Doesn't want to eat in the morning?

[Jamiedog]

For the last few days, Wave has refused breakfast.

We did move everything back by a couple of hours secondary to my starting school - lights now come on at 7AM, food is put in around 8:30AM. We've been doing this for a couple of weeks now, and it's only been in the last few days that she hasn't hurled herself down the basking branch to get at her bowl.

She gets a bowl of reptiworms in the morning but, thinking it might be that she was getting tired of them, I tried offering her a micro super - no interest in that, either. But in the evenings, whether it's one of those or dubias, she jumps on it. She is not, however, eating more in the evenings to make up for not eating in the morning - she generally hits 25-35 feeders in the evening. But she was eating 50+ medium reptiworms in the morning, so this means her food intake has cut down a lot.

Any ideas on why she might be doing this? As I say - it's not the food in question, she's refusing anything early in the day. There have been no changes to her routine in the last few days. And she's eating just fine in the evening, so she's not going off food altogether. She will eat the same foods I normally offer her in the morning in the evening.

If it's relevant, she's just turned 4 months old, so I don't think she should be reaching the stubborn-sub-adult stage just yet. She's about 13" long, and has rarely refused a meal. :wink:

I've been leaving a bowl of reptiworms in there the last couple of days, in hopes of getting her to take a few, but she seems to be ignoring them.

(40-gallon, cool side usually right around 75-80, warm side around 95, basking spot usually around 103-107. Currently, 75 [takes the cool side awhile to warm up], 95, 103 [just checked w/temp gun]. Reptisun 10.0, which she can get about 7 inches from, 60-watt flood light for heat, shelf liner substrate, gets greens [collard, mustard, turnip, dandelion] with occasional fruit/peppers/carrot/parsnip, which she usually snacks on. Bathed usually every day, as this is where she poos. Goes outside for 20-30 minutes/day, minimum, when the weather is nice. Am I missing anything in the list? :wink

Edit: Picture I took yesterday of her - as you can see, she's got quite the belly on her! She's usually a very healthy eater.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

She is a pretty little girl!
I would not worry that she is changing how much she eats. It could just be a phase she is going through.
As long as she is behaving normally(other than not eating as much), looks healthy(which she does) and is not losing any weight, she will be fine.
Beardies are known for making their owners "freak out" and worry, LOL

 

[Jamiedog]

Thanks!

I feel like I spend half my life worrying about her. :lol: But yes, I hear that's totally normal...! She's still basking most of the time, friendly, enjoying her baths, pooing normally, sleeping on top of my head - yeah, otherwise behaving as she usually does.

Thanks for the reassurance! Really appreciate it. Here's hoping it's something she moves beyond soon... She's such a diva. :wink: But she's always been a hungry diva, so this got me worried.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Glad I could help! Now try not to pull your hair out. :wink:

 

[Jamiedog]

:lol:

Don't worry, couple of months with her have left me with very little hair anyway. I'm considering moving on to pulling out fingernails. :wink:

Mystery may be solved: she wouldn't eat yesterday evening, either, and was looking pretty dark, so I was starting to get worried. Then I took her outside for a little while, since it was so hot yesterday, and as I was getting her into her harness, I noticed that her right back foot - which I couldn't see from the way she was lying in the viv - was peeling. As was her stomach. By the end of the evening, both back legs, her stomach, and her tail were starting to really shed. So unless she doesn't pick up with eating once that's over, I'm going to guess that's the cause of it.

Poor little thing got an extra soak with toothbrushing. Great gobs of skin ready to come off... The brushing, as usual, put her to sleep.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Well there ya go! I wouldn't want to eat much either if my skin was falling off, LOL
Glad to hear the soaks and toothbrush helped some.

 

[Jamiedog]

Pulled out the big guns - the roaches. (Most of them are a little big for her now; took me awhile to find her some.) She ate 8 of them. So I'm happy. For now. :lol: