Ike wont eat crickets or anything else. Heating suggestions?

[MoCav951]

My bearded dragon ike is about a year and three months old, lately he refuses to eat crickets and ive tried hand feeding. He also wont touch veggies or fruit. HE sometimes eats mealworms but i dont want that to be th only thing i feed him. and he will not poop ever i have to bathe him alot because of this just so he'll go I have a 75 gallon 48X18X21 terrarium btw and im having trouble getting the basking area hot enough. Im using a 150 watt uvb bulb i believe and a 150 watt ceramic heat emitter and its only 90 degrees, gosh i need help. Is he probably not eating and pooping because of the heat issue and what do i do to make it hotter?

 

[chimaira23]

You can feed him phoenix worms or superworms til he starts eating crickets again. I order mine online. Two of my dragons were finicky with crickets for ahwile. One still is. Like they were too lazy to chase them. I started to give them phoenix worms and every once in awhile wax or mealworms cause they were to small for supers. They love Phoenix worms. All my dragons do. Also for the light, try a mercury vapor bulb in a deep dome dish(either flukers or zoomed have them). and position the basking spot (rock or platform) so the spot they lay in is 100-105 give or take. Also mercury vapor bulbs have to be 12 inches away from the dragon. They do work wonders for there appetites due to the UVB and heat they produce.

 

[fez09]

Could it be brumation? He's old enough...

 

[chimaira23]

Could be. One of my females is going thru that. She won't go after crickets, but she will eat Phoenix worms and supers. But not much. I just let her chill in her cave or hammock on cool end. I bath her once a week to make sure she stays hydrated. All she wants to do is stay in a dark area. Is yours doing that?

 

[MoCav951]

hes been doing that for longer than it would be if he was going through brumation i thought but you guys are probably right. how long does brumation last when does it start and end??

 

[chimaira23]

Different for all beardies. Some don't go thru it at all. Try giving bath. Water temp 95 degrees

 

[carmdac]

In my personnal experience, about three weeks ago it got real cold here in NJ. I had a 75w bulb and was holding about 105 degrees, well when it got colder the light couldn't heat over 90 degrees and i noticed that Shocker slowed down conciderably w/ eating and pooping. I increased to a 100w lamp and it is now100 on cool days and 117 degrees on warmer days. I also added a 2nd black light for i couldn't find a 100w black light. With that, Shocker is now up to about 30 crix a day and pooping 1-2x's a day. I would try to ad a 2nd lamp of about 75w or so to raise the temps.

 

[chimaira23]

I'm in nj too