Baby suddenly inactive?

[chickenhound]

My Porkchop is about 6 months old (so the pet store where I bought him says). He's usually a pretty active guy--hangs out on his basking spot, hops down every once in a while, sometimes just to walk over to where I put his food and wonder why it isn't dinner time yet. I like to take him out for an hour or so a day and let him run around while supervised, and trying to just cuddle can be a struggle since he always wants to get out of my hands and jump off of something.

I have his lights on from 7am - 8pm. Usually when it's lights out, he'll stay in his basking spot a while to soak up the last of the warmth, and then either climb into his hammock or on a branch of a fake tree-thing to sleep. On Tuesday night, he climbed up onto his tree branch at about 7pm. I didn't think much of it--maybe he was especially tired? He'd been VERY curious that day when I let him out, so maybe he'd worn himself out.

I work from 8am - 5pm, and when I came home on Wednesday, he was already laying on that branch, not basking at all. Now I was worried! He still ate when I put food out, and he'd had his daily poo, but I wasn't sure why he was being so inactive.

On Thursday, same thing - I came home and he was laying on the branch. I pulled everything out of his tank so I could put down the non-adhesive vinyl tile I got from Home Depot, and let him out to wander while I fixed everything back up. He wandered around a bit, but eventually went back to his branch, which when was sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room.

I've only had him since January 13th, but from what I've observed this behavior is unusual for Porkchop. He still eats and poops regularly, so I don't think he's sick or blocked up. He's just being extraordinarly lazy all of a sudden, and for someone that's been SO rambuctious, I'm worried something else might be up. I've made a vet appointment (not just because of this, but as a new pet checkup, especially since I got him from a pet store). Is it normal for a beardie about 6months to suddenly not be his usual self, but everything else seems fine?

Just in case someone asks, he's in a 40gal breeder, Reptisun 10.0 24" mounted inside tank, 75W basking light, now has non-adhesive vinyl tile for flooring. He had a 60w CHE that I ran at night, but I dropped it. I don't think the extra heat at night is the problem because I hadn't had the CHE for that long and he'd been just as rowdy before I got it.

I know I'm probably overworrying (I burst into tears when he jumped off the couch once!) but I just want to make sure my little guy is okay.

 

[Luthien]

Can you tell me what the temps are in his tank?

It was good that you dropped the "night light" Beardies don't need this unless your tank drops below 60F at night.

Careful with letting him out to run everyday, he's still pretty young and small. Try every second to third day instead, less risk of stressing your little guy.

The temps will tell me a lot so I can maybe help more.

 

[chickenhound]

Well, my boyfriend likes it cold at night so the temps do drop a bit in his tank. I've heard to use the CHE if it gets below 65 at night and it definitely does. Not under 60, ut definitely low 60s.

Right now, its 10am and the house heat is off, and his lights have been on since 7am. His basking spot is 106.9 but can get up to 110. The cool side is 77.4 even with the 60w CHE on to to.boost the temp. It does get warmer there when the heat is on though.

At the moment he's hanging out in the tree on the cool side, not basking. His head is up and he's alert, but he'll usually hop down and scamper around his cage a bit more often than this.

When I took him out yesterday he just seemed to want to hide under the coffee table, so maybe he is getting overwhelmed? That was really bizarre because he's definitely an explorer when he's let out. He's downright fearless about trying to get where he wants. He even shied away from me a little when I tried to rub his head, even though I showed him my hand and moved slowly. Its like he's totally different from how he was a week ago. I want to give him a hath today, but otherwise I'll.leave him be in his tank for a few days like you suggested. He's got to come out for a vet appointment on Tuesday so hopefully that wont set things back.

And the basking temp has moved up to 107.4 since I've been sitting here, heat's still off. And he also just laid his head down and shut his eyes. I don't get it. =[

 

[Luthien]

Your temps are fine then, I would defiantly get rid of the Che though as they do make a noise that humans can't hear and beardies can, it might be upsetting him. Don't worry if the temp drops in the low 60's their meant to stand temps in the middle-high 50's in the wild at night. If your worried about it though there are lights you can get that are made purposefully for night time use (not too bright but give off heat), those are better then the Che.

Sounds like your little one might be going to shed soon if he's starting to pull away from your hand. Beardies can act strange during this time. Some will get temperamental, others will go off food and water, some won't move, some just get sore and don't want to be touched. Check your beardie over for dull grey spots on his body or lifting scales.

As for taking him to the vet just stay calm yourself, if it's cold there make sure to put a hot water bottle in the carrier with him to keep him warm and he should be fine.

 

[chickenhound]

Okay, I'll get rid of the CHE. Without though the cool side temps are a little too low. Would a regular low watt household bulb help with that?

He actually just recently had a full shed. I'd say his weird behavior started afterwards. During the shed he was fine with me--I even bathed him a little more often during it.

 

[Luthien]

Yes a low watt should help but it might be too bright for your beardie to sleep. The night lights you can get are in either red's or blue's so it's not so harsh.

If he recently had a full shed he might be recovering from that still. I would take him to the vet and see what he thinks is wrong, he might have a parasite that isn't bad enough to harm him but is just making him feel bad

 

[chickenhound]

Actually, I think it might have been his shed after all! His legs and tail are very white and ready to shed, so he's probably just been cranky from that all this time. Hopefully after this part he will really have had a full shed and will be back to his old self.

He also had a very very runny poo today, but that may just be because I've been putting his Reptiworms in his salad dish so he's actually been eating all that squash I've been putting out for him. He's also basking more than he has been too, rather than hanging out on the tree branch. I think he might be okay, just new excessive new mom jitters. :]

 

[Luthien]

Yes the runny poo will be from the squash. Try cutting back a bit from that.

Sounds like your baby is doing just fine and will be back to normal after shedding. No worries mommy!