Barely eating and not basking

[Bucks121]

so the past month now my beardie who is around 7 months old i think and about 14inches went on a semi food strike and started hiding a lot

i got her when she was about 2-3 weeks old from a local petstore she ate mainly crickets until about 4 or 5 months i got her eating greens collard mostly some kale maybe a couple days if the store didnt have collard

she has been getting calcium 5 days a week and vitamin 2 days a week since i got her that was placed on her crickets

ive been using the reptisun 10.0 uvb tube 22" one along with just a regular flood light blub for heat

temps are around 100-105F on basking and around 75-85F in cool side measuring using a probe also a temp gun both show the same temps

she gets a baths every few days

never had a problem pooping usually everyday sometimes 2 times if she got a bath that day

basically one just she just wouldnt come out of her hut we just left her for that day but then she kept doing it and i thought it was weird for her not to eat sometimes she would eat a bunch oneday then ignore crickets the next but usually she always ate a few

for about a month she has not touched greens at all and has barely ate crickets when she does eat she might eat from 5-10 a few rare times she ate 15-20 but no greens

usually she was eating anywhere from 30-40 a day plus greens

now everyday we take her hut out so shes forced to come out for a while because im scared she wouldnt be getting any uvb we place her on her basking she willsit for a bit then go find a a shaded area under her log or something i started to think it may be too warm so i turned the temp down by placing a lower wattage bulb but she still was hiding

so i figured well the uvb is 5 months old and suppose to change it every 6 so i ordered a new one its not here yet though could her uvb be getting old and bugging her somehow?

i shut it off yesterday and still off today to see if she reacts but shes still hiding i got no idea what to do do u think she could be in brumation this young and at this time of the year?

 

[jacody]

I wouldn't blame brumation, mine has been out for more than 2 months, almost 3 and I live in NH where we have 4 very different seasons. Have you ever taken a fecal in to the vet to be tested? Usually costs around $20- and some may do one w/o seeing the animal, if they find anything they'll have to see him/her before they prescribe/administer any meds. Has your beardies color been different lately, any blackening of the beard at all? Has the bathroom schedule changed (I can't recall if you said so or not, sorry)..?? Have you tried removing the hide to see if it'll bask or just lay on the bottom of the enclosure?? Where does it spend the majority of the day, cool or hot side??

 

[CooperDragon]

Has she lost any weight during this time?

 

[Bucks121]

well sometimes she wont eat for a day or so at all so there will be a small poop or none at all the next day she hasn't been to a vet im not sure if they even look at reptiles

she lays in the hut which is on the cool side i take the hut out everyday now and place her on her basking log she stays for a while then moves to a shaded area which the only shaded areas are on the basking side and she just lays around there

her color is still normal doesnt seem to get black at all unless shes cold and trying to warm up

when we take her out of her cage she acts normal sits on us for a bit then starts to wander around

its hard to tell if she lost weight she sure doesnt look like shes got a big belly as when she eats 40 crickets she blows up but im pretty sure she did grow an inch or close to it since it started acting weird

 

[jacody]

Hmm. trying to think of other things to try. Has your home temp. increased over the last few weeks, when was the last time you checked temps? Does your pet bask at ALL on its' own and how often? Have you tried a different feeder than crix? Maybe Phx. or reptiworms? Mine gets like that with eating when she's tired of same old same old.. as for the hiding and not basking the only thing I can think of is the temps... is there anyway you can take an accurate reading if where it likes to lay and adjust the basking site to that temp? 7 mo. is still pretty young, but at that age mine definitively didn't like the same temps as they did when they were babies.. call around and see if you have a herp vet around you.. if not there is beardeddragon.co that sells at home fecal floats that you do at home and send in to be tested, limits costs for a full vet visit/exam and your pet doesn't have to travel which they do not like. Is the poop fully formed or runny??

 

[Bucks121]

Hmm. trying to think of other things to try. Has your home temp. increased over the last few weeks, when was the last time you checked temps? Does your pet bask at ALL on its' own and how often? Have you tried a different feeder than crix? Maybe Phx. or reptiworms? Mine gets like that with eating when she's tired of same old same old.. as for the hiding and not basking the only thing I can think of is the temps... is there anyway you can take an accurate reading if where it likes to lay and adjust the basking site to that temp? 7 mo. is still pretty young, but at that age mine definitively didn't like the same temps as they did when they were babies.. call around and see if you have a herp vet around you.. if not there is beardeddragon.co that sells at home fecal floats that you do at home and send in to be tested, limits costs for a full vet visit/exam and your pet doesn't have to travel which they do not like. Is the poop fully formed or runny??

our home temp is probably the same we dont have heat on now but its around the same temp i checked the temps today basking was 104F and cool was 81F
i tried her with very small superworms instead of crickets and she did eat them im just worried about bigger ones as she is only 14 inches and should be around 16 to eat those fine our local petstore doesnt get much in just mealworms supers hornworms crickets nothing else usually she hasnt been basking on her own lately just when i place her on the log and she doesnt stay very long i can try and fool around the the temps a little i was actually getting ready to build her a new enclosure

 

[CooperDragon]

The temps are in the right range. Have you tried Phoenix worms? Those are a good staple to use if she gets sick of crickets. A fecal check isn't a bad idea if you can, at least to rule parasites out as an issue.

 

[Bucks121]

where shes laying right now is 93F and the basking spot is 103F im gonna try to see if i can upload some pictures

 

[CooperDragon]

93 isn't too bad. It's not quite warm enough for digestion, but they will often sit in low to mid 90s areas for a while.

 

[Bucks121]

93 isn't too bad. It's not quite warm enough for digestion, but they will often sit in low to mid 90s areas for a while.

i know i have seen her do it before however this is an all the time thing now