Concerning Bearded Dragon Behavior

[spaceballs]

Hi everyone! For the last few months, my boy has been in brumation. He has recently woken up in the last week or so and has been displaying frantic and concerning behavior including the following:

• Black beard most of the day
• Glass surfing and scratching at the glass doors of the tank
• Lots of head bobbing
• Making a mess of his tank - throwing the food around and walking through the food bowl
• Frequent (but small) white and normal-looking urate surrounded by clear/white fluid (looks almost sticky) - he has been doing this in various areas of his tank once or twice a day

He has normal-looking poops and poops few times a week. He was at the vet a few months ago for a hardened plug which the vet took care of - the vet said he was otherwise healthy, femoral pores looked good, and he also had a fecal done and said it was healthy/no parasite concerns.

He is eating but not very much - he will go crazy for his bugs (gets dubia roaches only) but has always been picky with greens. For the last 2 weeks he has been awake he usually will ignore his greens for a day or two then on the third day he'll eat the whole bowl. He gets collard greens and soft/cooked butternut squash every day which is his favorite. I switch his greens up from collard to dandelion and turnip greens on occasion for variety but keep the butternut squash as a staple. I will also occasionally give bell peppers as a treat/variety. I also occasionally sprinkle a tiny bit of bee pollen on his veggies to entice him which he enjoys.

Due to the plug issue, he had several months ago, the vet informed me to give him Rep-Cal herptivite vitamins 2x a week - so he gets bugs twice a week which are dusted in that vitamin powder and calcium powder. I will also sprinkle calcium powder on his veggies lightly once a week so 3 times a week in total for calcium powder. He was not being given bugs during brumation - only offered greens and veggies which he barely ate the last few months.

He has a Reptile Habitats 4x2x2 (120 Gallon) PVC Bearded Dragon Enclosure - shown in the photos below. His basking area is at 106 degrees, ambient temps on the hot side are usually around 90-95 degrees, and the cold side is at 78 degrees. He has a reptisun 10.0 uvb T5 HO mounted on the inside of the tank.

I work from home so I spot-clean his tank at least once a day and every other week I give it a deep clean with water and reptile-safe cleaning spray.

I do let him run around a few times a week for about 15 minutes at a time and give him baths at least once or twice a week (he HATES baths and they stress him out so it is mostly just for a quick clean). I wish I could let him free roam more but I have multiple dogs and cats so it is just not safe - I have to monitor his free roaming and keep the other animals away with a baby gate.

Can anyone please help me understand this behavior? He seems very lively and I do not believe he is sick but does seem incredibly stressed and angry and not sure why. A photo of him is attached. Please excuse the greens in his tank - he has been throwing them around but as I mentioned the tank is cleaned daily. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[spaceballs]

I know what is usually meant by "bathing" - still: It is not necessary.
Bearded dragons cannot absorb water through their skin. The skin might look "nicer", but there is no water absorbed. Unless they drink - which can be easily done by dripping some water on their snout.
Over all, if a bearded dragon is dehydrated, or has problems shedding, something is wrong and that needs to be fixed.
At least I can say for sure: My bearded dragon won't get a bath. In case he might get dirty (never happened so far), I would clean the affected area.

I love to offer my bearded dragon a lot of enrichment, and before reading more about it, I had also thought that giving them a bath is something worth to try once my dragon gets older. Luckily I have read about it and never gave him a bath, no soaking, no whatever it is called.
There are many things that animals/pets enjoy but are in fact dangerous for them. Think about all the things a dog would love to eat. Some decades ago, I had cockatiels - smart and funny birds, and they were always up to try what people eat, being it a sip from a glass of wine, being it reaching into a bag of snacks, and yes, they enjoy it and yes, it looks cute; I had to take care this not happening.
Even if it seems to be safe so far (pet is still alive and healthy and likes the activity) is not necessary in the long run.

Agreed! It's always good to be cautious and observant of enrichment activities with pets and when your dragon poops has he or she ever dragged their tail through it or stepped in it? My beardie has done this so many times which is why I do like giving him very shallow soaks. And yes apparently it does soothe itchy shedding and helps ease the shedding process so I like to do it for that reason too. My baths are shallow and supervised and only about 10 minutes tops.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Agreed! It's always good to be cautious and observant of enrichment activities with pets and when your dragon poops has he or she ever dragged their tail through it or stepped in it? My beardie has done this so many times which is why I do like giving him very shallow soaks. And yes apparently it does soothe itchy shedding and helps ease the shedding process so I like to do it for that reason too. My baths are shallow and supervised and only about 10 minutes tops.

My dragon (close to 1 year old) has never stepped into his poop or dragged his tail through it. He is luckily very clean - poops, walks away with stretched legs and lifted tail, and then avoids the area until I clean it up.
If it would ever happen (which I would never rule out): I would hold him under running water or use a sponge.

Shedding: My dragon has never had any shedding problems. I know this can happen, and in the case of difficult shedding I would first check if something in the diet and general husbandry can be improved (e.g.: my dragon has many rough stones and generally rough surfaces to rub his body on, which he frequently does). For some morphs it might be more difficult; I have read that silkbacks frequently have shedding problems and I can imagine why.

 

[xp29]

I'm sorry to hear that your little Zen passed in such a tragic way - it sounds like you did everything you could to save him <3 I think supporting them if that makes you comfortable in a shallow bath is a great idea! When I give my beardie a "bath" in his shallow bin the water is just enough to get his underbelly and barely halfway up - I do mist his greens and have never seen him try to drink the bath water so I think it's okay if your beardie does not hydrate as such. My beardie has also had quite a few sperm plugs - luckily some have come out when he pooped and yes the baths can help soften them for sure. I try to bathe him and then when he poops glove up and gently pull it out. This has happened to him quite a bit and my vet recommended adding Herpivite multivitamin to his food 2 times per week (apparently frequent sperm plugs can be due to vitamin A deficiency according to my vet) it has helped a lot

I didn't know that about the vitamin A thats good info thank you. Personally I've given a multivitamin a couple times per week for as long as I've been keeping beardies. What you said kindda adds up, I've only ever had to remove plugs a couple of times three tops.