8 month old with small appetite

[amyemiline]

Hello

My Dragon is 8 months old, and about 2 months ago his appetite started decreasing slowly to the point where he wasnt interested in crickets at all.
was big on horn worms and butter worms though.
We took him to the vet got him checked out and a fecal done, other than a common parasite the vet said he looked healthy and the appetite could be him just waiting for worms.
We treated him for the parasites, also gave him benebac and soy yogurt after treatment to help the good baceteria.
His appetite stayed the same, still no interest in crickets, maybe a few every other day he would eat, but will eat hornworms no problem.

Now it's been about 3 weeks since the treatment and still not eating crickets or squash, and will maybe eat one hornworm a day but doesnt seem as interested in them as he was before.

I have seen him go into his cave and heard him scratch around a bit, but my vet told me to take him out and put him in his basking spot when i see him trying to avoid basking.

Could his appetite be related to burmation? He is only 8 months and I thought they didn't burmate untill after a year old.

Also any suggestions on how to get him back on the crickets and salad, I worry this lack of appetite he is not getting his daily calcium and vitamins. I do have bee pollen I have been giving him as well.

also temps are 80 on the cool side 100-107 on basking side.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Amy....some dragons do get picky and can prefer certain bugs over others. How big is he ? Can you post pics of him + his set up ? Use this info, then press the XIMG button
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/

 

[amyemiline]

He is about 18 inches long and 386 grams hes gained weight since his vet visit a month ago. He was 360 grams when he had his visit.

He is in a 40 gallon tiled breeder tank with a 100 watt power sun mvb 14 inches above his basking spot and a reptisun t5 10.0 above his tank 11 inches above his hammock.

I sent photos of his setup to Tracie the moderator on here when i got his reptisun and she said the set up I had was perfect and that she thinks he will do verry well with everything the way it is.


I think you maybe be right about the pickyness because I feel like it was lack of appetite he wouldnt eat anything at all. And he still has a verry healthy appetite for butter worms.

I was just surprised to see him not as excited about his hornworms anymore because that was his go to when he went off thw crickets.

If you do think it is pickiness do yoy have any suggestions on how to get him back on crickets and salad.

Ive tried worms in his salad and he just picks them out. Ive sprinkled bee pollen on his salad and crickets and he doesnt care about that either.

Do you think he is also to young to be trying to burmate because like i said ive heard him in his cave a few time scratching. I mean its not everyday but i have heard it.

 

[AHBD]

So he is a big boy....yes, they will get picky but you just have to switch bugs every now + then when they get stubborn. You can hold off on insects for 4-5 days + then put a nice salad in with turnip, mustard, collard, dandelion, arugula , squash . Most dragons eventually go for it. As for brumation, most dragons don't do a true brumation in the spring but may do a semi inactive state.

And are you 100% sure it's a boy ? If it were a female she may be carrying eggs....just a slight possibility. Here's how to sex him if you're not positive :
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=209431

 

[amyemiline]

Ok well I will keep rotating with the bugs. He gets offerd a variety of bugs daily. I usually always have hornworms and crickets at home with a rotation of butter worms and pheonix worms depending what I pick up that week.

And yeah he used to love squash but now nothing and ive tried collard greens, mango papaya blue berries strawberries and raspberries which he also used to love.

I talked to Tracie a bit about his eating and she said that he may just he may just be changing his appetite which she said some tend to do at this age.
I just wanted to see if anyone else had as picky of a dragon as i did and maybe get some strategies lol

I mean i guess as long as he isnt loosing weight i shouldnt worry too much. It's just so hard not too lol.

Maybe I will try holding off on the bugs for a few days and just give him big salads of different things and see if that helps encouarge his appetite.

And as far as I knoe I'm pretty sure hes a boy. I did the flashlight on his tail and he has 2 verry clear oval shaped bumps on each side of the base of his tail. Females just have one from my understanding?

 

[amyemiline]

In also have carnivore care suppliment buy from what I understand that is for dragons who are not eating anything at all so I havent been giving him that.

You said inactive state? What does that mean, and is it fairly common?

 

[AHBD]

O.K, if you've seen the hemipenes with the flashlight then that rules out possibility of he being a she. And no, don't bother with Carnivore Care as long as he's eating.....I mean it wouldn't really hurt, but you want to give him every chance to regain a good appetite on his own. And by inactive or semi brumation , they kind of lay around, don't each much + may alternate between hiding/sleeping for a few days, then coming out to bask + maybe eat a bite of something + do like that for a few weeks.

 

[amyemiline]

That sounds exactly like what hes doing rigjh now. Hes pretty much laying in his hammock all day and will bask a bit here and there but not much. And yes goes into his cave every other day but like I said i take him out of the cave after hes been innfor a bit because the vet said he doesnt need to be doing that right now.

He is still quite active he will run around his tank and when we take him out he runs around and explores.

Im going to go to the store right now and pick up some more greens to go with his squash and berries and hold off on the crickets for a few days see if that helps.

Thank you so much for the helpful advice

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome.

 

[Varalidaine]

I will say it could be he would hold out on food knowing that you would eventually give him Butterworms. They are definitely dragon candy and I wouldn't feed more often than once a week. You have to think of him like a little kid who doesn't want his veggies. Of course he'll eat candy when you offer it, and if he learns that every time he says no to good food, he gets candy, then it becomes a learned habit. Try instead giving him one Butterworm after he eats a few crickets, kind of like a reward for eating crickets. And slowly increase the amount of crickets he has to eat before getting a Butterworm. Could help him look forward to eating if he knows he'll get a treat or two afterwards!

 

[amyemiline]

Yeah I try not to give him them everyday. It's just usually on the days he wont eat anything I will give him a couple butterworms at the end of the day tossed in calcium and vitamins just to get some into him.

He is so stubborn he wont eat anything all day cause yes you're right by the end of the day I feel bad he hasnt eaten and usually give him a couple hornworms but he has kind of been not as interested in those now as he used to be so I would give him the butterworms.

I have run out of butterworms though so he is out of luck for now! Lol

He ate one hornworm today but still no crickets

I just picked up some more squash and my Mom works at a green house so shes going to bring home some turnip greens and some other greens tomorrow and I will try holding off on any bugs for a few days to hopefully encourage him to eat some salad and then hopefully back on the crickets

 

[Varalidaine]

That's great he gets fresh veggies and greens! I would still offer bugs every day, just not the treat ones Let him now he has crickets available and within a few days he should go for 'em He seems huge though and as long as he doesn't drop weight, I wouldn't worry.

 

[amyemiline]

Yes I always have a variety of veggies for him in his
Tank

Lol huge! Is that bad?
Vet said he was healthy so I hope his size isnt an issue. He is verry well cared for so I hope his big size is just a result of what a healthy dragon should be.

Yeah I did offer bugs today. He ate a hornworm I also gave him a bit of benebac to see if that helps.

No more butterworms for a while!

 

[amyemiline]

I finally figured out how to upload the images
Here are a few pictures of him so you can see his size as well.

 

[AHBD]

Good looking boy. He is a nice size, but creeping toward chubbiness. Sometimes the horn+ butterworms pack on a bit more fat and the dragon is well fed enough that they will hold out for the desired worms. You can hold off on worms and offer salad for a while and just offer crix every few days rather than the worms. You want to catch his bad eating habits before they get him overweight and spoiled, of course he is still your sweet boy.