bearded st 8-9 months showing signs of brimstone

[evil.omens]

Hi there,

i wondered if anyone can help me. my bearded dragon was born july last yeah so he’s around 8-9 months which is young. today he’s been hiding and sleeping all day and took very little food. two insects and salad untouched all day. this is extremely unlike him. he’s been to the vet about 2 weeks about for the same thing and vet found nothing wrong. parasite test showed higher levels of salmonella but nothing overly conserning. is this brumation starting or something more sinister? i want to get advice first before i go to the vets to see if there’s something i can do. i appreciate any reply

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi there,

i wondered if anyone can help me. my bearded dragon was born july last yeah so he’s around 8-9 months which is young. today he’s been hiding and sleeping all day and took very little food. two insects and salad untouched all day. this is extremely unlike him. he’s been to the vet about 2 weeks about for the same thing and vet found nothing wrong. parasite test showed higher levels of salmonella but nothing overly conserning. is this brumation starting or something more sinister? i want to get advice first before i go to the vets to see if there’s something i can do. i appreciate any reply

Usually dragons do not brumate at this age - they can but they must be of good weight over 300 grams- its best we go over the lighting your using and surface basking temps- he may be in a slow down period they do go days w/ not eating -- once we have established everything on par w/ temps and UVB we can go from there --

 

[evil.omens]

Usually dragons do not brumate at this age - they can but they must be of good weight over 300 grams- its best we go over the lighting your using and surface basking temps- he may be in a slow down period they do go days w/ not eating -- once we have established everything on par w/ temps and UVB we can go from there --

i have T5 linear UVB 12% across 2/3 of his enclosure. he’s in a 4x2x2. his weight is 217g however the vet said physically he looks healthy. he has a halogen 75W bulb that keeps basking area around 42-43c during day. deep heat projector at night to keep it around 23-27 in the hot/cold end. cold end temps during day are around 26 depending on the area

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, can you post a pic of his entire enclosure ? What WAS he eating when he still had his appetite ? This could be just a phase where they decide to go lazy for a couple of days, hopefully that's all it is.

BTW , I almost didn't respond here due to the thread dealing with evil.omens and brimstone.

 

[KarrieRee]

i have T5 linear UVB 12% across 2/3 of his enclosure. he’s in a 4x2x2. his weight is 217g however the vet said physically he looks healthy. he has a halogen 75W bulb that keeps basking area around 42-43c during day. deep heat projector at night to keep it around 23-27 in the hot/cold end. cold end temps during day are around 26 depending on the area

Is the T 5 in the tank or top of screen? I would get his surface basking temps down to 95-100 F -- older dragons do not like the real hot after reaching 6 months of age -

 

[evil.omens]

Is the T 5 in the tank or top of screen? I would get his surface basking temps down to 95-100 F -- older dragons do not like the real hot after reaching 6 months of age -

surface temps are normally 34-36 but air temps are higher and the T5 is mounted inside as i have a wood panelled viv not a mesh one

 

[KarrieRee]

surface temps are normally 34-36 but air temps are higher and the T5 is mounted inside as i have a wood panelled viv not a mesh one

Ok so those are good basking temps and air temp is good if its around 100 F -- T 5 should be directly over a piece of basking decor 12-15 inches and not over 11 months old - I always recommend changing them out at 10-11 months if you dont have a solar meter to get a reading - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076GXJFJG
w/ that all up to par just watch his behavior and continue to feed him - it could be a phase hes going thru - watch his weight if this continues to not eat at all -- weigh him on a kitchen food scale and weigh in grams

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, pictures of him would be helpful. He is under
one year & a lot of them don't brumate at that age but
some do & are perfectly fine.
Tank setup pictures would be great also.
They can go through semi slow periods of time too,
which can be seasonal.

Tracie

 

[evil.omens]

Hello,

I agree, pictures of him would be helpful. He is under
one year & a lot of them don't brumate at that age but
some do & are perfectly fine.
Tank setup pictures would be great also.
They can go through semi slow periods of time too,
which can be seasonal.

Tracie

yea of course. could this be a stress thing also as the vet mentioned him being really skittish. i’m practicing choice based handling with him at a minimum

 

[KarrieRee]

yea of course. could this be a stress thing also as the vet mentioned him being really skittish. i’m practicing choice based handling with him at a minimum

He looks good - continue to feed him and work w/ him --- go slowly w/ your hand in the tank as much as possible have you tried hand feeding some worms? like BSFL super worms horn worms?

 

[evil.omens]

He looks good - continue to feed him and work w/ him --- go slowly w/ your hand in the tank as much as possible have you tried hand feeding some worms? like BSFL super worms horn worms?

yes. he has. a preference for food that moves so BSFL are hard but he gets them a few times. week. in my hand but i do have to poke them a bit to get him to see it’s alive lol.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is he doing today?
He does look very good there! Alot of them do tend to prefer that their food moves so it stimulates
their appetite some. Superworms are pretty active so he can have some of those. He looks like a
leatherback, & has great colors there!

Tracie

 

[evil.omens]

Hello,

How is he doing today?
He does look very good there! Alot of them do tend to prefer that their food moves so it stimulates
their appetite some. Superworms are pretty active so he can have some of those. He looks like a
leatherback, & has great colors there!

Tracie

Yes thanks for checking in he’s doing better. a lot more active today/ hasn’t pooed in 4 days though which is worrying but other than that all good. yea he is a high red leather back

 

[KarrieRee]

Yes thanks for checking in he’s doing better. a lot more active today/ hasn’t pooed in 4 days though which is worrying but other than that all good. yea he is a high red leather back

He will go eventually w/ the proper surface basking temps- this is what starts digestion - make sure hes hydrated so it will move things along- you can always feed some canned plain pumpkin or unsweetened applesauce to make him go poop

 

[evil.omens]

Hi there, can you post a pic of his entire enclosure ? What WAS he eating when he still had his appetite ? This could be just a phase where they decide to go lazy for a couple of days, hopefully that's all it is.

BTW , I almost didn't respond here due to the thread dealing with evil.omens and brimstone.

hahaha so sorry i miss typed. he was eating a lot more salad as well as insects and now isn’t eat much salad