8 year old bearded dragon not eating

[Gaby0128]

Hello!
I have an 8 yr old breaded dragon named Zoey, about 4 weeks ago she stopped eating both live feed and her greens. She sleeps most of the day and I have to wake her up and stimulate her. I was able to force feed pedialyte today about 1/2 a tablespoon. And have been hand feeding her about 10 wax worms/meal worms a day. I am also bathing her in 1/2 water 1/2 pedialyte every 3 days. She is not excited to eat like she used to and I am very worried. You can see the bones at the beginning of her tail and her indentations on her head are sunken in. I have no idea what else to do.
Tank temp: 100 Hot side 80 Cool Side
Sex: Female
Length 17 1/2 inches

Lights are Zoo Med might need to be changed after reading some of these forums. If someone could please send me links to the best light options so I can try that too. I am desperately trying to save her… we just moved a couple of months ago and we definitely noticed a change in her after the move.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry your girl is not doing well. She is definitely thin. How much weight
do you think she has lost?
You can usually purchase the Reptisun 10 T5 tube on Amazon.com

Here is a link for the Arcadia D3 14% T5 tube:

Arcadia D3+ HO t5 14% UVB Dragon Lamp 22 inch SALE! 26.99

Arcadia D3+ HO t5 14% UVB Dragon Lamp 22 in

www.lightyourreptiles.com

There are a few different lengths so you can search around more if you need
to on the site.

Remember for the T5 tube bulbs you will need a T5 fluorescent tube bulb fixture
for it to fit in properly.

I noticed you are using a round stick on analogue thermometer? Do you have a
digital probe or temp gun to more accurately measure the temperatures? Which
UVB light are you using currently?
Since you are able to get some food into her, that is good so she can get some
nutrition like that. You can also use some chicken or turkey baby food also, for
some extra food to give her via syringe. You can add in some squash or sweet
potato also for more flavor.
What type of calcium are you giving her?

Let us know how Zoey is doing.

Tracie

 

[hdochow]

oh poor thing! she's definitely not doing well. how long have you had her? the entire 8 years or have you gotten her just recently?

i am curious as to why you are doing the water/pedialyte baths and why so frequently? does your dragon actually drink from the bath water? if not, there is no purpose for them. dragons absorbing water through their skin or vent is a myth. and too frequent bathing can cause skin issues and actually dry their skin out. not to mention added stress if they don't like bathing.

please go over your setup for us. what type of uvb and its location, what type of basking bulb, are any other bulbs in use? what temperatures do you have for hot/middle/cold side and how are you getting those temps? post some photos for us so we can see your enclosure.

i am going to tag @KarrieRee. she is the best when it comes to lights and temps. work with her to get those things on point. she can give you many links for what you will need if you don't already have them. i know it seems like a small thing, but lights and temps really do control the overall health of our little scaly loves so we always start there before moving on to other possible issues.

after that, feeding and supplementation are next important. what types of food and how often are they offered? how often are you giving calcium and vitamin supplements?

i'm sure the move didn't help out either. relocation really gets to them, but this looks like it is a more long term problem than just relocation.

please ask all the questions you need until you are satisfied you are back on track again. there are no bad questions here outside the ones that are never asked. if someone answers and you don't understand what was said, ask for clarification until you do understand. you won't find judgement here, we all love every dragon that crosses our paths and want only the best for them. welcome to the most supportive forum i've ever seen! the help and support here helped me save sir henry of scales when i first rescued him. hopefully we can help have the same outcome for zoey

 

[Gaby0128]

I have had her for the whole 8 years. Honestly the lighting situation is just the set up that comes from Petsmart and she had been fine and healthy until now. I just started doing the baths this week because I read that they can absorb fluids through their vent… which after reading your answers is not true. She does enjoy baths and I caught her drinking water from the bath. But I will cut down since I don’t want her getting a skin condition and make things worse.

She has always been a picky eater, she doesn’t like anything but Butter Lettuce, which she has available daily. I have tried introducing butternut squash, carrots, bell peppers, blueberries, apples, she has never eaten them. I have tried again thinking maybe she was just bored of her food, but she won’t eat it. As far as live food we would do about 20 - 30 crickets a week, but we stopped doing the crickets because she is not eating them at all and they are just dying in her enclosure. On top of that I don’t want live crickets in there that she will not eat as that might stress her further. So we are doing hand fed meal and wax worms. Which is a struggle because I have to beg her to eat them. But she is doing about 10 a day right now. We usually dust her crickets with calcium, so I will buy some to sprinkle on the worms. Is hand feeding through a syringe pedialyte okay? I also read that online… I am giving her 1/2 tablespoon a day or should it be only water?

The temp in her cage is 100-105 degrees on the basking side and 80 degrees on the cooler side. The heat lamp is 75 watts. I’m not sure about the UVB light, but I will be getting her a better light since I have tried everything else. This has been going on for about 4-6 weeks but we thought that maybe she was going into brumation because she is always asleep. But something just didn’t feel right because she was losing weight fast and seemed lethargic and weak. She has perked up a bit with what I have been doing, but not enough for me to feel she is okay. When I put the worms on a plate for her to eat on her own she has a hard time as of she can’t see right or her aim is off when usually it was spot on. She can walk and use her limbs though she only does when she absolutely needs to other than that she is not moving around much. Before she would run to her food and hunt live feed but that is not the case anymore.

I don’t know is she just getting old or am I doing something wrong? We have always done things that way and she has always been happy and healthy.

So far I have:
- better lighting
- calcium supplement

What else can I do? I tried attaching more pictures but it says they are too large… not sure what to do…

 

[Gaby0128]

I just ordered the new UVB light, which gets here on Friday. Thank goodness because after looking at these, mine most definitely sucks… it doesn’t even go across the whole enclosure it is only on the “cool” side…

 

[Gaby0128]

 

[Gaby0128]

There are the pictures I had to crop them so that they would attach… below are pictures of her before the move…

 

[Gaby0128]

She is eating the worms reluctantly so I will keep doing that and add chicken, but I will also buy baby food for the greens and veggies since she refuses to eat those.

 

[KarrieRee]

She is eating the worms reluctantly so I will keep doing that and add chicken, but I will also buy baby food for the greens and veggies since she refuses to eat those.

Did you get the UVB changed out? I can post 2 more links for UVB's if you need them -- she wont eat till she gets the proper UVB -- please let me know I will help you get it placed for your tank - the screen will determine where it needs to go

 

[Gaby0128]

Did you get the UVB changed out? I can post 2 more links for UVB's if you need them -- she wont eat till she gets the proper UVB -- please let me know I will help you get it placed for your tank - the screen will determine where it needs to go

Hi,
The new light comes in on Friday, that is the soonest I could get it from Amazon. Is there something I can do meanwhile?

 

[AHBD]

That is a drastic weight loss. Could there have been anything that happened during the move ? The rapid weight loss reminds me of when they have the gastric tumor that is becoming more common and it just so happened to present like this now.
Hopefully the new uvb bulb will help but all you can do is what you have been doing. If it's sunny where you are you can take her out and sit her on the ground or your lap for 45 minutes every day but this looks like much more than just lack of uvb.

 

[Gaby0128]

That is a drastic weight loss. Could there have been anything that happened during the move ? The rapid weight loss reminds me of when the have the gastric tumor that is becoming more common and it just so happened to present like this now.
Hopefully the new uvb bulb will help but all you can do is what you have been doing. If it's sunny where you are you can take her out and sit her on the ground or your lap for 45 minutes every day but this looks like much more than just lack of uvb.

No not really other than during the move we were remodeling and we were not paying as much attention to her. She was getting fed normal and daily, but I believe she became depressed or something. It was starting to get cold so we thought maybe she was just brumating so we kept checking on her. But I just felt something was wrong, she was eating but not as much and I just attributed it to the move. We have had that crappy UVB light all this time and we weren’t aware we had to change it every 6 months. We would wait until the bulb would go out. She looks a little better today after the electrolytes and the hand feedings yesterday.

 

[AHBD]

Oh that's good to hear ! Hopefully she can recupe because this is a serious weight loss in a short time.

 

[Gaby0128]

Questions:
Can I continue the electrolytes daily 1/2 tablespoon?
Other than chicken (baby food) that o will add today are the wax and meal worms okay? I am getting her to eat about 10 daily.
Is 45 minutes in the sun daily good? I will be doing that until I get the new light on Friday.

Below is a picture of her today. I put her in a kennel to make sure nothing hurts her or she gets out.

 

[KarrieRee]

Questions:
Can I continue the electrolytes daily 1/2 tablespoon?
Other than chicken (baby food) that o will add today are the wax and meal worms okay? I am getting her to eat about 10 daily.
Is 45 minutes in the sun daily good? I will be doing that until I get the new light on Friday.

Below is a picture of her today. I put her in a kennel to make sure nothing hurts her or she gets out.

Yep the 45 minutes is good -- I would keep an eye on her tho -- you need to watch for birds -- Wax worms are fatty and too many can cause liver issues -- I would feed those sparingly -- are you feeding her any greens?