6 month old hiding in cave, sleeping a lot and eating less

[Lilliy12]

Help! My bearded dragon was doing great and gaining well. He is 16.5” and 259 grams. He got off to a rough start with syringe feeding. He has never liked greens, and doesn’t eat them often. He eats dubia roaches that I feed organic shredded carrots to. Is that a problem? Also, I realized the calcium I was dusting with were both D3, and I thought that one wasn’t. I switched to a no D3 and his urate go hard like chalk. I then switched back to some D3. I quit dusting for a few days. Urate is still rather hard. He has started spending most of his time in his cave, and goes to sleep really early. I live in Michigan, and the room has gotten colder and it is dark early, but he will go in his cave by 2:30. I have to take him out of his cave in the morning to feed, and he will eat 10-20 dubia roaches about 5/8”. He used to eat up to 40 twice a day. He won’t eat again that day. He has an open tank with a reptisun T5 across the tank. He has a 150 watt basking bulb. His cool side is around 77-80 depending on the time of day, and I have a ceramic heat lamp with a thermostat so it won’t go below 70 at night. He never goes to the cool side. The warm side has a probe temp showing 90-94 just above his basking spot.a temp gun shows the top of his cave where he basks to be 101-104. His lights turn on at 7:30am and off at 7:30am. I left them the same 12 hours since I got him in July. I take him out of his cave to eat at 10am, and he runs around a bit and eats on average 20 roaches. I put him back on his rock to bask, and he usually stays for a couple of hours, and then goes back in the cave. I take him out again later, but he won’t eat. I have started giving him three small super worms to supplement his lack of eating. I am not near any vets, so getting a fecal would be hard. He was constantly growing and eating a ton and then it just stopped. He hasn’t shed in three weeks now. He turned six months on Dec 6th. I am worried! Please give advice!!

 

[CooperDragon]

The routine you have and your setup all sound quite good. Looking at the photos of him, he looks healthy to me. Do keep track of his weight and chart it out so you can see how it is trending. If it is fairly stable then he is probably fine. Steadily decreasing weight may indicate an underlying issue. While 6 months old is a bit young for brumation, he may be going through a slower phase in which his growth is stalled a bit. They usually eat less during those periods. It sounds like he is fairly alert and active when you take him out, correct? My initial thought is that he is OK but keep an eye on his weight.

With the T5 UVB he should be able to synthesize D3 on his own, so I'd stick with a low or no D3 calcium supplement. That light looks about 12'' from the basking spot which should be just about right (I have the same enclosure and a similar uvb bulb). Repashy Calcium Plus loD is a nice all in one option with some vitamins. Their Supercal NoD is also good. As far as the hard urate goes, he may just be a bit dehydrated, especially if he isn't eating much. Try dripping some water on his nose using a dropper or plastic syringe and see if he licks it up. If he is thirsty he is likely to take some water that way.

 

[Lilliy12]

Thanks for such a quick answer! I am weighing him. He hasn’t pooped yet today so his is up a litttle at 264, so I am keeping 259 as my number to watch over time. He dropped below after a poop, but then went back up. He runs around a bit when out, but eventually moves over to his rock outside the cage as it has a heater blowing on it. He loves to sit there! He is just spending so much time in his cave! He even has started digging under the paper towel to sleep. He does seem to wake up in the morning, but doesn’t move to his basking spot. He used to go sit in the branch to soak up UVB rays, but hasn’t gone there at all lately. I think he is too big for his log now. The UVB where he basks seems about 3-3.5 with a Ferguson zone meter. He can go back in his cave by 2:30 and be down for the night! I will keep an eye on him! Are the carrots ok to feed the dubia? I read it may be too much vitamin A for him. He usually has extra water with his poops, even when the urate was hard. He has been getting a bath every other day now, but he still hates them. I try and leave him in for 15 minutes. He never wants to drink water when dripped on his nose. I never knew how much I would worry about this guy! Here is a pic of him on his rock enjoying the heat, and ignoring his salad, except for one quick bite!

 

[CooperDragon]

The carrots are OK when mixed in with a salad once in a while. I offer them occasionally when I have some on hand. It's good to offer as much variety as you can, always having a dark green like collards or turnip greens or kale etc on offer along with something like squash or bell pepper or green beans (among others). I like to reference this list for ideas http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html and go with what looks fresh at the store. My guy loves squash so I tend to have that on hand every day. Once you find favorites you can keep them in regular rotation like that.

As for weight, don't focus so much on the number, but more on the trend. Their weight can fluctuate quite a bit day to day depending on their appetite or poop schedule. The quick fluctuations aren't usually a big deal. I've found it helpful to create a chart in google docs (or excel or whichever you prefer) that has weight and date. Then I create a graph to plot out the weight measurements over time and then enter a trendline. I watch the trendline to make sure that is fairly flat or increasing over the course of the year.

 

[Lilliy12]

Thanks! I am feeding the roaches organic shredded carrots, as Beardie doesn’t eat much salad at all, even though I have it in his cage all day. He is wanting to sleep a ton. He seems fine and explores when we get him out of the cage, but didn’t eat much today. We tried organic baby food sweet potato from a syringe, and he seemed to enjoy that! I will keep track of his weight and chart it- thanks for the idea!