoloration or anything like that.

Anyone have thoughts or opinions?
 

Claudiusx

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Can you post a picture of your dragon?

Are you sure he is a male?

Not eating for two weeks, has he actually lost any weight?

No reason to be using antibiotics if they aren't needed. I hate how so many vets will send owners home with antibiotics just so they can act like they are doing something. Antibiotics when not needed cause more harm than good.

-Brandon
 

cptndunsel

Member
Original Poster
Can you post a picture of your dragon?

Are you sure he is a male?

Not eating for two weeks, has he actually lost any weight?

No reason to be using antibiotics if they aren't needed. I hate how so many vets will send owners home with antibiotics just so they can act like they are doing something. Antibiotics when not needed cause more harm than good.

-Brandon
Here is a picture of him. I sexed him when he was younger so I am 99% sure he is a male. As far as I can tell, he hasn't been losing much weight and the vet even called him a bit fat.
 

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Claudiusx

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From the picture provided he looks of a normal weight. Start weighing him. If he's not losing weight there isn't much of an issue. Sometimes they get hormonal and start glass surfing because there is one thing on their minds, and it's not food.. lol.

If he is acting normal besides that, and nothing in the enclosure has changed, I'd let him ride it out and see what happens. He will eat once he gets hungry enough.

-Brandon
 

cptndunsel

Member
Original Poster
From the picture provided he looks of a normal weight. Start weighing him. If he's not losing weight there isn't much of an issue. Sometimes they get hormonal and start glass surfing because there is one thing on their minds, and it's not food.. lol.

If he is acting normal besides that, and nothing in the enclosure has changed, I'd let him ride it out and see what happens. He will eat once he gets hungry enough.

-Brandon
Thank you for the reply. I will admit that I tend to get paranoid when my animals start acting weird, so this could simply be a case of my imagination getting the better of me. Still, it would help my peace of mind if he just ate something.
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I get it, but realistically, a healthy dragon can go weeks without eating anything. As long as he isn't loosing large amounts of weight, he is okay. He won't let himself starve to death if he is otherwise healthy.

-Brandon
 

mango_the_beardie

Hatchling Member
Beardie name(s)
Mango
I have a 1+ year old male bearded dragon who has not been eating for the last 2 weeks. I have tried everything from changing his lighting to coaxing him with meal worms, but he simply refuses to eat. The good news is that he still seems active and alert, though he also has a problem with glass surfing. I took him to an exotic animal vet, which took his blood as well as an xray. The bloodwork showed that he seemed to have a slightly high white blood cell count which could imply an infection, but the vet did not seem so sure. Xray showed nothing irregular. I have been giving him his prescribed antibiotics for a few days now, and I have seen zero change in his condition (and frankly I worry about the stress that giving him the medicine might be causing him) so I am wondering if I should seek a second opinion.

He has a 120 gallon wood panel enclosure by zen habitat with reptile carpet as a substrate. His basking temperatures range from 96 - 102 degress, (taken via temperature gun) and the temperatures on the cool side range from 77-80. He has a Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0 T5 flourescent tube with a reflector for UVB.

I have noticed a few loose scales on his belly which seem to flake off, but no unusual discoloration or anything like that.

Anyone have thoughts or opinions?
ok ok ok ok so i actually feel really useful in this situation because I previously went through this same thing but we didn't get her blood drawn anyways after a while everything went back to normal it was weird but I think your problem might be the mealworms because they are TERRIBLE as a staple so try using crickets or dubia roches for a staple and you could also switch off with super worms and waxworms as a treat like every other day but I have a few questions how long is the uvb light? and can you send pictures of the enclosure, lighting and the baby as well? please and thank you
 

cptndunsel

Member
Original Poster
ok ok ok ok so i actually feel really useful in this situation because I previously went through this same thing but we didn't get her blood drawn anyways after a while everything went back to normal it was weird but I think your problem might be the mealworms because they are TERRIBLE as a staple so try using crickets or dubia roches for a staple and you could also switch off with super worms and waxworms as a treat like every other day but I have a few questions how long is the uvb light? and can you send pictures of
I just want to clarify real quick that I do not feed mealworms as a staple. Just a treat. In this case, I was only offering them because I wanted him to eat -something-. Normally I feed crickets as a staple for protein, and then I give him collard greens and kale for veggies. Sometimes he gets bok choy to mix things up. He gets mealworms and fruit as occasional treats.

His terrarium is a bit barren at the moment. He used to have a large tree to climb, but I removed it because I thought that maybe it brought him too close to his uvb. Just wanted to try and rule that out as the cause for his behavior. His UVB strip is 34".
 

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mango_the_beardie

Hatchling Member
Beardie name(s)
Mango
I just want to clarify real quick that I do not feed mealworms as a staple. Just a treat. In this case, I was only offering them because I wanted him to eat -something-. Normally I feed crickets as a staple for protein, and then I give him collard greens and kale for veggies. Sometimes he gets bok choy to mix things up. He gets mealworms and fruit as occasional treats.

His terrarium is a bit barren at the moment. He used to have a large tree to climb, but I removed it because I thought that maybe it brought him too close to his uvb. Just wanted to try and rule that out as the cause for his behavior. His UVB strip is 34".
I would say try getting something taller so her can reach the heat and uvb bc that's what they need to grow and digest food and if he starts eating after 1-2 days after doing that then he most likely knew he could digest food and it probably caused pain for him
 
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