Help! Awake from brumation 22 days and still has not eaten

[Saffron304]

I have a one and a half-year-old male bearded dragon that woke up from his brumation on February 2 and still has not eaten anything on his own. We took him to the vet when he woke up-he got x-rays bloodwork-everything looked great.

His enclosure is a 5 x 2 x 2 and he has a Reptistat system with 150 watt incandescent bulb on the hot side, 100 watt in the middle and a ceramic heat emitter on the cool side. His basking area is between 102 and 105°, the middle area is between 100°-90 and the cool area is 80°.

He pooped twice when he first woke up but hasn’t since then. For the past several weeks I have been giving him critical care herbivore and carnivore mixed. I just started adding an appetite stimulant. I gave him ReptiAid XL once but it smelled so much like alcohol I haven’t given it to him again. He’s lost 50g since he went to sleep (on 10/31/19 he was 605g)-most of that weight since he’s been up the past 3 weeks.

I‘ve raised several reptiles before but never had a bearded dragon...never had this much trouble. We love him so very much and are incredibly worried. We just feel like we can’t do anything right and we just want him to be happy and healthy. Any help would be incredibly appreciated.

 

[KarrieRee]

What are you using for a UVB? Can you post pics of the tank so we can better see what we are dealing w/ ? https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ click on XIMG at the top of the message box and then click on the pic it should post
Karrie

 

[Saffron304]

He has a Arcadia D3+ 12% UVB T5 Bulb - 46"

Thank you so much.

 

[Saffron304]

He is often darker, rarely brightly colored like he used to be before he went to sleep. He used to bask happily with an open mouth. He hasn’t done that since he woke up.

He has been interested in drinking water and will drink from a pipette or when we give him a bath. We’ve been giving him a bath every other day but more recently I decided to give him a bath daily. Someone had advised me to give him a bath when he first wakes up and 30 minutes before he goes to bed.

 

[KarrieRee]

Ok so the UVB is running the length of tank? Is there a spot in that tank that he can sit w/out hiding from it? The being dark is them absorbing heat-- And it's good your keeping him hydrated that will effect them not eating-- 50 grams seems like alot-- did the vet say anything about the weight loss? 3 weeks seems like too long for not eating anything-- how are you taking the basking temps?
Karrie

 

[Saffron304]

 

[Saffron304]

The UVB goes to 3/4 of the tank. Where his cave is there is no UVB just the heat emitter. We take the temps with a temperature laser gun. But he doesn’t set directly under the basking area except for in the mornings...and he hasn’t gotten above 100°-he tends to sit to the side of it. The pictures I have listed are older ones from before he went to brumation. We did not have the Reptistat monitoring things at that time. He has two probes one on the hot end and one on a cool end.
When he saw the vet he had not lost that much weight. He has lost the weight since he woke up.

 

[KarrieRee]

Well another visit is in order--- something's going on- how long ago was the vet visit? If he was maintaining weight I wouldn't be so concerned but w/ him dropping weight not good- your vet is he a reptile vet? Traciedrache613 is our vet moderator on here you might want to pm her and see if she has some ideas on what might be going on
Karrie

 

[Saffron304]

The vet visit was three weeks ago. So he was healthy after he woke up but not now. I don’t understand what’s happening. We will take him next week but I will also try to message the moderator because I want to be able to do what we can for him now. Unfortunately, the nearest reptile that is two hours away which we are always willing to do and will do but I know they are not open this weekend. Thank you for trying to help us.

 

[Saffron304]

How do I PM? I’ve been looking and I can’t figure it out. So sorry!

 

[KarrieRee]

I hope you get it figured out-
Karrie

 

[KarrieRee]

Find drache613 on the board and click on her name then when the profile thing comes up on left it will say PM
Karrie

 

[Saffron304]

I have messaged her. Thanks again.

 

[Saffron304]

I also should mention that all the lights are inside the enclosure. The incandescent light fixtures and the UVB. The incandescents are in light sockets. We saw that he wasn’t going under the bulb so we moved out the platform that was there, thinking it might be too close for him to bask. There is a seagrass hammock there now and if he is directly underneath it, he is about 6-8 inches away from the 150 W bulb. Closer than that when he tries to warm up in the mornings as he raises himself up to bask. He basks for about an hour, then the rest of the day he’s to the side of it. His lights come on at 8 AM and turn off at 9 PM. But by the time it is 5 or 6 PM he’s looking very sleepy and staring at me to cuddle him and put him into his cave. He has never gone to the cave on his own, he waits for me to cuddle him and put him in there. I typically will start cuddling him about 8:30 and then put him in his cave. I’ve done this every night since we got him in December 2018.

 

[KarrieRee]

How sweet- wants his cuddle time-- since moving it have you taken a basking temp? 6-8 inches seems awful close for a 150 watt bulb
Karrie