18 month old hiding all day

[Cuttlefishh]

Hi there; posting here because my anxiety is kicking in a bit and i need some interim advice; i have a vet visit booked Tuesday morning

My girl Charlie is 18 months old, and over the last few days shes been hiding all day and not wanting to be out or bask. When i wake her in the morning she will spend maybe 10-15 minutes out warming up then she will crawl back into her hide. She's been doing this on and off last few weeks where she has some days where she will be out more than others, but consistently last 2-3 days shes been just hiding nonstop.

heres some more info about charlies usual care:
salads: daily consisting of rocket, kale, bok choy (any mix of the three), sometimes carrot on the top, bee pollen - cant seem to get her to eat much salad though....
insects: BSFL 2-3 days a week sprinkled in the salads, super worms 1-2x per week (6-7 worms dusted with vitamins)
shes been off roaches since she was 1y old and never liked crickets from day one

shes 17 inches long and weighs 400g
i let her free roam the lounge area for exercise a couple times a week when shes alert

tank setup:
-4x2x2 wood enclosure
-t5 reptisun 10 w/reflector fixed inside the tank approx 14-16inches away from her areas of lounging
-deep heat projector with thermostat to set ambient warm side temps >90 degrees; with the hot spot being roughly around 100
-cool side between 78-80

i was using halogen flood light 60w during the winter in the day, but now that its becoming spring in australia its warming up out and this tends to overheat the warm side, so i had to swap to using the heat projector for the bask and led light for visual effect next to it, there are three fittings total in my setup (two ceramic next to eachother and one for the t5 tube)


some other notes about charlies behaviour:
-she will still eat the super worms (treat worms) when given- she ate 8 this morning with dusting
-she turns her nose completely up at salad and BSFL which she otherwise normally takes a dig at occasionally (shes not big on overeating and previously weighed around 375g at 16.5inches)
-ive tried to cut down super worms to once a week, as the 400g weight worries me; i have cut back significantly on bugs for the last three weeks but her weight has not budged at all- she still weighs 400g
-shes not very active even when i take her out of the tank now, shes still quite lazy; but this behaviour ive only observed in the last day or so, last weekend and the few days after she was pretty active and wanting to move about
-poops once a week in her bath, seems to be normal shape consistency and no odour; though smaller poops bc eating less now
-still overall she seems a lot lazier these days and it really has me quite worried

if you guys need anything else please let me know, thanks

 

[CooperDragon]

Her setup sounds good. Do keep a log of her weight to make sure it stays around 400g or so for now. If she isn't losing much weight, she's likely just going through a sleepy phase. Not necessarily full on brumation, but if all else looks OK I'd just let her sleep in. Look out for weight loss trends or dark black beard as sign of distress.

 

[Cuttlefishh]

Her setup sounds good. Do keep a log of her weight to make sure it stays around 400g or so for now. If she isn't losing much weight, she's likely just going through a sleepy phase. Not necessarily full on brumation, but if all else looks OK I'd just let her sleep in. Look out for weight loss trends or dark black beard as sign of distress.

thanks for reply; do you think 400g is too heavy for a 17 inch dragon? she has put on some weight (25g) but she also grew 1/2 inch since i weighed her in August so perhaps the 25g comes with that

i would think it may be brumation if it weren't for the season- though we are into spring now. Is it common for dragons to get lazy during season changes like this ? she didn't really brumate in the winter

shes alert if i pick her up, but when shes inside the enclosure/hide she seems very sleepy/lazy- i wish she could just tell me what shes going through

 

[CooperDragon]

400g is a reasonable weight for her size, I think. She is likely to gain a bit more over the next year as her growth completes. Brumation or even short sleepy phases can happen at any time of the year. My dragon will go into brumation in the middle of summer some years. From what I've seen, the season and weather patterns don't appear to affect brumation schedules. I definitely agree that it would be nice if they could just tell us what they need and how they're feeling. It's get a bit easier to pick up on their visual/behavioral cues after a while, but it's not possible to know exactly what's up with them all of the time, even after years of experience.

 

[KarrieRee]

Do any of you lights your using put out UVA? Heat projectors are good for temps but you need a bright white basking light similar to the sun so shes getting UVA as well - spring dragons are usually very active and alert basking etc---------- I would cut the super worms out -- they are very fattening -- I do not think LED's put out UVA -- I would swap that out for a good white bright basking bulb and shut your heat projector off - just use the basking bulb and see what her behavior does then -- its going to be trial and error w/ her behavior trying to figure out the cause for the hiding --

 

[Cuttlefishh]

Its good to know they can go into sleepy periods unprovoked; the vet wasnt worried when she was 375g at 16.5inches so im glad to know 400g isnt too off the mark for 17, she doesn't particularly look obese but again i would like to wean her off the supers and get her onto more salads; i think the bsfl are ok otherwise though i wish she would open up to other insects (shes so stubborn :roll: )



Yeah i am currently trying to wean her off the supers; at the moment she only gets once a week though i gave her 8 instead of her usual 5-7 today because she just hadn't eaten anything else this week.. its my weakness for giving in the little bugger honestly though ive had a beardie with fatty liver before and im not willing to go down that path again so i think i will stop them completely after today

I'm not sure if LED does give out UVA but i know the reptisun t5 gives 30%; but i went ahead and switched back to the 60w halogen light- maybe ill drop by bunnings and pick up a lower watt; the problem is that it gets very hot where i live in Australia and the tank on the warm side ambient generally can climb to over 40 (100f) if im not careful- though this is not a risk at the moment as its only spring. I did read somewhere though that the led lights can be too bright visually and make them want to hide so i did away with it today and put the halogen back for now; ill see how this goes

the deep heat is back on the thermostat and set to very low (75 degrees) so it will shut off automatically so long as the temp is around 75 or higher

 

[KarrieRee]

The UVB is giving off your UVB rays the bright white halogen is giving off heat/ UVA --- that is what you want --- go to a lower wattage bulb for summer but you definitely want the UVA and your bright white bulb is going to give that the heat projector wont nor will the LED I am thinking -- I dont use LED's in my tank only bright white basking bulbs - and then the T 5 for UVB-- try that out and see watch she does --

 

[Cuttlefishh]

She basked for maybe 20 minutes or so this morning and went to hide again; though she doesn't look particularly unhealthy she just seems moody. I think I found out the cause;

1. Her lips are a little puffy and have some faded looking colour around them
2. I have pics of her from Thurs where she basked much more and was puffing out her beard
3. She's got patch lines all over her abdomen, vent, tail undersides
4. Her skin feels a little different

She ate a few blueberries today but otherwise didn't want much to do with anything. She had a long bath, no poop- she normally poops on Saturday but hasn't eaten much this week. I'll bathe her again tomorrow

I think it's pretty likely she's about to go into a big shed. She's definitely overdue She's not had one in ages so this is most likely the reason for hiding- I'm still taking her to check-up with the vet Tues but seeing what I see in her now I think this is the likely culprit aha

 

[Cuttlefishh]

Here she was just two days ago puffing her beard

Here she was this morning on rising, some of the brown scale areas around her mouth can be seen

 

[KarrieRee]

When you take her into the vet DO NOT let them do a enema on her -- take a fecal in w/ you if you can but please NO enemas - she looks really good -
viewtopic.php?f=45&t=252267

 

[Cuttlefishh]

Yes I gave her another bath today and she pooped a pretty average looking poop; I collected it to bring in. Good to know about the enemas I'll make sure to always opt out

 

[Cuttlefishh]

Sorry I know it's been over a month since I've posted this. Just thought I'd update to advise that you guys here were correct. I took her to the vet and there wasn't anything really wrong. They even did an ultrasound to be sure. They gave me a food supplement- for her to have once a week. She had it for about two weeks and then... she began eating everything under the sun! Including her veggies ! Now she doesn't hide much at all and seems to happily bask most of the day. I think she was either going through a mini sleepy phase or maybe beardie puberty blues.

Vet agrees this is normal sometimes as long as no weight loss just in case anyone else experiences something like this in the future