Bearded dragon hasn't eaten for a week.

[AHBD]

I wonder if she was trying to go in to brumation this entire time. Many dragons go in to a slow down phase at the end of summer. Are you in the U.S. ?

When the vet said she had mites, did he point any out to you that you could see ? If she never had mites, I wonder if the vet was correct about the roundworms. It seems that she would have lost weight if she had them and was not eating, but she hasn't lost any weight.

And waxworms are not a good feeder, very high in fat so she's only going to eat so much of t " candy" before she loses interest, at least for a while. Please post sme pics of her, full body shots as well as her set up but mostly of her. Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload

 

[Fin]

Im in the UK, no signs of brumation what so ever and I know the wax worms aren't a good feeder. It was just to entice her appetite, calci worms should arrive on Monday. The reason I'm getting worms is because she has no interest in dubia roaches at all, and we have a whole colony, currently selling.

 

[AHBD]

That's a drag if she won't eat the dubias. You mentioned in an earlier post that she was a bit overweight. Any pictures ? And was bloodwork done to check her liver enzymes ?

 

[Fin]

Shes eaten dubia roaches for a year but randomly stopped and here we are. No bloodwork done, im pretty sure after more research she wasn't overweight at all. Shes now 505g. Will post picture in a hour.

 

[Fin]

 

[Fin]

Haven't eaten anything again for 2 days...

 

[AHBD]

I agree, not overweight at all and a really beautiful dragon at that. But again, getting bloodwork done will at least let you know if anything is wrong that you can't see just looking at her. She does look healthy .....some dragons don't actually brumate but do stop eating for a while.

 

[Fin]

Right... again there would be signs of brumation though right? cold end, sleeping etc. She's pretty much around the heat lamp (not under it directly all the time, temps are all set up properly) all the time however they do lay down most of the time sometimes with her head on the floor, with her eyes open. When I get her out she runs about etc, lively as ever.

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, if it was brumation she would be avoiding her lights and at least trying to sleep a bit, they tend to just stay away from light at the beginning of starting even a partial brumation. Lack of appetite is a symptom of so many things that it becomes a guessing game after a while. She looks extremely healthy and bright, not overweight at all, but actually perfect. She reminds me of my 11 month old girl Izzy, she is built the exact same way and has the same bright orange/corl/red colors. Her beard is gorgeous by the way! I love it when they have those bright red, flaming beards! I've been told several times by either friends or family and once by a colleague that Izzy was "chubby" or "husky", but then I see their own beardies who look like toothpicks with their hip bones sticking out and they have no beards at all, and I know why Izzy looks fat to them, lol. So no worries there.

I agree, I think it's time for blood work...did you ever get a follow-up fecal test done? I don't think that an elevated Coccidia count is doing this, the majority of the time vets medicate for Coccidia when they don't have to do anything at all, and then the meds actually cause a loss of appetite and lethargy, and then those symptoms are blamed on the Coccidia, etc. It's a vicious cycle of confusion. And if she had a high level of most types of worms she would be losing at least a little bit of weight steadily after all this time. So it's frustrating to try to figure this out when her lights and temps are perfect, and she is so big, bright, and healthy looking...

How old is she again? I'm wondering if her lack of appetite without weight loss has to do with hormones or egg follicles forming? Have you noticed her running around her enclosure or digging at the glass at all?

 

[Fin]

Shes 15 months old. Thanks a lot by the way she does occasionally have a run around, straight after go into a corner and sleep, then dig a bit. She's done this for a while though. Weird thing is that I have another bearded dragon, exactly the same age, a bit heavier and is acting identical. When the other one doesn't want food, neither does the other and occasionally the other lizard will eat a tiny bit but not a lot at all. I have also sent off the fecal sample yesterday so should get results back end of this week.

 

[EllenD]

Well 15 months old is definitely in the "puberty zone", lol...is your other beardie also a female, or is it a male? And can they see each other? That could be your answer if so...

 

[Fin]

Female. They can see each other, they've gotten along perfectly well for all their life. Same size as each other and been with each other all their life.

 

[EllenD]

Well then it's not the other dragon, but it may have to do with hormones and possible follicles developing. When that happens it can often complicate other health issues, like if a dragon has an infection, parasites, gout, etc. and then they develop egg follicles it can really throw everything out of whack. Blood work is a must, and possible an x-ray or better yet an ultrasound, as regular, flat x-rays only show already shelled eggs and not follicles.

 

[Fin]

Okay will look to get blood work done now, they've just had quite a lot of calci worms which is good. They seem to have a on and off appetite which is strange, some weeks eaten some weeks now.

 

[EllenD]

Okay will look to get blood work done now, they've just had quite a lot of calci worms which is good. They seem to have a on and off appetite which is strange, some weeks eaten some weeks now.

Both of your dragons are experiencing spotty appetites? I know this isn't new for the dragon we've been discussing this entire time, but is the on-again, off-again appetite a new/sudden development for your other dragon? You said they are both the same age, I wonder if it's either hormone-related, or even possibly weather/temperature related...where do you live? I'm only mentioning the weather/temperature possibility because I am originally from and still live in central Pennsylvania (weirdest weather in the world, trust me), and the temperatures have been up in the mid-60's to the mid-70's and even into the 80's occasionally, up until just this past Monday or Tuesday when suddenly I walked outside in the morning and it was in the 40's. Just the day before it was in the 60's first thing in the morning. And just this morning I ended up having to turn the heat on in my house, as I felt pretty chilly and I know if I'm chilly then both my parrots and my beardies are chilly. In fact right now I'm checking the temperatures in all 3 of my dragon's enclosures. This is the time of year when I usually have to lower my basking lights a bit and bump up their tank temps. It's a pain because right now it's in the low to mid 50's outside, but tomorrow it's likely to be in the 70's and I'll have to turn off the heat in my house and raise their basking lights back up, lol. But the reason I'm mentioning this is because just yesterday when I first realized how chilly it was in my house, my little 5-month old male, Dee Dee, refused to eat for the very first time since I brought him home at 3-4 weeks old. Dee Dee eats EVERYTHING, literally, he eats everything. He's the first dragon I've had that ate most all of the greens, veggies, and fruit that I offered him at a month old, and he can physically eat more live, gut-loaded insects than my 11 month old female who weighs over 500 grams can. So naturally I got really worried about him, he looks fine, he's active and basking and right now he's on the beardie window pillow that sits in the big bay window in my living room, they all love to get up there every day and just sit and look outside for hours. So everything is normal with him except he won't eat anything...I bumped his temps up about 5-7 degrees and made him stay in his enclosure instead of coming out like I usually do when I'm home, and he finally did just eat 10 large BSFL, so we'll see if that continues. Maybe he just didn't feel great yesterday or this morning, or maybe he was suddenly too cold, I don't know. They are incredibly picky, stubborn little creatures of habit, and if one little thing is off or not the same as it has always been they can get very stressed out over it...