Eating Problems

[sjh213]

Hello everybody,
I am worried about my bearded dragon Zeik; he is 5 months old and I have had him for almost 4 months. 4 days ago I introduced superworms to him; I would give him one or two a day along with his crickets and vegetables. Yesterday when I gave him his crickets for the morning he would not eat any. I gave him a few superworms and he ran after them and ate them just fine, then he ate two crickets and was done. When I was giving him is afternoon crickets he did the same thing, except this time a gave him more worms because I was afraid of him not eating. He did eat a few vegetables and that is it. So far today he has only eaten two superworms. I am really worried about him, and I am not sure what is wrong with him. Also, he seems to be gaping a lot but he always stays on the warm side of the terrarium (95-98 degrees F). He hasn't been acting any different, and he is alert.

Can someone tell me what could be wrong, we live 30 minutes away from a vet.

Thanks

 

[IzzyTony]

Mine isnt eating much at the moment either, which i am attributing to the cold weather and the fact she receltly came out of Brumation. Also i have read that beardies will often turn down crickets when something more fun is introduced to them. Mine wont eat crickets at all recently and eats locusts only. I guess theyre just like us. dont want the same food every day.. And at least yours will eat veggies alot of beardies wont eat veg at all

 

[sjh213]

I don't know much about Brumation. He has done this once before while he was shedding and it was when I first got him. I ended up rushing him to the ER because he was having some balance issues and I paid $90 for him to have a little shot of electrolytes. Even though it was expensive it was worth it (for my nerves), and I think I am going to take him to the vet on Friday just to be safe. As for the vegetables he loves greens, I have introduced him to papaya and other fruits/veggies and he threw them all over his terrarium!
Thank you for the help IzzyTony!

 

[ryuk]

Mine is doing the same thing right now ... i think that it could be for two reasons 1 Well i live in CA and right now the climate is kinda cold/fresh so i think it might be cause of that and 2 well this depends on how long u been giving ur beardie crickets.. i ve been giving mine crickets for a long time and I can bet that she is getting bored of them .. or it can just be cause of the brumation.. since he just got out of it right?
Maybe that is wat is happening to urs.. the temps are good and if u have the right uvb light (reptisun 10.0 if u live in US) u shouldnt have much of a problem regarding his health..

 

[gmarin1107]

What do you mean by gaping? Do you mean he's got his mouth open,when my beardies do that I spray them with water I believe that's their way saying that they're dehydrated.

 

[AtlasStrike]

Beardies gape to help release heat in the same way that dogs pant or people sweat.

How big is your beardie and has he been having regular bowel movements? Super worms are not recommended for beardies under 16 inches because their shell is hard to digest. If he isn't pooping, he may be impacted.

Super worms also have a lot of phosphorus in relation to calcium in addition to being relatively fatty. You need to make sure that you are using more calcium supplement so that the Ca ratio stays in balance. Supers can also be kind of like beardie potato chips; it may be hard to get him to eat other things again, but don't give up.

 

[sjh213]

Zeik is really big for his age, he is a little over 16 inches long. My friend has a bearded dragon that is 4 months older then Zeik and she is only 9-10 inches long. I am not sure why he has grown so much, and I have talked to several people about it and some say its a good thing, and others say it could be a hormone problem.

Back to the eating problem, this last week he had skipped a day with his bowel movements, but since then he has been pooping regularly. He did eat some crickets today, but not as much as normal. I am going to make an appointment with the vet on Friday just to make sure. What is the best way to take him there? It is a lot colder then normal here in Texas and the vet is about 25 minutes away.