HELP Beardie refuses to eat!

[ShannonRenae18]

I have a five to six month old beardie who has been very stubborn with me for awhile now and refuses to eat. I got him when he was two to three months old. He used to eat very well when I first got him but then something snapped and now he refuses to eat. He went off of food for a month and even started to brumate. I have since gotten him out of brumation and I've increased his humidity to 35-40% and I've added a secondary red heat lamp that's on constantly plus his sun bulb that provides heat uva and uvb it's 100w. I have a heat gun and his basking spot reaches 99 degrees and his other side stays at about 80 degrees. I try to feed him everyday and he flat out refuses. I've noticed he gets freaked out very easily. Me even opening the top of his cage freaks him out and his beard turns black. I got him to eat two superworms on Wednesday of this week and that was the first food in a month. He refuses to eat his vegetables or fruit. He only sparingly eats here or there. I've reached a breaking point. I don't know what else to do. I can see his poor little hip bones and I am so frustrated I want to help him so badly but I can't figure out how. His spot lamp stays on for 10-12 hours a day as well. Please help me!

 

[berasmommy]

So our beardie is doing almost the same thing but with a few differences. Our beardie is 6mth old and used to eat her roaches and veggies like a champ. Then very suddenly she stopped eating the calcium dusted roaches and then slowly wouldn't eat even undusted roaches. This went on for a about a week and then we took her to the vet. The vet tested her for coccidia and she had a few in her poo so he started her on an antibiotic (3 days on, 3 days off for three rounds). He also noticed that she had some signs of hypocalcemia (although we don't know why she started showing signs so quickly because her husbandry is spot on). So he recommend that we give her organic baby food (no spinach so we did a green bean and pea mixture) and put a good pinch of calcium powder in it, mix well and then syringe feed her 2x/day. So we started that about 2 weeks ago. She still refuses her roaches even though we offer them to her everyday but she does take the baby food as long as it warmed up. We have no idea what brought this on, however coccidia can decrease the appetite in dragons, so we are waiting to see if when finished with the antibiotic her appetite comes back (we just finished the second round). Fingers crossed!

Husbandry:
UVB: Arcadia T-5 HO 12% 22" long tube
Basking: Par-38 Halogen lamp (temps reach 110-115F)
CHE 75 watt:set to 80 degrees (warm side sits at 90-95F, cool side at 80isF)
Tank: 40 gallon (36"L x 16"W x 18"H)
Substrate: porcelain tile
Food: Dubia roaches (calcium dusted in the AM on M,T,Th,F,Su and calcium w/D3 on Wed and Sat)
Snacks: occasional super-worms and phoenix worms

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. The red light is not good for him. Turn it off and get a ceremic heat emitter. Also no heat or lights at night. Beardies like complete darkness and a cool down period at night. Can you post a picture of him and the set up? What kind of uvb light does he have? Brand?

 

[JessPets]

So our beardie is doing almost the same thing but with a few differences. Our beardie is 6mth old and used to eat her roaches and veggies like a champ. Then very suddenly she stopped eating the calcium dusted roaches and then slowly wouldn't eat even undusted roaches. This went on for a about a week and then we took her to the vet. The vet tested her for coccidia and she had a few in her poo so he started her on an antibiotic (3 days on, 3 days off for three rounds). He also noticed that she had some signs of hypocalcemia (although we don't know why she started showing signs so quickly because her husbandry is spot on). So he recommend that we give her organic baby food (no spinach so we did a green bean and pea mixture) and put a good pinch of calcium powder in it, mix well and then syringe feed her 2x/day. So we started that about 2 weeks ago. She still refuses her roaches even though we offer them to her everyday but she does take the baby food as long as it warmed up. We have no idea what brought this on, however coccidia can decrease the appetite in dragons, so we are waiting to see if when finished with the antibiotic her appetite comes back (we just finished the second round). Fingers crossed!

Husbandry:
UVB: Arcadia T-5 HO 12% 22" long tube
Basking: Par-38 Halogen lamp (temps reach 110-115F)
CHE 75 watt:set to 80 degrees (warm side sits at 90-95F, cool side at 80isF)
Tank: 40 gallon (36"L x 16"W x 18"H)
Substrate: porcelain tile
Food: Dubia roaches (calcium dusted in the AM on M,T,Th,F,Su and calcium w/D3 on Wed and Sat)
Snacks: occasional super-worms and phoenix worms

Hello, if you like to start a new thread, we might be able to give you some more specific advice



To the OP: First, immediately get rid of the red bulb all together. Go out and buy a regular halogen, along with a dimmer. If you don't already have one, you will need a probe thermometer or an IR temp gun. Other stick on thermometers don't really work. Beardies under a year can not brumate, which means either your beardie is sick or you were misinformed about his age. His lights should be on for 12-14 hours per day- 10 is much too short. What UV bulb do you have? Don't worry about greens right now, he really needs protein. What do you feed him for that?

 

[ShannonRenae18]

I'm not sure if I uploaded those correctly but those are some pictures of him. I do have an infrared heat gun, has the little red dot. The basking bulb is a zoo med power sun uv mercury vapor at 100W. I have attempted to feed him small dubia roaches but he has never shown interest in them. I've also done medium and large crickets, he did eat those for me for about a month. I've also tried superworms. He eats these every now and then. I gut load everything with fruits and veggies safe for beardies before feeding him and I dust them with a multivitamin with D3 and calcium. He has a dig box in his corner that's filled with coconut fiber substrate. The floor of the tank is a corogated coroplast I use it with my guineas pigs, hamsters and mice it's basically sign material. It's water resistant. He has grapevine logs and two stone hides. I try to soak him once a week in warm water free of chlorines to help him shed and digest. But he hasn't shed in a month.

 

[ShannonRenae18]

I've read very conflicting things. I've read that beardies need constant heat that's why I added the red bulb for at night when his basking spot turns off.

 

[destiny1998]

If your house gets below 65 then yes you need a heat source. You would want a ceramic heat emitter. Those given off heat and no light. That red light disturbs their sleep. They also like to be cool at night.