Our 9ish month old girl, Nala, has had a pretty big change in eating/behavior that started about a month or so ago. I have a feeling that nothing is actually wrong, kind of looking for some reassurance.
Temps and lightning are all set, from previous threads here.
We used to praise her for being such a good veggie eater, then all of a sudden she quit eating her greens. Then she started refusing her evening bug meal. She will still eat a few bugs in the morning, but she used to be a bottomless pit who actively attacked all her food with gusto. Now she won't even go after the bugs unless we keep putting them near her. And we are lucky if we can get her to eat one arugula leaf first. (Which is about the only green she still will eat at all).
She also spends a lot less time basking, and a good bit of time on the cool side just staring at the "wall". ??
If we let her out to run around she will sometimes do so for a bit, but then finds somewhere to take a nap, which she *never* did before.
Is she just transitioning into more adult like behavior?
Or is it something to do with females at this age?
Oh, one other thing I'll mention is that part of her urates have been orange-ish for a while now. I think it's because we feed carrots to her dubias, but thought I'd see what you all think.
If her weight isn't dropping, then that sounds like brumation behavior which is normal with a lot of them. Their appetites can be quite cyclical so if everything else seems OK and it's just less basking/more sleeping along with decreased appetite it may not be a problem - just brumation behavior.
The orange urate could be from carrots in the food chain. It could also be from supplements or from hydration level. Since she isn't eating as much, the supplementation should sort itself out. Keep offering some water drops on her nose when she is awake/alert and see if she takes a drink. Other than that, keep track of her weight and monitor that over (at least) the next few months.
Ok. I hadn't thought of that due to her age.
And she is still awake most of the day in her tank, just not as active or enthusiastic about food as she was. She would chase her bugs before, and now either ignores them or waits until they come to where she can reach from wherever she's sitting.