Okay. So, I don't know if I'm just being overly paranoid (again) or if something is actually wrong, but I've noticed a behaviour change in Dude with the past week.
Now, we had house-sat for family members for two weeks (ending last Friday) at which time Dude and Girl were moved into the house with us so we could take care of them while the family was gone. They came back last Friday and we went back home, bringing Dude and Girl with us. This is about when I noticed the change, so I'm not sure if any sort of relocation stress would be a probable cause.
The first thing is he is definitely with a decreased appetite. Dude's never been really enthusiastic about his vegetables, but now I can't get him to eat a single leaf. He ate a piece of green bean, which is his absolute favorite and he never has a problem eating it, but that's about it. He ate a few crickets, but didn't really show any interest in them and took his sweet time, generally only eating on one when it got too close. He has been eating some baby food squash, but generally with a lazy sort of manner and not nearly as much as Girl chows down. That's worrisome because Girl is smaller than he is.
Girl, by contrast, lunges at any and all of her veggies and has no problem chowing down on some crix and squash. She's a very enthusiastic nommer.
Dude's also been a little lazy. I wouldn't call it lethargic, but definitely lazy. The first day we came back home he seemed to recognize being back and head bobbed all over the place and run back and forth like he always does. But slowly as the week progressed he began to grow less enthusiastic and now just sort of lounges like a lazy man with nothing better to do.
He also hasn't pooped in about a week. =/ I'm attributing it to not eating much of anything.
The one thing that worries me, really, is that usually his eyes are open and alert, wide-eyed. But today I noticed they were sort of half-lidded as he tried to hide behind the shade of a box hut and sleep all day.
I've been thinking about trying Pedialyte. I've seen a lot of people recommend it and I just wanted to make sure it was OK to use and if it might be useful to sort of perk him up and see if it helps him regain some appetite. And if so, do I get just the general non-flavored kind? How much should I add to his food?
For some info on his layout, here it is ::
Do you use UVB lights? Yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? MVB
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? 100w
How old is your UVB bulb? 2 months or so? Give or take
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 12 inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? No
What are the basking temps? Average 100 F
What is the cool side temp? 80
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? Digital Therm
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? On top of his basking spot for basking, on the other side for cool side
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Collard Greens, Crickets, Green Beans, Endive, Baby food butternut squash
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Afternoon once a day
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Yes. Can't say the brands atm (at someone else's house atm). Calcium 2x a week, Vitamin 3 or 4x
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? No D:
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Once a week
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? No (except what's on his veggies and in the baby food)
I think those are all the relevant questions to the issue at hand, so let me know if there's anything else to add onto it. Hopefully this is just a funk he's in and I'm just being overly cautious.
OH! His substrate is sand. I'm very much aware of the danger sand can present, but please be assured I take extreme caution with it (he never gets fed in his tank and I end up replacing the sand once every two or three weeks - on that note, reeeeeaaaally thinking about switching to tile again since sand gets so expensive. )
Now, we had house-sat for family members for two weeks (ending last Friday) at which time Dude and Girl were moved into the house with us so we could take care of them while the family was gone. They came back last Friday and we went back home, bringing Dude and Girl with us. This is about when I noticed the change, so I'm not sure if any sort of relocation stress would be a probable cause.
The first thing is he is definitely with a decreased appetite. Dude's never been really enthusiastic about his vegetables, but now I can't get him to eat a single leaf. He ate a piece of green bean, which is his absolute favorite and he never has a problem eating it, but that's about it. He ate a few crickets, but didn't really show any interest in them and took his sweet time, generally only eating on one when it got too close. He has been eating some baby food squash, but generally with a lazy sort of manner and not nearly as much as Girl chows down. That's worrisome because Girl is smaller than he is.
Girl, by contrast, lunges at any and all of her veggies and has no problem chowing down on some crix and squash. She's a very enthusiastic nommer.
Dude's also been a little lazy. I wouldn't call it lethargic, but definitely lazy. The first day we came back home he seemed to recognize being back and head bobbed all over the place and run back and forth like he always does. But slowly as the week progressed he began to grow less enthusiastic and now just sort of lounges like a lazy man with nothing better to do.
He also hasn't pooped in about a week. =/ I'm attributing it to not eating much of anything.
The one thing that worries me, really, is that usually his eyes are open and alert, wide-eyed. But today I noticed they were sort of half-lidded as he tried to hide behind the shade of a box hut and sleep all day.
I've been thinking about trying Pedialyte. I've seen a lot of people recommend it and I just wanted to make sure it was OK to use and if it might be useful to sort of perk him up and see if it helps him regain some appetite. And if so, do I get just the general non-flavored kind? How much should I add to his food?
For some info on his layout, here it is ::
Do you use UVB lights? Yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? MVB
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? 100w
How old is your UVB bulb? 2 months or so? Give or take
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 12 inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? No
What are the basking temps? Average 100 F
What is the cool side temp? 80
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? Digital Therm
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? On top of his basking spot for basking, on the other side for cool side
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Collard Greens, Crickets, Green Beans, Endive, Baby food butternut squash
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Afternoon once a day
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Yes. Can't say the brands atm (at someone else's house atm). Calcium 2x a week, Vitamin 3 or 4x
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? No D:
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Once a week
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? No (except what's on his veggies and in the baby food)
I think those are all the relevant questions to the issue at hand, so let me know if there's anything else to add onto it. Hopefully this is just a funk he's in and I'm just being overly cautious.
OH! His substrate is sand. I'm very much aware of the danger sand can present, but please be assured I take extreme caution with it (he never gets fed in his tank and I end up replacing the sand once every two or three weeks - on that note, reeeeeaaaally thinking about switching to tile again since sand gets so expensive. )
won't 
