Bearded dragon dry/dehydrated? Won't eat vegetables

[4b4the22]

So my beardie reached about a year old in August. Around that time he was eating just fine. I was feeding him kinda 50/50 bugs and veggies. I was feeding him dusted gut fed crickets with the occaisional treat of a worm. As for vegetables I was giving a mix of collard, some of a "spring greens" salad mix from the grocery store, and usually a fruit or a vegetable (whatever I had in my fridge but usually raspberry, blueberry or squash)

Anyway all of a sudden towards the end of August he just stopped eating the collard, like if I brought the leaf near his face he would close his eyes and turn his nose up at me. He would eat every other part of his salad but then the second he tasted collard he'd stop eating the salad.

Later in September he stopped eating the rest of the salad as well and was eating only half the crickets I gave him. He also started getting less active, sometimes not leaving his rock.

This was also around the time I noticed he had a lot of dry scales around his mouth that were pale and dusty

I took him to the vet and they did a bunch of tests, took some xrays and couldn't find much wrong; he wasn't underweight and he wasn't visibly sick. The vet did find that his throats was swollen, she said it was likely due to it being dry. She also suggested I try feeding him only every second day as maybe he was less hungry now that he is an adult

I gave him prescribed anti-inflammatory for his throat, stepped up his baths from once to twice a week, hoping to stop the dehydration.

The thing is, he still won't eat any vegetables no matter what I give him. He's still very dry as well and the dry skin around his mouth has worsened. I know it's dry out this time of year (it's freezing cold outside so we're running all the heaters) and I've started keeping my bedroom humidifier closer to his tank.

He's never been one to drink water, I've kept a water dish filled in his tank since I first got him and I've never seen him drink from it. It didn't used to worry me cuz I figured he was getting hydration from his salad but now he's still not eating it and I'm stressed about it.

Is this normal behaviour? Is there something I should do to keep him hydrated? I have small veterinary syringes I can use to try and force feed him water but I would prefer not to. I can't afford another trip to the vet at this time but if this seems like a bad sign to anyone I will try.

Any help would be appreciated

EDIT
I also want to add that it doesn't look like mouth rot. His mouth itself is not swollen or red, in fact it looks pretty normal. there's no excess mucus or weird discharge from his mouth either and when he eats bugs he doesn't look to be in pain. The only thing is the really dry scales around his lips and on his snout (dryness goes about as high up as halfway past his eyes).

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, the swollen throat would not be from what the vet said,but there are a few things it could be : from a slight respiratory infection, something stuck in the beard , vitamin deficiency or excess and some dragons just have a saggier beard. Pics would be very helpful, some of her as well as her tank. here's how to post :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

Beardies do tend to get pickier and also eat less as they get older so that in itself is not a problem.

You can offer oral hydration by dripping with an eyedropper on her snout or with a slow, gentle stream from a spray bottle. Some dragons drink like this right away, others may take 30-60 seconds while you spray, stop, repeat. Some dragons drink this way all their lives, others only if they are very thirsty but almost no dragon will drink from a bowl unless they are standing near it and water is dripped to create movement.

 

[EllenD]

Well I wouldn't not offer him his salad every day, that was not a good suggestion by the vet at all. I'm going to guess that his slowly decreasing appetite has to due with improper UVB light and/or improper temperatures inside his tank, as it usually does. Did the vet go over your tank husbandry with you, and ask you what UVB light you use, how it is mounted, and how old it is? This is typically the main cause for lethargy and decreasing appetite in dragons, so if you can go over what UVB light you have, how old it is, how it is mounted, and what your 3 temperature zones measure at, we can figure out if this is the issue.

Dragons only absorb hydration through their mouths, just like us, not through their vents or their skin by soaking in water. So if he actively drinks the bath water through his mouth then that's great, keep doing the baths, but if he doesn't actively drink the bath water through his mouth, then the baths are not helping him at all with hydration, and are unnecessary. As AHBD already mentioned, the best way to get added hydration into your dragon is to drip either water or Pedialyte onto his snout and over his lips, using an eyedropper or an oral syringe, and see if he'll lick it off, and if so, then continue to drip it until he stops licking it off. Do this several times throughout the day, and this will certainly keep him hydrated until you get the husbandry issues that are causing his lethargy and his lack of appetite straightened out and he starts eating again.

 

[4b4the22]

Well I wouldn't not offer him his salad every day, that was not a good suggestion by the vet at all. I'm going to guess that his slowly decreasing appetite has to due with improper UVB light and/or improper temperatures inside his tank, as it usually does. Did the vet go over your tank husbandry with you, and ask you what UVB light you use, how it is mounted, and how old it is? This is typically the main cause for lethargy and decreasing appetite in dragons, so if you can go over what UVB light you have, how old it is, how it is mounted, and what your 3 temperature zones measure at, we can figure out if this is the issue.

Dragons only absorb hydration through their mouths, just like us, not through their vents or their skin by soaking in water. So if he actively drinks the bath water through his mouth then that's great, keep doing the baths, but if he doesn't actively drink the bath water through his mouth, then the baths are not helping him at all with hydration, and are unnecessary. As AHBD already mentioned, the best way to get added hydration into your dragon is to drip either water or Pedialyte onto his snout and over his lips, using an eyedropper or an oral syringe, and see if he'll lick it off, and if so, then continue to drip it until he stops licking it off. Do this several times throughout the day, and this will certainly keep him hydrated until you get the husbandry issues that are causing his lethargy and his lack of appetite straightened out and he starts eating again.

sorry it took me so long to get back to this. I haven't been offering him salad every day, the breeder I got him from told me to do that but the vet didn't seem to think it was necessary.

As for the tank habitat, I don't have a pic (I'm on mobile) but I had done my research before buying him and I had gone over all the lighting and whatnot with the vet. The tank is a little over 50 gallons, I'm using a reptisun UVB light. I replaced it recently (end of August). His heat is a 100w ceramic heat emmiter that keeps his tank at a good rang (33c in the basking spot rn, 26c in the cool end). Since it's winter and my house is cooling off I will likely be switching to a 150w emmiter for the season.

The vet didn't know what to do about the dryness and lack of appetite primarily because otherwise he's very healthy. Saliva is normal, weight is normal. Ran exrays and found nothing blocked in his stomach and nothing wrong with his lungs.

Regardless I'll try the eye dropper thing. Hopefully that will stimulate drinking.

I'm sorry I don't have pics I'm having trouble getting this to work on mobile but I'll see if I can get some up today